SANJIESAN LORE / Surface storytelling
Choose a cause for surface wear instead of adding random age
Random stains can make every object look equally old without revealing anything about its life. The Canadian Conservation Institute lists distinct agents of deterioration, including physical forces, water and light. For fictional art, use that distinction to ask what caused a chosen mark, while leaving real conservation treatment to appropriate expertise.
Choose one object and one exposure
Take an original wooden notice board used under a sheltered arcade. Decide which parts people touch, which face the opening and which remain covered. Choose one kind of wear to explore rather than applying every possible damage effect. Keep the material and exposure assumptions beside the study. A mark should follow the object’s situation, not appear wherever the composition needs another dark patch.
Place marks where use explains them
Draw the board before and after repeated handling in your fictional scenario. Identify the edge someone grips or the area where notices are regularly attached. If a sheltered surface is as weathered as an exposed one, decide whether another cause explains it or the design needs revision. Do not turn a texture into an exact age claim; appearance alone is not a clock that dates every object.
Let a character notice a useful difference
Write a scene in which someone sees a newly covered patch, a frequently handled corner or an unfamiliar attachment point. Choose what they can reasonably infer from that difference. If the detail becomes a clue, make it visible in the relevant illustration and consistent in later views. The surface now carries a particular history rather than a generic filter labelled ancient, and the scene has a reason to pay attention to it.