The origins of genuine paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, virtually five thousand years in the past, created a type of writing that used images. The Egyptians also had been using many different objects to write upon, notably strips of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other reasons derived from the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, invented papyrus, though it is almost certain from archaeological finds that in fact it was being used in China for probably two centuries prior to him.
Way back during times gone by setting down words was usually done on some form of bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nevertheless silk being expensive and bamboo being weighty, these two materials were inconvenient. About this time Tsai Lun thought of making use of bark, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor with regard to the production of paper and was endowed with many accolades for his abilities. Consequently, from those distant days paper has been used in almost every place on earth and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this historical reference is correct, will very likely not ever be known! Nonetheless what is important must be that they found that if they pounded particular substances derived from plant matter into a mush, expunge unwanted substances, float the mush in liquid, sieve it out onto cloth sheets giving it time to dry. After the drying process was complete, it conglomerated into a hard, robust sheet that turned out to be remarkably light, and providing it did not come into contact with water, proved incredibly firm.
It's a fact that this very easy of papermaking technologies is still practised in exactly a similar way around Nepal and Tibet, the initial countries to learn the technolgies from South East Asia. A basic frame makes use of a cotton cloth stretched over one side, watery grume is poured in to the other end and spread around until it is even. Then it is left hanging that will allow the water to drain and the pulp to dry into a sheet of paper which can be removed by peeling.
At some stage a clever developer realized that making a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would enable the process to be accelerated fantastically. Rather than using a single mould for every paper sheet, therefore severely limiting the number of sheets that may be produced at one time, a stack of sieved mache could be built up a layer at a time, with only a piece of cotton thread between them to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed slightly, and each sheet of paste moved to a place to dry.