After this, people started making tablets of mud and inscribed their history, messages and pictures on the clay tablets and let them dry. Gradually, they discovered that cooking clay tablets in fire will turn them into a solid substance called terracotta.
Egyptians were the first to invent papyrus from the stem of a plant that has its roots in water. They extracted thin strips of papyrus from the stem and produced several meters of rolls of sheets. Egyptians not only used papyrus in their country, but started trading them with the Greeks and Romans. After papyrus came parchment, made of sheep's skin, which was used till late medieval ages in Europe .
Paper came into being first in China . The Chinese claim that it was first made by an officer of the emperor in 105 AD. The Chinese extracted paper from vegetable fibers, hemp, bamboo, and mulberry. They used paper for making fans, hats, clothes, and many other utilities, Buddhist monks were a great help in spreading the use of paper in the eastern countries. The first papermaking factory was established in Spain , in 1009 AD. Paper is usually manufactured from wood and numerous cellulose fibers which are joined with animal adhesives. Coating on paper is done using mineral powders. Then, this coarse sheet is passed through a machine in which rollers press it with great force. This is called calendaring and smooth, white paper is produced. Now, when you have understood the history and the importance of paper, you can learn how to make paper . You can learn how to make paper from newspapers lying at home. In exact terms, this is more like recycling preparation than making it. Still, the final outcome will be a plain sheet of paper. Materials you need to make paper are:
Dip newspaper in water for around two days since this will give better results. Take out the newspaper from water and squeeze out the excess water from it. Crush a bit of newspaper using mortar and pestle until a homogenous paste is formed. Crush the whole newspaper in this way and collect the paste in a bowl. Fill half a bowl of water and place it on the burner. Stir the paste until you separate out each fiber from the paste of crushed newspaper. Now, immerse the wooden frame into the water and collect the suspended fibers from the bowl. Keep check that the sieve is facing the bottom of the bowl. Remove the frame slowly and straighten out the fiber suspension. Let it drain for a while. Place the Formica sheet on the fiber suspension and squeeze out excess water from it. Now, remove the Formica sheet gently so that the newly formed paper remains attached with it. Dry the sheet of paper with a hair dryer. Here comes your paper sheet. You can even add some green grass, or flower petals without crushing them into the paste of paper. This will produce beautiful paper.
Paper is an everyday need of your life. You cannot do without paper at home, in offices, and schools, or anywhere in the world. It is used for books, notebooks, files, calendars, bulletins, newspapers, magazines, writing, packing, cleaning, drying, and for several other purposes. Primitive people used to draw hunting scenes, images representing their day to day life, pictures of their hunting weapons, eating utensils and even their own images on the walls of caves.