The origins of proper paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly five thousand years in the past, invented a pictographic form of writing. The Egyptians also had been utilizing various kinds of objects to scribe on, usually pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they used for other reasons from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government going by the name of Tsai Lung, developed paper, though it is almost certain from archaeological finds that actually it was being worked with in South East Asia for at least two hundred years before him.
Way back during ancient times setting down words was generally on some form of bamboo or occasionally on strips of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. But the cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these two materials were not convenient. Then Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using tree bark, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor about the process of paper making and got much praise for his idea. From that time paper has been used all over the world and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this historical reference is Marquis Tsai's entitlement, will very likely never be known! However, the most important consideration is that they found that they could pound certain compounds derived from plant matter in to a pulp, remove impure materials, put the pulp in water, sieve it onto fabric sheets giving it time to dry. When fully dried, it dried into a firm, robust sheet that was very light, and providing it was not allowed to come into contact with water, proved extremely tough.
This most straightforward of paper making technologies is still in use in exactly a similar way in and around Tibet and Nepal, the first areas to make use of the techniques from China. A simple frame utilizes a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, very watery paste is put into the other side and spread around until it has reached an even state. It is then left hanging somewhere to enable the liquid to leave it and the mache to dry in to a sheet of parchment which can be taken off.
By and by a talented developer came to realize that manufacturing a frame with ribs and putting in place a fine removable bamboo mat across it, would allow the procedure to be accelerated enormously. Rather than utilizing a single mould for every parchment sheet, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mush was able to be built up a layer at a time, with merely a length of cotton thread between them in order to enable later separation. The stack would then be squeezed very slightly, and each layer of mash shifted to a dry place.