Making Paper

First, let's gather the ingredients needed to make the paper. Paper made from trees costs an awful because trees have gotten hard to process and rather pricey. Plus, there is a lengthy process involved in making them. Technically you could use scrap paper torn up really small for this next step. But that would involve soaking it in water for a number of hours to soften the paper. In some areas of the world without scrap paper, this really does get quite expensive. In the absence of scrap paper, plant materials will also do quite nicely. These need to be gathered carefully to ensure that nothing is damaged of the surrounding areas. Plants like trees can take too long to grow. Once gone, they could be harder still to get back.

Alright, we've got the chosen plant materials nicely. Now that you've gotten a nice bunch, boil them in water in a pot preferably on top of the stove for several hours. When that's nice and soft, you can carefully drain the water off but be careful to still keep the plant matter with you. Next, you'll need some way to blend up the matter sort of fine but not too fine. The texture should resemble a nice pulp. If you don't have a blender, a masher is fine. Now that you've got your plant matter ground, you're ready for the next steps. Generally, you would use a wooden box with a screen inside to shape the paper and let it dry. Without a screen or a frame however, you can use a bit of mesh or even some clean cloth. Gently scrape the plant matter out onto the chosen medium, making sure to spread evenly and in the desired shape. Then just let it dry. This should take anywhere from a few hours to a whole day. Once you're done however, you should be able to peel off a sturdy sheet of paper that's nice and holds its final shape. The other thing you can do when you spread it out, is use a bit of water in between to make sure it's not too thick and even not too thin. The water will run over the cloth and dry. Yet the paper will still be in good form.