The origins of genuine paper began in China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly 5000 years in the past, brought out a pictographic form of writing. They too had been utilizing many different kinds of objects to write on, usually strips of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
Legend leads us to believe that in 105AD a government worker named Tsai Lung, developed papyrus, though it seems from finds by archaeologists that actually it was being used in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries before him.
During olden times setting down words was generally on some form of bamboo or occasionally on pieces of silk, which were known as Ji then. However, silk being expensive and bamboo being weighty, these materials were not convenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of making use of bark from trees, rags, fish nets, and hemp. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor with regard to the process of paper making and got much praise for his idea. Consequently, from that period paper has been utilized universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this historical reference is relevant, will very likely not ever be known! Nonetheless the important consideration must be that the discovery was made that they could pound some compounds derived from plant matter into a paste, withdraw unwanted materials, float the paste in water, filter it out onto textile sheets and give it time to dry out. After drying, it congealed into a firm, tenacious sheet that turned out to be astonishingly light, and provided that it did not get wet, proved really resilient.
This most straightforward of papermaking techniques is still in use in exactly the same way around Nepal and Tibet, the very first places to learn the techniques from South East Asia. A basic frame utilizes a cloth made from cotton stretched over a single side, very watery mache is situated in to the other side and spread about until it has reached a level. After which it is left somewhere to allow the liquid to drain and the pulp to dry in to a sheet of paper which may be removed by stripping off.
Eventually an extremely clever individual figured that building a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and placing a delicate removable bamboo mat over this, would enable the process to be quickened to a great degree. Rather than utilizing one mould for every parchment sheet, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that are able to be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mush could be built up a layer at a time, with just a strip of cotton thread between them in order to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very slightly, and each sheet of grume shifted to a place to dry.