The origins of proper paper happened in South East Asia. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly five thousand years in the past, brought out a type of writing that used images. The Egyptians also had been using many different things to write upon, notably strips of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other reasons from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Legend tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government called Tsai Lung, developed usable paper, though it is clear from archaeological finds that actually it was being used in China for at least two centuries before Tsai Lung.
Way back in times gone by setting down words or pictograms was generally done on bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. But the prohibitive cost of silk and bamboo being weighty, these two materials were inconvenient. Due to this Tsai Lun came up with the idea of utilizing bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he delivered a report to the emperor on the process of paper making and was endowed with high praise for his idea. Since those days paper has been used globally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above historical tag is accurate or not, will likely never be uncovered! Nonetheless the important factor is that it was discovered that if they ground particular plant-derived substances into a grume, discard unwanted substances, float the grume in liquid, filter it out onto textile sheets giving it enough time to dry out. After drying, it caked into a firm, firm sheet that turned out to be extremely light, and provided that it was not allowed to come into contact with water, turned out to be surprisingly durable.
This simplest of papermaking techniques is still practised in exactly a similar way around Tibet and Nepal, the first countries to take the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame utilizes a cloth made from cotton pulled and held over a single side, diluted mash is put in to the other side and moved around until it is smooth. It is then suspended in order for it to let the water to drain out of it and the mush to dry into a paper sheet which will be able to be peeled off.
At some point in time a very clever individual came to realize that constructing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and placing a fine removable bamboo mat across this, would enable the procedure to be quickened to a great degree. Rather than utilizing one mould for every parchment sheet, consequently severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be made at the same time, a stack of sieved mache could be built up layer upon layer, with just a strip of cotton thread between them which would facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and each sheet of paste moved to a dry board.