The origins of proper paper happened in South East Asia. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually five thousand years ago, brought out a kind of writing that used images. The Egyptians too had been making use of several types of things to write on, notably lengths of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and possibly the barkcloth they used for other reasons from the Paper. Mulberry was used as well.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105AD a member of the government named Tsai Lung, created paper, although it is clear from archaeological digs that it was in fact around in China for at least two hundred years before Tsai Lung.
Back during ancient times setting down words was mainly done on bamboo or sometimes on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nonetheless the cost of silk and bamboo being very weighty, these two materials were not convenient. Due to this Tsai Lun thought of utilizing the bark from trees, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he submitted a report to the emperor regarding the process of making paper and received high praise for his creativity. Since those distant days paper has been utilized every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above title is Marquis Tsai's entitlement or not, will probably never be known! However, the important thing must be that they found that they could pound particular compounds derived from plant matter into a pulp, bstract impurities, float the pulp in water, sieve it onto fabric sheets giving it enough time to dry out. After the drying process was complete, it consolidated into a hard, robust sheet that turned out to be really light, and provided that it was not allowed to come into contact with water, proved decidedly tenacious.
This the most simple of paper making techniques is even now in use in precisely the same way within Nepal and Tibet, the first regions to learn the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame makes use of a cloth manufactured from cotton stretched over a single side, watery mash is emptied in to the far end and moved around until it has reached an even state. After which it is suspended in order for it to allow the liquid to drain out of it and the paste to dry in to a sheet of paper which may be stripped off.
At some stage a very talented individual realized that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over it, would let the procedure to be accelerated to a great degree. Rather than utilizing one mold for each parchment sheet, severely restricting the number of sheets that could be made at the same time, a stack of sieved mush could be built up layer upon layer, with only a length of cotton thread between them which would help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and every sheet of grume moved to a dry board.