The story of real paper started in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, virtually 5000 years in the past, brought out a pictographic type of writing. They also had been making use of various kinds of objects to write upon, notably strips of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other unconnected purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
History tells us that in 105AD an official called Tsai Lung, developed papyrus, although it is clear from finds by archaeologists that it was actually being worked with in China for at least two hundred years before Tsai Lung.
During olden times setting down words or pictograms was usually on bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nevertheless the prohibitive cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these materials were not of great use. Around then Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using bark from trees, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he submitted a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and received high praise for his thoughts. Consequently, since those days paper has been in use universally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this accolade is deserved, will probably not ever be known! But the main factor must be that it was discovered that they could pound particular substances taken from plant matter into a mache, remove impure substances, place the mache in liquid, filter it onto fabric sheets giving it time to dry. When fully dried, it congealed into a hard, tough sheet that was astonishingly light, and providing it did not get wet, proved really tenacious.
This most straightforward of papermaking technologies is even now practised in precisely a similar way in Tibet and Nepal, the first countries to pick up the techniques from South East Asia. A simple frame makes use of a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, thin paste is poured in to the other side and spread around until it has become even. Then it is left suspended in order for it to allow the water to drain and the grume to dry in to a paper sheet which will be able to be peeled off.
There came a time when a developer with great skills came to the conclusion that manufacturing a frame with ribbing and placing a fine bamboo mat that is removable over this, would enable the process to be speeded up greatly. Instead of utilizing a single mold for every parchment sheet, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that are able to be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved pulp was able to be built up a layer at a time, with just a piece of cotton thread between them which would facilitate later separation. The stack would then be pressed slightly, and each layer of mash shifted to a dry place.