The history of true paper started in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost fifty centuries ago, brought out a form of pictographic writing. They too had been using many different kinds of objects to scribe on, notably strips of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they made for other reasons from the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government called Tsai Lung, created usable paper, though it is clear from archaeological finds that actually it was being worked with in China for probably two centuries before him.
In times gone by scribing was generally done on bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were called Ji in those days. However, the prohibitive cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these materials were inconvenient. Around then Tsai Lun came up with the idea of making use of bark from trees, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor regarding the production of paper and got high praise for his abilities. Consequently, from those distant times paper has been availed of universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above title is relevant or not, will very likely never be known! But the main consideration is that the discovery was made that if they pounded particular substances derived from plant material in to a pulp, separate impurities, place the pulp in water, sieve it out onto fabric sheets giving it enough time to dry out. When fully dried, it compacted into a firm, tenacious sheet that was astonishingly light, and as long as it did not get damp, turned out to be remarkably dense.
This easiest of paper making technologies is still practised in precisely a similar way around Nepal and Tibet, the initial areas to take the craft from South East Asia. A basic frame utilises a cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, watery mache is situated into the opposite side and spread around until it is smooth. It is then left suspended in order for it to enable the liquid to leave it and the grume to dry into a sheet of paper which can be removed by peeling.
By and by an extremely clever individual realized that building a frame with ribbing and putting in place a delicate replaceable bamboo mat over it, would allow the procedure to be speeded up to a much greater degree. Rather than tying up a single mould for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that can be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved mush could be built up layer upon layer, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and every sheet of paste transferred to a board to dry.