The story of proper paper began in China. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries ago, invented a form of pictographic writing. The Egyptians also had been making use of several types of things to scribe upon, usually lengths of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other uses from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official called Tsai Lung, brought out paper, though it is clear from archaeological digs that it was in fact being worked with in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries prior to Tsai Lung.
Way back in olden times setting down words was usually done on bamboo or sometimes on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nevertheless the prohibitive cost of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were inconvenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using bark from trees, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor on the production of paper and got many accolades for his creativity. Consequently, from those days paper has been used in almost every place on earth and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this title is correct or not, will probably never be uncovered! Nonetheless the main factor is that they found that if they pounded some compounds derived from plant matter into a mache, abolish unwanted substances, float the mache in water, filter it onto cloth sheets allowing it to dry. After drying, it consolidated into a firm, durable sheet that turned out to be astonishingly light, and provided that it did not get damp or wet, turned out to be particularly firm.
It's a fact that this most simple of papermaking techniques is even now practised in exactly a similar way within Tibet and Nepal, the first places to learn the technolgies from South East Asia. A basic frame has a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, very watery grume is poured in to the opposite side and moved around until it has reached a level. Then it is left in order for it to let the liquid to leave it and the pulp to dry in to a parchment sheet which may be removed by stripping off.
There came a time when a very talented individual came to the conclusion that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a fine bamboo mat that is removable across it, would enable the procedure to be quickened incredibly. Rather than utilizing a single mold for every sheet of parchment, therefore severely limiting the number of sheets that are able to be made at one time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up a layer at a time, with only a piece of cotton thread between them in order to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and each sheet of mush transferred to a place to dry.