The origins of genuine paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly fifty centuries ago, created a pictographic form of writing. The Egyptians also had been making use of several kinds of things to scribe upon, most usually pieces of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they used for other reasons derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government named Tsai Lung, developed papyrus, though it is almost certain from archaeological finds that it was in fact around in South East Asia for probably two hundred years before him.
In times gone by setting down words or pictograms was usually done on bamboo or on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. But silk being expensive and bamboo being very weighty, these two materials were not convenient. At this time Tsai Lun thought of utilizing the bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor on the process of making paper and was endowed with high accolade for his abilities. Consequently, from those days paper has been utilized all over the world and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this particular claim is Tsai's entitlement or not, will very likely not ever be known! However, the most important thing is that the discovery was made that they could pound some substances taken from plant matter in to a pulp, eliminate unwanted substances, float the pulp in water, filter it onto fabric sheets giving it enough time to dry out. When it dried, it conglomerated into a firm, tough sheet that turned out to be exceedingly light, and as long as it did not get damp, proved incredibly dense.
It's a fact that this very easy of paper making techniques is still practised in exactly a similar way around Tibet and Nepal, the first areas to pick up the craft from China. A simple frame makes use of a cotton cloth made to stretch over a side, very watery mush is emptied into the other end and spread about until it is smooth. It is then left suspended in order for it to let the liquid to drain and the mache to dry into a paper sheet which may be removed by peeling.
At some point in time a talented developer came to realize that building a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a delicate replaceable bamboo mat over this, would enable the process to be quickened to a great degree. Instead of using one mould for every parchment sheet, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved paste was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a piece of cotton thread between them in order to enable later separation. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and each sheet of mash shifted to a dry board.