AnthropOLogy > Make Your Own Paper

Make Your Own Paper

Every time you read a magazine, sip from a juice box, or blow your nose, you're using paper . Today, we take paper for granted. But it was once a treasured secret.

About 2,000 years ago, the Chinese figured out how to make paper from plants or cloth. They traded paper and other valuable goods along the Silk Road with empires to the west. Paper made it easier for people to record and share ideas. As paper spread across the ancient world, it sparked a new age of learning.

girl holding sheets of hand made paper that she made

Try Making Paper!

See how people in China made paper from bamboo.

Cut plants and soak them in water.
Boil the plants and pound them to a pulp or soggy mass.
Mix the pulp with water until tiny fibers form on the surface. Lift out the thin layer of pulp with a paper mold to form a sheet.
Flip over the mold to release the wet sheet. Press the paper to squeeze out water.
Hang the paper to dry.