The history of proper paper happened in China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost five thousand years in the past, brought out a style of writing that used images. They too had been using many different types of things to write on, most commonly strips of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they made for other purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, created usable paper, though it appears from finds by archaeologists that actually it was in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for at least two centuries before Tsai Lung.
Way back during olden times writing was generally done on some derivative of bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nevertheless the cost of silk and the weight of bamboo, these two materials were not convenient. Due to this Tsai Lun thought of making use of the bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper making and received high praise for his thoughts. Consequently, from that period paper has been utilized all over the world and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this accolade is relevant or not, will probably never be uncovered! But what is important must be that they found that if they ground some substances taken from plants in to a mush, throw out unwanted substances, float the mush in water, screen it onto fabric sheets and allow it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it consolidated into a hard, resilient sheet that turned out to be decidedly light, and as long as it did not come into contact with water, proved particularly robust.
It's a fact that this very simple of paper making techniques is still practised in exactly a similar way within Tibet and Nepal, the very first countries to take the craft from South East Asia. A simple frame has a cotton cloth stretched over a single side, thin pulp is situated into the opposite end and moved around until it has become even. Then it is left suspended in order for it to let the liquid to drain and the paste to dry into a paper sheet which may be peeled off.
At some stage an extremely talented developer came to the conclusion that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a fine bamboo mat that is replaceable over this, would enable the process to be quickened enormously. Instead of using one mold for every parchment sheet, therefore severely limiting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved mash could be built up layer upon layer, with just a length of cotton thread between them in order to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very lightly, and each layer of mache shifted to a place to dry.