Paper Making (Week 2)

During this past week we read and discussed the substrates that were used to communicate and keep records.  Clay was used in Mesopotamia and papyrus was used in Egypt, parchment became popular because it was the first substrate that allowed writing to be written on both sides and it was much more durable than papyrus, the Chinese invented paper which is what we still use today. The same process they used is still used today only it is done mechanically now and not by hand.  Pulp is soaked in a vat of water where the vat-man dips a mold, a frame with a screen stretched across, and lifts it up shaking it side to side to lock the fibers while the water drains through the mold.  The paper was then laid down on a woolen cloth, or couched, where it would dry.  Paper was not only used to write on, it was used as wallpaper, wrapping paper, toilet paper, and napkins.  All of which are still used today.

This is a picture that I took of my friend in our J-term class this year.  We made paper for about two and a half weeks, thats all we did was make paper.  In the picture my friend is couching the paper, we used boards in place of a woolen cloth.  You can also see the mold that was used.  When I read about the process the Chinese used to make paper I was amazed at how I had used the same process in my class that had been used centuries before I was even born!