What can I use to make an old diary?

Question

I am doing a project on nazi germany and I wabt to make a diary that looks old and battered. Wah tmaterials can i use to make it? please help. The diary is owned by a Jew in a concentration camp.

Answer 1

If you are Jew, would he have access to a 'proper' diary, or would he have written on scraps of paper, or on an old notebook?

You also do not say how long the diary will last - that could alter how many pages you need!

If you wanted to make a notebook, just tear A4 paper into 8 and cut a couple of pieces of card the same length for the front and back. Make holes using a skewer or a stapler (but use the staples to make holes, not to leave in!) and sew the pages together. If you have some, use old material and stick it to the card, large enought to use one piece of material for the whole diary. Use plain material (!) and remember to distress this too.

then you can write a couple of lines per day, just writing the date in each time. Remember to write very small as the diary is small - they would not have had the room to hide a larger diary.

Oh, and if you can find thin paper, rather than the normal 80gsm then it will be better. You may be able to get 45gsm (bank) from your stationers.
If you use a pencil or thin-nibbed fountain pen, it will be more realistic.

Although I agree with the ideas for ageing the paper, make sure you do it BEFORE you do the making! Else the pages will be stuck together, unable to be peeled apart, and/or the ink will run! I suggest you soak the paper in strong tea overnight and dry it in the oven. Oh, and if you scrunch the paper up and then iron it, it will look very old and have a mottled effect like ye olde vellum.

I reckon you will have more fun making the diary than actually keeping it!

Enjoy yourself!

Answer 2

Leave an ordinary diary out in the rain and let it dry. Better yet if you can soak it in tea for a bit of yellowing. Burning the edges is also a nice touch. All this before writing in it, obviously. Write with a fountain pen with black ink.

Good idea for a project, glad to see someone takes important historical events seriously.

Answer 3

Buy a journal or diary, then with a razor knife cut the cover off of it to free the pages (hopefully they'll be in one piece). Next, go to a bookstore, your grandmothers, your mom's? somewhere where old books are and find one of similar size...cut the pages out of it, and then scrape the title away. One of the old cloth bound books would make it easy to scrape the lettering away. You can also "distress" the book by kicking it around some...possibly charring the edges like recommended elsewhere.

Answer 4

I did a project like this, I used regular unlined white paper, soaked a tea bag in hot water, then used it all over the paper to discolor it. Let it dry, then use a lighter (carefully) to burn the edges of the paper all around, burn each piece separately, then fold all the papers in half to make a book, then you can use thread and a needle to bind it at the fold, it comes out looking pretty good.

Answer 5

use a leather bound book - they wont have had a modern type hardback - dip the whole thing in old coffee or tea and then dry on the radiator with a weight on to make the pages stay flat - then bend it and rub it down to look worn - use fine sandpaper on the spine and edges to rough up the leather and make it look old and used. This will really look authentic....write in it using ink only of course and perhaps the odd rub with a little soot to darken and dirty pages in places.

Answer 6

I could try using one of those composition books and cover it with a grocery bag like you would for a textbook or you could try going to a bookstore and ask them if they have any diaries that look old

hope this helps and good luck on your project (I did one of those too, very interesting topic)

Answer 7

you could use beat up thick cardboard(like inside an old book) and leather shoe strings to hold it together. gouge holes in it with an ice pick o screw-driver. use ink from an art pen to write with.(a REAL ink pen.)
the pages could be pieces of old newspaper that you write over top of the print, an old b/w catalog with things circled and underlined, like in code. You could use white cloth, gray cloth, and write on it, like he even used his raggedy CLOTHES for paper. You could have a couple of old telegraph forms or laundry lists, that he used for paper, or as mementos. Even press some leaves or a flower in the pages, like he was saving those, too.old photos, and postcards , too. Buy them on E-bay.
This sounds like a fun project.
I have some photo albums from my dad in WW11 and his laundry list, and a few old letters. They are precious to me now.

Answer 8

Use a wet used tea bag to get a dark, old look and burn the edges of some paper too to give a tattered look.

Answer 9

I'd go with what blue said but I'd also rub the corners of the book against something rough to give it that battered look.

Answer 10

Burn the edges of some paper then mix a teaspoon of coffee in cold water and brush it all over after writing .