Creative tips for making and transforming paper

Using simple techniques and inexpensive, readily available materials, you can practice one of the most ancient and satisfying of all crafts by making your own personalized writing and wrapping paper. Here are some tips to get you started.

Paper is said to have been invented in 105 AD by a Chinese courtier, Cai Lun, who employed a process that has remained unchanged in principle to the present day.Cai Lun discovered that when raw materials containing cellulose are beaten and suspended in water, the resulting pulp can be formed into a sheet on a screen and then pressed and dried.

• Once you've mastered the basics, making your own paper is surprisingly easy, particularly if you use old paper as your raw material. The result of your labours may be distinctive greeting cards, stationery or wrapping material.
• Almost any plant fibre is a suitable raw material for making paper, but it must first be cooked in an alkaline solution to break down those substances that inhibit the papermaking process.
• A short cut for the home papermaker is to use waste paper, which comes "pre-cooked".

Because the papermaking process is such a simple one, there is great scope for home experimentation.

• Striking colour effects can be achieved by mixing together the pulp obtained from different-coloured waste papers, for example.
• Small amounts of plant fibre, flower petals, grasses, seeds, confetti or cotton threads added to the pulp will give a decorative texture to the finished product.

The most specialized pieces of equipment needed for papermaking are a mould and deckle, both of which can be bought from craft shops or else are easily made.

• A mould is a mesh-covered timber frame; a deckle is a frame that has the same dimensions as the mould but without the mesh.
• The deckle is placed on top of the mould on the mesh side to prevent the pulp from running away too quickly.

When recycling paper, remember that the better the waste paper is, the better the finished product will be.

• Old newspapers are a poor base material and will produce low-quality paper.
• Used stationery material such as "office" paper will give good results, but the best ingredient for pulp is acid-free, mountboard off-cuts­ of the type discarded by picture-framers.
• Tear your raw material into small pieces and soak it for at least 24 hours in a bucket of water.
• Half a bucket of mountboard pieces will make about 20 sheets of A4 paper.

Papermaking is a unique hobby that doesn't require a lot of time or money. Give it a try with these easy tips!