The history of true paper began in South East Asia. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries ago, brought out a kind of writing that used pictures. The Egyptians also had been utilizing several types of things to scribe upon, most notably pieces of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Legend tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government going by the name of Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, although it is almost certain from archaeological finds that in fact it was in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for at least two hundred years before him.
During ancient times gone by setting down words was mainly done on bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were called Ji in those days. Nevertheless the soaring cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these materials were inconvenient. Around then Tsai Lun thought of using the bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and got high praise for his inventions. From that time paper has been in use all over the world and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this historical reference is accurate, will likely never be uncovered! Nonetheless the main consideration has to be that they found that they could grind certain substances taken from plant material into a paste, expunge unwanted substances, place the paste in water, filter it out onto fabric sheets allowing it to dry. When fully dried, it calcified into a hard, robust sheet that was decidedly light, and as long as it was not allowed to get damp, turned out to be incredibly tough.
It's a fact that this simple of papermaking technologies is still in use in precisely a similar way in Nepal and Tibet, the initial regions to make use of the technolgies from China. A basic frame utilises a cloth manufactured from cotton stretched over one side, very watery grume is situated in to the opposite side and moved around until it is smooth. After which it is suspended so that it will allow the liquid to leave it and the pulp to dry in to a sheet of paper which can be peeled off.
As time passed a talented developer figured that manufacturing a frame with ribbing and putting in place a delicate removable bamboo mat across it, would let the paper-making process to be quickened greatly. Instead of tying up one mold for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that could be produced at one time, a stack of sieved mache was able to be built up a layer at a time, with merely a strip of cotton thread between them in order to enable later separation. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and every sheet of mash shifted to a board to dry.