How to Make Deckled Edges

A deckled edge on a card or piece of calligraphy can add a lovely touch. But what if the paper you are using doesn't come with a deckled edge?

That's easy - you can add your own.

The process is really quite simple. All you need is your paper, a brush, some water, a ruler, and some time and patience.

Decide where you want the deckled edge to be. Since you probably don't want a pencil or pen line showing on the edge, mark just enough at the top and bottom of your page so you can line up a ruler along that "line".

You'll want a ruler here that sits flat to the page so you don't get water leaking under the ruler edge. Place the ruler along the line, then dip your brush in the water and brush the water along the ruler edge. You probably won't need the wet area to be much more than a quarter of an inch or so. Experiment to see what works best for your paper or for the edge you want to create.

You may need to brush the water on several times, depending on the thickness of the paper. It has to soak right through the paper. Once it has, you should be able to lift up and bend the paper along that edge quite easily.

Once it does bend easily, move your ruler just a bit over into the wet area. Again, you want a ruler that sits tight to the paper. Holding down very firmly on the ruler, lift the paper and gently tear it off along that edge. You should get a nice deckled edge.

You may see a bit of a mark from the ruler, so use your fingers to gently feather out the edge.

If you want a rougher deckle to that edge, try tearing the paper off without using the ruler. If you have kept your wet strip fairly even in width, it should tear okay. But experiment to see how much water you need, how wide a wet strip you need, how long you need to let it soak in, and how best to tear the edge.

It does give a nice finishing touch to your paper.

Then to add just a bit more interest, try adding some color to the edge. While it is still wet (or re-wet the edge if it has dried out), run a brush with a bit of ink or watercolor down along the feathered edges. Try to touch just the outer tips of the feathered edges and let it bleed into the edge.