I finally tried staining book pages with beet juice and it looked like a crime scene

I was REAL skeptical when my buddy Mark suggested using beet juice to stain pages for an antique look, but I had a copy of 'The Secret Garden' from a thrift store that was already trashed. I mixed about a cup of beet juice with half a cup of water and brushed it on the edges, let it dry overnight. The color came out this deep burgundy that honestly matched the cover perfectly, not pink at all. Has anyone else tried natural dyes like turmeric or coffee that actually worked?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivanb4113d ago

Oh man, I have to admit I was totally in the same boat! I always thought beet juice would turn everything that awful neon pink, but after seeing your results I tried it on a beat-up copy of 'Little Women' and it came out this rich maroon that actually looks like old wine stains. Really changed my mind about natural dyes for sure. For turmeric I used about 3 tablespoons in warm water and brushed it on the pages of an old paperback, it gave this nice golden yellow that fades to a soft brown after a few weeks. Coffee works great too if you soak the pages for just 5 minutes and let them dry flat, otherwise they get too wrinkly.

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umaadams13d ago

See the turmeric thing is something I've had mixed luck with. I tried it on a beat up copy of Pride and Prejudice, got that same nice golden yellow, but I didn't leave it long enough the first time and it came out looking like someone spilled curry on it. Second try I let it sit for an hour with the pages pressed between paper towels, came out way more even. The beet juice though, I was super skeptical too until I saw someone do a whole book with it. I used it on a dollar store paperback just to test, and yeah it went that ugly pink at first but after a week the color settled into this dark burgundy that actually looked kinda cool. Coffee's still my go-to though, gives that old paper smell to match the look.