[workshop] How to make a 'decorative fake' (à la Eric Hebborn), G
Title: How to make a 'decorative fake' (à la Eric Hebborn)
by Eve Le Dez (lineae)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: No harm meant, no money made. My muses come and go as they like - they just kindly allow me to draw them from time to time. ;) Feedback and constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.
At this point, I would first like to recommend Eric Hebborn's "The Art Forger's Handbook", a very entertaining, interesting book and a must-have for your friendly art geek. Especially if the art geek in question happens to be interested in various drawing techniques and historical works... ;)
It's amazing how much I have learned about old drawing and painting techniques, about materials, styles and tricks used to create some of the works I've admired for so long - just from this one book.
But it's not just dry theory: Eric Hebborn was a gifted art forger himself, and he fooled more than one art expert before he was found out and turned to writing books. Of course, the book is not written to encourage you to forge artworks - but some tricks can be used to make, as he calls them, 'decorative fakes'. ;)
... and let's face it: Is there a single Navygirl who would not want to have an original ink-and-wash painting of Commodore Norrington hanging on the wall?
So, with this in mind, let's put Mr. Hebborn's advice to some good use...
Let's start with the paintings you want to age: I drew one with a hard pencil, and painted another with Indian ink, which is waterproof. This is important for what is to come ~ if you use normal ink, you will regret it by step two.
The borders of both sheets were torn along the edge of a ruler to look just a bit irregular.
Then, you prepare the stuff that you will use to age your painting. In this case, Eric Hebborn's advice is to use tea or coffee. I simply used old tea bags that I let sit in hot water for a good 20 minutes to have a dark liquid. (Why waste good tea when the second brew is just as good for aging pictures?)
And then I fold the paper I want to age and dunk it and let it sit for about half an hour.
(Ground coffee is nice as well, and a few tea leaves or coffee grounds stuck to the paper make for some nice effects. But since I don't drink coffee much, I rarely have coffee at home.)
When you take the paper out, it's dripping wet and brownish. The creases and spots from your fingers will have taken on more colour than the rest of the paper, and the torn borders will have softened.
If the paper tears because it has softened too much, stay calm. Try to pick up the paper as a whole, set it down on another sheet of paper (or a paper kitchen towel) and leave it to dry. Go here to find out how to repair a torn sheet once it's dry.
The paper will then crinkle while drying, and the whole sheet will feel slightly more brittle than before because some of the modern glue will have been washed out of the paper.
The best thing after drying the paper off on kitchen towels is to place it on cardboard and leave it to dry completely in the sun.
The end result is a slightly bent, slightly brownish, crinkly, spotty, old-looking thing with a hopefully equally historically correct-looking painting.
Now you can think about framing the thing and hanging an original 18th century ink-and-wash painting on your wall. :)
~Eve
by Eve Le Dez (lineae)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: No harm meant, no money made. My muses come and go as they like - they just kindly allow me to draw them from time to time. ;) Feedback and constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.
At this point, I would first like to recommend Eric Hebborn's "The Art Forger's Handbook", a very entertaining, interesting book and a must-have for your friendly art geek. Especially if the art geek in question happens to be interested in various drawing techniques and historical works... ;)
It's amazing how much I have learned about old drawing and painting techniques, about materials, styles and tricks used to create some of the works I've admired for so long - just from this one book.
But it's not just dry theory: Eric Hebborn was a gifted art forger himself, and he fooled more than one art expert before he was found out and turned to writing books. Of course, the book is not written to encourage you to forge artworks - but some tricks can be used to make, as he calls them, 'decorative fakes'. ;)
... and let's face it: Is there a single Navygirl who would not want to have an original ink-and-wash painting of Commodore Norrington hanging on the wall?
So, with this in mind, let's put Mr. Hebborn's advice to some good use...
Let's start with the paintings you want to age: I drew one with a hard pencil, and painted another with Indian ink, which is waterproof. This is important for what is to come ~ if you use normal ink, you will regret it by step two.
The borders of both sheets were torn along the edge of a ruler to look just a bit irregular.
Then, you prepare the stuff that you will use to age your painting. In this case, Eric Hebborn's advice is to use tea or coffee. I simply used old tea bags that I let sit in hot water for a good 20 minutes to have a dark liquid. (Why waste good tea when the second brew is just as good for aging pictures?)
And then I fold the paper I want to age and dunk it and let it sit for about half an hour.
(Ground coffee is nice as well, and a few tea leaves or coffee grounds stuck to the paper make for some nice effects. But since I don't drink coffee much, I rarely have coffee at home.)
When you take the paper out, it's dripping wet and brownish. The creases and spots from your fingers will have taken on more colour than the rest of the paper, and the torn borders will have softened.
If the paper tears because it has softened too much, stay calm. Try to pick up the paper as a whole, set it down on another sheet of paper (or a paper kitchen towel) and leave it to dry. Go here to find out how to repair a torn sheet once it's dry.
The paper will then crinkle while drying, and the whole sheet will feel slightly more brittle than before because some of the modern glue will have been washed out of the paper.
The best thing after drying the paper off on kitchen towels is to place it on cardboard and leave it to dry completely in the sun.
The end result is a slightly bent, slightly brownish, crinkly, spotty, old-looking thing with a hopefully equally historically correct-looking painting.
Now you can think about framing the thing and hanging an original 18th century ink-and-wash painting on your wall. :)
~Eve