The origins of true paper started in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries ago, invented a kind of writing that used images. The Egyptians too had been utilizing many different objects to write upon, usually pieces of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they made for other uses derived from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Legend points to the fact that in 105AD a government worker by the name of Tsai Lung, developed paper, though it seems from finds by archaeologists that it was actually around in China for more than likely two centuries before Tsai Lung.
Back during ancient times setting down words was generally on some form of bamboo or sometimes on strips of silk, which were called Ji in those days. Nevertheless silk being expensive and the weight of bamboo, these materials were not convenient. At this time Tsai Lun thought of making use of tree bark, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and was endowed with much praise for his ideas. From those days paper has been utilized in almost every place on earth and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this particular claim is relevant, will very likely never be known! But the most important consideration must be that they found that they could grind some substances derived from plant matter in to a mush, take out unwanted materials, place the mush in water, sieve it onto fabric sheets and allow it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it conglomerated into a hard, tough sheet that was incredibly light, and providing it did not get damp, turned out to be astonishingly resilient.
It's a fact that this most simple of paper making techniques is even now still being used in exactly a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the very first countries to learn the technolgies from South East Asia. A simple frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, diluted mache is situated into the other end and moved around until it has reached a level. Then it is left hanging that will allow the liquid to drain and the mash to dry into a sheet of paper which will be able to be stripped off.
It eventually came to pass that a developer with great skills came to the conclusion that building a frame with ribbing and placing a delicate removable bamboo mat across this, would enable the process to be speeded up to a much greater degree. Instead of tying up one mold for each sheet of parchment, severely limiting the amount of sheets that could be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved paste could be built up a layer at a time, with just a piece of cotton thread between them which would enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and every sheet of pulp transferred to a place to dry.