The history of proper paper started in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually 5,000 years in the past, invented a kind of writing that used images. They also had been making use of several kinds of objects to write upon, most usually lengths of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and possibly the barkcloth they utilized for other unconnected purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
History tells us that in 105AD an official going by the name of Tsai Lung, developed paper, although it is almost certain from finds by archaeologists that it was actually around in China for more than likely two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
During ancient times gone by setting down words was generally done on some derivative of bamboo or on strips of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless silk being expensive and bamboo being very heavy, these materials were not convenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun thought of utilizing the bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he made a report to the emperor regarding the production of paper and got many accolades for his creativity. Consequently, since then paper has been availed of all over and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above title is Tsai's entitlement or not, will very likely never be uncovered! But the important thing must be that they discovered that if they ground some plant-derived compounds into a mache, expunge impurities, place the mache in water, screen it onto cloth sheets allowing it to dry. After drying, it calcified into a hard, robust sheet that turned out to be exceedingly light, and provided that it did not get damp, proved extremely tenacious.
This easiest of papermaking techniques is still being used in precisely a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the first places to make use of the craft from South East Asia. A basic frame utilises a cotton cloth stretched over a single side, diluted pulp is situated in to the opposite side and spread about until it has reached an even state. Then it is left hanging in order for it to enable the liquid to leave it and the paste to dry into a parchment sheet which may be removed by stripping off.
As time passed a very talented individual realized that building a frame with ribbing and placing a fine replaceable bamboo mat across this, would allow the process to be accelerated greatly. Instead of tying up a single mold for every paper sheet, severely limiting the amount of sheets that may be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a strip of cotton thread between them in order to enable later separation. The stack would then be squeezed slightly, and each layer of mush transferred to a dry board.