a birthday treasure, part 3

(This post is the third installment of a four part series. To read the first post, click here.)

As the gift gestated in my head, I started thinking of all the peripherals that were crucial to making the gift really sing:

1) the all important Rosetta Stone
2) a letter - from Indiana Jones
3) a shroud

Wanting to make the Rosetta Stone look ancient and not like a piece of copy paper, I brewed really strong tea and doused the paper in areas, staining it in splotches. Then I let it dry and went back over it with some additional tea for another layer of color. Then... 

I wrapped the paper in some natural-colored cheesecloth and dabbed on more tea. The hope was the paper would be imprinted with the cheesecloth texture, making it look more like parchment. Then while the paper was still damp, I tore the edges and burned a couple areas with one of those refillable hand torches. Burning the paper while it's still damp helps to control where and how fast you want an area to char.

Indiana's letter was also supposed to look a bit worn - but private. I used to purchase wax seal wax but I can now justify owning two glue guns: one for my regular clear glue sticks and one for this red-colored wax. The seal was made using the foil top from a bottle of cider.

Now that all the components that were going into the shipping box were made, I could start assembling...