The story of proper paper started in China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries ago, created a style of pictographic writing. The Egyptians also had been using various things to scribe on, usually lengths of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out papyrus, though it is almost certain from archaeological finds that actually it was being used in what is now the People's Republic of China for at least two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
Way back during ancient times scribing was usually done on some derivative of bamboo or on strips of silk, which were then called ji. However, the cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these two materials were not convenient. Around then Tsai Lun thought of making use of bark from trees, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor on the process of paper manufacture and was endowed with many accolades for his idea. From this time paper has been used universally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If the above historical tag is accurate, will very likely never be known! Nonetheless the important factor must be that it was discovered that they could grind some plant derived substances in to a paste, abolish impurities, put the paste in water, screen it out onto fabric sheets and give it time to dry out. When it dried, it consolidated into a firm, dense sheet that turned out to be particularly light, and providing it was not allowed to get damp or wet, turned out to be remarkably resilient.
This easiest of paper making technologies is even now practised in precisely a similar way within Tibet and Nepal, the initial regions to learn the techniques from South East Asia. A basic frame utilises a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, very watery pulp is situated into the other side and moved around until it is even. Then it is left hanging in order for it to allow the liquid to drain and the mash to dry into a sheet of parchment which can be taken off.
There came a time when a very talented individual came to the conclusion that building a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a delicate removable bamboo mat over it, would let the procedure to be speeded up incredibly. Instead of using one mould for every parchment sheet, consequently severely limiting the number of sheets that may be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mush was able to be built up a layer at a time, with merely a length of cotton thread between them in order to help with later separation. The stack would then be pressed lightly, and each sheet of mache transferred to a dry place.