Making Your Own Parchment Paper

I like using props when I DM and one of my staples is making maps and notes for the players that look like old parchment. Here's how I do it.

When making notes I use my computer to print them out in a font that I feel suits the tone, theme, and purpose of the quest. If you need to find some interesting fonts check out dafont.com for some great ones.

Maps I tend to hand draw on printer paper.

Either way, once you have your note or map you'll want to make the edges less perfect. There are two options that I use. First, you could just carefully tear down each edge of the paper. The second is to burn the edges with a lighter. *Be very careful when doing this both for safety and not to burn away a part of the map or note.

Now to make it look and feel more like parchment. Brew a batch of tea and let it cool to room temp. Once cooled I pour it into a glass baking dish that will fit the paper. Submerge your paper in the tea. Ideally, you want to let it soak over night and I don't recommend putting more than three pieces of paper in. If you don't have over night or just don't have the patience a couple of hours will get you a light version of the effect.

After it's soaked I carefully pull the paper out of the tea and set it on a crumpled up bath towel and use a blow dryer on it until the page is completely dry.

Viola, you've got parchment!