The origins of real paper began in South East Asia. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost 5,000 years ago, developed a kind of writing that used pictures. They also had been utilizing various types of things to write upon, most commonly pieces of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they utilized for other unconnected purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of also.
Legend points to the fact that in 105AD a government worker called Tsai Lung, brought out papyrus, although 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 centuries prior to Tsai Lung.
During ancient times gone by setting down words was mainly done on some derivative of bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nonetheless the cost of silk and bamboo being weighty, these materials were not convenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of making use of tree bark, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he made a report to the emperor with regard to the process of making paper and was endowed with high accolade for his idea. Consequently, from that period paper has been utilized universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this particular claim is deserved or not, will likely not ever be known! However, the major consideration has to be that it was found that they could pound some compounds derived from plants into a paste, oust impurities, put the paste in water, screen it out onto cloth sheets giving it enough time to dry out. After the drying process was complete, it congealed into a firm, resilient sheet that turned out to be astonishingly light, and as long as it was not allowed to get wet, proved surprisingly tenacious.
This most simple of paper making techniques is even now still being used in exactly the same way in and around Nepal and Tibet, the very first areas to make use of the technolgies from China. A simple frame has a cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, diluted pulp is emptied in to the opposite end and moved around until it has reached an even state. Then it is left suspended that will let the liquid to leave it and the mush to dry in to a sheet of paper which will be able to be removed by stripping off.
Eventually a clever developer worked out that manufacturing a frame with ribs and putting a fine removable bamboo mat over it, would allow the paper-making process to be speeded up greatly. Rather than utilizing one mold for every paper sheet, severely restricting the number of sheets that can be made at the same time, a stack of sieved mache could be built up a layer at a time, with just a piece of cotton thread between them which would enable later separation. The stack would then be pressed gently, and each sheet of mash shifted to a place to dry.