The origins of proper paper started in South East Asia. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, virtually five thousand years ago, developed a pictographic form of writing. The Egyptians also had been utilizing many different kinds of objects to write on, most usually lengths of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they made for other purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
Legend tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government by the name of Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, though it seems from finds by archaeologists that it was actually being used in China for at least two centuries before him.
Way back during ancient times gone by setting down words or pictograms was mainly on bamboo or sometimes on pieces of silk, which were called Ji in those days. However, the great price of silk and bamboo being very weighty, these materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using the bark from trees, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor with regard to the process of making paper and got high accolade for his thoughts. From those distant times paper has been utilized globally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this historical reference is deserved, will likely not ever be known! But the most important factor has to be that they discovered that they could grind particular substances derived from plants in to a mash, abolish spume, float the mash in liquid, screen it onto textile sheets and allow it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it compressed into a hard, tough sheet that was incredibly light, and as long as it did not come into contact with water, turned out to be astonishingly dense.
It's a fact that this very easy of paper making techniques is still in use in precisely the same way within Tibet and Nepal, the first areas to learn the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame makes use of a type of cotton cloth stretched over one side, very watery pulp is put into the far side and spread around until it has reached a level. Then it is left hanging so that it will enable the water to drain out of it and the grume to dry in to a sheet of parchment which may be removed by stripping off.
As time went by an extremely clever individual came to realize that building a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a fine bamboo mat that is removable over it, would allow the process to be quickened enormously. Instead of utilizing a single mold for each sheet of paper, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that are able to be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved paste was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a length of cotton thread between them in order to enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and every layer of mush moved to a dry board.