The story of genuine paper started in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly 50 centuries ago, invented a type of pictographic writing. The Egyptians too had been making use of several kinds of things to write upon, usually strips of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they were using for other reasons derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Historical documentation leads us to believe that in 105AD a member of the government called Tsai Lung, brought out usable paper, although it appears from archaeological digs that it was in fact being worked with in South East Asia for more than likely two centuries before him.
During olden times scribing was mainly on bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless the great price of silk and the weight of bamboo, these materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using tree bark, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he submitted a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and received high praise for his thoughts. From those days paper has been availed of in almost every place on earth and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If the above title is Tsai's entitlement, will very likely never be known! But the important thing is that they found that they could grind particular substances taken from plants in to a mache, purge impure materials, place the mache in liquid, filter it out onto cloth sheets giving it enough time to dry out. After the drying process was complete, it compressed into a firm, firm sheet that turned out to be particularly light, and provided that it was not allowed to get damp, turned out to be remarkably durable.
This most straightforward of paper making technologies is even now still being used in precisely a similar way around Nepal and Tibet, the initial countries to take the craft from China. A simple frame makes use of a cloth made from cotton pulled and held over a single side, watery paste is put into the far side and spread about until it is smooth. Then it is left so that it will allow the water to leave it and the mush to dry in to a paper sheet which will be able to be peeled off.
At some point in time a developer with great skills came to the conclusion that building a frame with ribbing and putting in place a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would enable the paper-making process to be accelerated fantastically. Instead of tying up one mold for each sheet of paper, therefore severely limiting the amount of sheets that can be made at the same time, a stack of sieved pulp was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a length of cotton thread between them in order to facilitate later separation. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and every sheet of grume moved to a dry board.