Well I have begun dying the parchment for my Tobin’s “Build”. I will post more pics tonight along with what I am using.
Here are a few snap shots of the paper dying process that I worked all the kink’s out of last night.
Sorry that this one is blurry, but you can still see the effect I am going for.
Thanks for looking any tips, help, criticisms is greatly appricated! 
Pretty cool! It looks like you’re using salt to get that mottled look, I never would have thought of that for use in the paper dying process. Very clever.
Hey DerGrundel,
I actually did not use any salt. Just coffee. i kept the paper weighted down when it was in the coffee. I also distressed it as well as rubbed it in the bottom of the pan I was using.
I am going to post more pics here tonight, ( I did not get a chance to get more pages done last night.) I am also going to do a tutorial for this process as well.
Here are some of the photo’s I took last night.
Here are the three coffees that I have used so far.
Here is my setup, with easy access to the oven. I soak the page for 5 min in coffee, then transfer the page directly to a cookie sheet.
I use the spatula and tongs to distress the page after I totally submerge it in the coffee.
Bake it at 210F for 5-7 min, usually until the corners start to curl. then I remove the page from the oven and set it on my stove.(The stove must be cold!!!) To finish drying.
Hope that helps DerGrundel, I am thinking about trying to add some wine to see how that comes out. What do you think???
Then salt to taste…
LOL, just kidding.
Looks really cool so far, cant wait to see the rest.
Yes, that does help! I would be interested in seeing what the wine does to it. I imagine it will produce a stronger color, but then again I suppose it depends on the kind of wine you use.
Hey there everyone, I hope you had a safe and awesome Thanksgiving!! I have been really busy so I am trying to get this done so I can start writing, hopefully tonight!
Here is a update with last nights baking season, with wine this time! yummy! I mean interesting…
The wine I was using last night. I added about 1/2 a cup to the solution.
Not sure if you can see it but it does have a purplish hue to it.
Here is one of the first pages that I soaked last night.
I will post pics of the finished pages tonight. A few of the were still drying. I removed pieces of the paper during the soak and then placed them on top of the page to give it more texture. They were still a little damp. So they should be dry by tonight. Plus, when I got done cleaning up it was 12:30 a.m. and I was really tired!
Here are the pics from the other night! The wine helped make the staining darker so I would recommend trying it out.
Here is where I pulled the corner off and placed it on the page when I put it in the oven:
Here is another one with more and smaller paper flakes on it:
The next two pages have holes in them(one is pretty big!):
This page i soaked for 6 minutes, and I left it crumpled up in the solution. here is the result:
The next to pages I pulled or folded pieces of it, you can really see the dye process in these two pages:
Again any thoughts, comments, criticism, are gladly welcome! I should hopefully start printing this weekend or next week sometime.
Soaking tea in the water works well too.
Hi! The pages look great, a cheat i used years ago to make a indiana jones grail diary was to take the white untouched paper and age it using a thinned out wood stain. it dries really quick and produces the same look as a tea or coffee do without as much wrinkling. Just needs to be aired out when you’re done. again Nice work so far.
Damn man, you are doing the Necronomicon over here!
How are you planning to print on this dyed paper? Caligraphy? WHere are you getting the pages?
I’m worried about the pre-distressed paper causing printer jams, but maybe you’ve already got that covered.
But if I were attempting something like this, I would do the physical wear last. I like to work in the order that would have naturally occurred. If you print on an existing wrinkle, that’s going to be a ‘tell’ that it was wrinkled first, then printed.
Anyway, the main reason I wandered in here was because I watched the RGB ‘Scaring of the Green’ episode last week for St. Patrick’s Day, and at one point Ray tells Egon the page number of a particular entry of Tobin’s Spirit Guide.
Might be worth checking out, to make sure that info’s on that page in the finished prop. Just in case anyone ever checks.
Alex
Are there any cannonical pages for Tobins available? Have there been any tie-in books? I know Tristan Jones wanted to publish an illustrated “Spengler’s Spirit Guide” but they turned him down…
M.Thunder: It isn’t 100% cannon. West End Games published a Tobins Spirit Guide in the late '80s.
Bryan Fear aka Fifthrider scanned his copy at the dawn of the 21st Century, (well in 2006) made it a PDF, and wanted Ghostbusters International to share/host it.
GBI (as a site) became Ghostbusters Incorporated this year. I still have a page and the file available to all for free.
It’s a shame they never made this an actual book.
What do you have in mind for the cover?
Hey guys sorry I have not updated this in a while. My wife had our second child about a month ago. So I have been super busy with her being prego and on bed rest and then taking care of my other daughter and the new baby. Life has been crazy!
M.Thunder= I plan on printing this on my printer at my office. Use to do Calligraphy but that was 20 years ago and let me tell you it is not like riding a bike!!!
Hey Alex thanks for the concerns and suggestions! I will be testing out the printing tomorrow. If I have to distress the pages after I print on them I will only have to not use a few pages. I will post pics as soon as I print. THe paper is rather sturdy, So we will have to see.
Stream-Crosser = I am planning to have the book bound by someone who has done books for films. I do plan on getting The “T” Embossed on the cover.
I will be posting more asap, thanks everyone for your comments!
Well I would have to say this was a success!!
Alex was right and the more distressed pages did not print. Partucuraly the page with the lagre hole and there was a page that was very crumpled. Other than those to pages they all printed great!
I will try and post the rest of the pages that I have, Now I just need to print out the main spirit guide and I can get this sent off to the person who will bind it.
Looks awesome! Well done.
That looks amazing! Well done!