Making Paper

Make your own sheets of paper using recycled paper

Have you ever wondered where paper comes from and how it is produced? Paper comes from trees and one tree produces around 8000 sheets of paper. Despite the technological advances, people still use a lot of paper every day. Recycling a 1000Kg of paper will eventually save between 12 to 15 trees (or more, depending on what kind of paper it is). Different trees are used to produce different types of paper. Hardwood coniferous trees such as oak and maple are mostly used for paper production since they have shorter fibres and create stronger paper. Less strong paper is produced from softwood conifers like pine and spruce.

When trees are cut down (unfortunately) they are transported to a paper production facility. The trunks are then debarked and chopped into small wood chips. The chips are then mixed with water and cooked into a paste. The paste is then bleached, and other chemicals are added to give the finished paper more strength. The paste is flattened using giant rollers in order to squeeze out the excess water. After more flattening, the paste is turned into a giant paper roll which is then cut into paper sheets of different sizes.

Instead of using wood chips, new paper can be made from used paper. When paper is recycled, these are shredded down into smaller pieces and mixed with water once again to be cooked into a paste. When we recycle paper, we are not only helping to save the environment by cutting down less trees but also reducing the amount of paper waste.

How to make your own paper from other recycled paper

The first thing you should know is that, when choosing paper to recycle to make new paper, it is very important to know that different paper will make different types of new paper. If you use normal white paper with some writing on it, the result will be a simple light-coloured paper. On the other hand, if you mix the white paper with some coloured paper, you can get a nicely speckled paper. Newspapers tend to produce greyish paper and magazine papers produce more colourful ones.

So, what do we need?

Step 1: Making the Mould & Deckle

Choose the frames you want to use. They can be any size as long as they are identical in size and shape. The size of the frame will determine the size of the paper.
Strip the two frames from all the parts leaving only the wooden frame border. Make sure the frames are as plain as possible. We shall be using the flat side of the frames.
On one frame, attach the netting to the flat side using a staple gun. Trim any excess netting going over the frame’s edges.
Seal the edges of the frame with duct tape for a cleaner result.
The frame with the net is the deckle whilst the frame with nothing added to it is the mould.

Step 2: Preparing the paper pulp

Choose the type of paper you want to use to make new paper.
Cut the paper into smaller pieces or shred them if you have a shredder.
Place the shredded paper into a blender and cover it well with water.
Blend them well until the paper turns into a pulp.

Step 3: Making the paper

Fill the dish (or a plastic basin) with water and mix in the paper pulp. The more pulp you use, the thicker the paper will be.
Place the mould on the deckle and hold them together as one piece.
Dip them into the water and pulp mixture and collect the pulp in the mould.
Lift, and allow the excess water to drip from the mesh whilst shaking gently so that the pulp flattens across the deckle.
Remove the mould and place the deckle on a flat surface, ideally over a towel or a rag.
Use the sponge to gently pat the pulp to remove any excess water which has not dripped through the mesh.
Flip the deckle onto a piece of baking paper and gently remove the deckle, leaving the newly formed sheet of paper on the baking paper.
You can now use the sponge to flatten the pulp even more and remove any more water.
If the pulp seems smudged that is fine, you can use something thin such as a ruler to fix the edges.
Leave the paper sheet on the baking paper and place it on a flat surface until it dries. You can use a hairdryer to speed up the process.

Tip: You can add some other items to your paper pulp for different effects and textures such as flower petals or small leaves. You can also add food colouring to the pulp to make a coloured sheet.

Here are some of the paper we have made. We used some of our rough paper from our office to make these lovely A5 sheets. We tried linking the paper pulp together to make an A3 sheet as well.