The history of proper paper happened in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly five thousand years ago, brought out a pictographic style of writing. The Egyptians also had been utilizing various things to write on, notably strips of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and possibly the barkcloth they made for other purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Legend leads us to believe that in 105AD a member of the government called Tsai Lung, created papyrus, though it is almost certain from archaeological discoveries that it was in fact around in South East Asia for probably two centuries prior to him.
During ancient times gone by writing was usually on bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nevertheless silk being expensive and the weight of bamboo, these two materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun thought of using tree bark, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he made a report to the emperor about the production of paper and received much praise for his ability. Consequently, since those distant days paper has been availed of all over and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If the above historical tag is Marquis Tsai's entitlement or not, will very likely never be uncovered! However, the main consideration must be that it was found that they could grind particular plant-derived compounds in to a mush, displace unwanted materials, float the mush in water, sieve it onto fabric sheets allowing it to dry. When fully dried, it calcified into a firm, firm sheet that was remarkably light, and as long as it did not get damp or wet, proved really tenacious.
This most simple of papermaking techniques is still practised in precisely the same way around Tibet and Nepal, the first areas to pick up the techniques from China. A simple frame utilises a type of cotton cloth made to stretch over a side, very watery paste is put into the opposite end and moved around until it is smooth. Then it is suspended somewhere to let the liquid to drain and the mache to dry in to a paper sheet which can be taken off.
Eventually a very clever individual worked out that manufacturing a frame with ribs and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would allow the paper-making process to be speeded up to a much greater degree. Rather than using one mold for each sheet of paper, severely limiting the number of sheets that can be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up a layer at a time, with merely a length of cotton thread between them to facilitate later separation. The stack would then be pressed very lightly, and every sheet of grume moved to a dry board.