The history of real paper started in China. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly 5,000 years ago, brought out a form of pictographic writing. The Egyptians too had been making use of various things to write on, most commonly pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was made use of as well.
Legend leads us to believe that in 105AD an official named Tsai Lung, developed paper, although it seems from archaeological discoveries that it was actually in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for more than likely two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
Back in ancient times gone by setting down words or pictograms was usually on bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nevertheless silk being expensive and bamboo being very weighty, these materials were not of great use. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using tree bark, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he submitted a report to the emperor on the process of making paper and was endowed with high accolade for his creativity. From those distant times paper has been availed of universally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If the above title is correct or not, will likely not ever be known! However, what is important must be that they discovered that they could grind particular plant-derived compounds into a grume, take away unwanted substances, float the grume in liquid, sieve it out onto textile sheets allowing it to dry. When it dried, it caked into a firm, robust sheet that turned out to be remarkably light, and as long as it was not allowed to get damp, proved incredibly durable.
This most straightforward of paper making technologies is still being used in precisely a similar way in Nepal and Tibet, the initial regions to learn the technolgies from South East Asia. A basic frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, watery mush is situated in to the opposite end and moved around until it is level. It is then left hanging in order for it to let the water to drain and the mash to dry into a paper sheet which can be taken off.
As time went by a clever developer came to the conclusion that constructing a frame with ribs and placing a fine removable bamboo mat over this, would enable the process to be speeded up incredibly. Rather than using a single mould for every sheet of parchment, severely restricting the amount of sheets that can be made at one time, a stack of sieved pulp could be built up a layer at a time, with just a length of cotton thread between them in order to help with later separation. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and each sheet of mache transferred to a dry board.