The origins of genuine paper began in China. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost 5,000 years ago, invented a style of writing that used images. They also had been making use of several types of things to write on, most commonly pieces of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other reasons derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
History points to the fact that in 105AD a government worker named Tsai Lung, brought out usable paper, although it appears from finds by archaeologists that it was in fact around in South East Asia for at least two hundred years before him.
In olden times setting down words was generally on bamboo or occasionally on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. However, silk being expensive and bamboo being too heavy, these materials were not convenient. At this time Tsai Lun thought of using the bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he made a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper making and was endowed with much praise for his ideas. Since then paper has been utilized everywhere and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above title is accurate, will very likely never be known! Nevertheless the main factor must be that the discovery was made that if they pounded particular plant derived substances into a grume, oust unwanted materials, put the grume in liquid, screen it out onto fabric sheets and allow it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it dried into a hard, durable sheet that turned out to be extraordinarily light, and providing it did not come into contact with water, turned out to be remarkably tough.
It's a fact that this simple of papermaking techniques is still in use in precisely a similar way in and around Nepal and Tibet, the initial areas to make use of the techniques from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame has a kind of cotton cloth stretched over one side, very watery mush is poured in to the opposite side and moved around until it is smooth. After which it is left suspended that will allow the water to leave it and the paste to dry into a sheet of paper which can be removed by stripping off.
By and by a very clever individual figured that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a fine replaceable bamboo mat across it, would enable the process to be accelerated greatly. Rather than tying up a single mould for every paper sheet, consequently severely restricting the number of sheets that may be produced at one time, a stack of sieved pulp was able to be built up layer upon layer, with only a piece of cotton thread between them which would facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very lightly, and each layer of mache moved to a dry place.