The origins of genuine paper happened in China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly fifty centuries ago, created a form of pictographic writing. They too had been utilizing many different things to write on, most commonly strips of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they made for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
History tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out paper, though it is almost certain from archaeological discoveries that it was actually being used in South East Asia for more than likely two hundred years prior to him.
During times gone by writing was usually on some derivative of bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless the prohibitive cost of silk and bamboo being too heavy, these two materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of making use of the bark from trees, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor on the process of paper manufacture and was endowed with high praise for his ideas. Consequently, since that time paper has been in use every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this accolade is accurate or not, will probably not ever be known! However, the main factor has to be that they discovered that if they pounded some plant-derived substances into a paste, remove unwanted substances, place the paste in water, sieve it onto cloth sheets and allow it to dry. When it dried, it dried into a firm, resilient sheet that turned out to be extremely light, and as long as it did not get damp or wet, proved astonishingly robust.
It's a fact that this very straightforward of paper making technologies is even now in use in precisely the same way in Nepal and Tibet, the initial countries to take the techniques from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame utilizes a cloth manufactured from cotton made to stretch over a side, watery pulp is poured in to the far end and moved around until it is smooth. After which it is left hanging that will let the liquid to drain and the grume to dry in to a sheet of parchment which may be stripped off.
By and by an extremely clever individual came to the conclusion that constructing a frame with ribbing and putting a delicate bamboo mat that is removable across it, would enable the process to be speeded up greatly. Rather than using a single mould for each paper sheet, severely limiting the amount of sheets that may be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mache could be built up layer upon layer, with just a piece of cotton thread between them to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very lightly, and every sheet of mush shifted to a dry place.