The history of true paper happened in South East Asia. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries in the past, brought out a type of pictographic writing. The Egyptians also had been using several kinds of things to write upon, most notably pieces of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of as well.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105AD a government worker going by the name of Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, though it seems from archaeological discoveries that actually it was in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for at least two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
Back in ancient times setting down words or pictograms was mainly done on some form of bamboo or sometimes on strips of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless the great price of silk and the weight of bamboo, these materials were inconvenient. Then Tsai Lun thought of utilizing tree bark, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor with regard to the process of paper making and received high praise for his abilities. From this time paper has been utilized everywhere and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above historical tag is correct, will probably not ever be known! However, the most important thing has to be that they discovered that they could grind some plant derived substances into a paste, evacuate unwanted substances, place the paste in water, sieve it out onto fabric sheets allowing it to dry. When fully dried, it calcified into a hard, resilient sheet that was decidedly light, and providing it did not get damp or wet, turned out to be surprisingly tenacious.
It's a fact that this very simple of papermaking techniques is still in use in exactly the same way in and around Tibet and Nepal, the very first regions to pick up the techniques from China. A simple frame makes use of a type of cotton cloth stretched over a single side, watery mush is put in to the far side and spread about until it has become even. After which it is left so that it will allow the liquid to leave it and the pulp to dry in to a paper sheet which can be removed.
There came a time when a very clever individual came to realize that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting in place a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would let the paper-making process to be quickened greatly. Instead of tying up one mold for every parchment sheet, severely restricting the number of sheets that can be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mache was able to be built up layer upon layer, with merely a strip of cotton thread between them which would help with later separation. The stack would then be pressed gently, and each layer of mash moved to a dry place.