The history of genuine paper began in China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost 5,000 years ago, invented a style of writing that used pictures. They also had been using several types of objects to scribe on, usually pieces of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they used for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
History points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a government worker called Tsai Lung, developed papyrus, though it is clear from finds by archaeologists that it was actually in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two hundred years before Tsai Lung.
Way back during times gone by setting down words or pictograms was usually done on bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. But the cost of silk and bamboo being heavy, these two materials were inconvenient. Around then Tsai Lun came up with the idea of making use of bark from trees, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor regarding the production of paper and received many accolades for his abilities. From those distant days paper has been availed of in almost every place on earth and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If the above historical tag is relevant or not, will probably never be known! Nevertheless what is important is that they found that if they ground particular compounds taken from plant matter into a grume, displace impure materials, place the grume in water, filter it onto textile sheets allowing it to dry. When it dried, it consolidated into a firm, tough sheet that turned out to be very light, and as long as it did not get damp or wet, proved particularly resilient.
It's a fact that this most simple of papermaking techniques is still in use in precisely a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the first places to learn the techniques from South East Asia. A basic frame makes use of a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, very watery pulp is put in to the far side and spread around until it is even. After which it is left suspended so that it will let the liquid to drain out of it and the paste to dry into a sheet of paper which may be removed by peeling.
It eventually came to pass that an extremely clever individual worked out that making a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting in place a delicate replaceable bamboo mat across it, would enable the paper-making process to be quickened incredibly. Rather than tying up a single mould for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that may be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mache could be built up a layer at a time, with merely a length of cotton thread between them to help with later separation. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and every sheet of mash transferred to a board to dry.