How to make Paper

Since 105A.D. by Ts'ai Lun in China, the method of making paper had spread out to the world. By 751, Chinese prisoners introduced the methods to the West; Baghdad, Egypt, Damascus, and Morocco. Also, the papermaking skills were passed on to the East; Korea around the 4th century, then to Japan in 610.

Papyrus strips were used in Egypt, and wood pulp, cotton and textiles were used in East Asian countries. These days, most paper is made of wood pulp by machines. However, many people still continue their traditional methods of making paper by hands.

One of the oldest papermaking countries, Korea has developed its own way to make its traditional paper, called Hanji.

The Traditional Method of Making Paper

1. Koreans use mulberry pulp.

2. The branches of Mulberry are steamed and the outer layerof the bark is peeled to be dried in the sun.

3. This bark skin is socked in cold water for a day and is scraped with a knife to get rid of the black cuticle getting white bark.

4. The white bark is boiled in lye-ashes made from burnt bean stalks, buckwheat straw, pepper stalks, cotton stalks- for 6-7 hours.

5. The boiled fibers are washed to remove the lye and left in the sun.

6. The wet fibers are placed on a flat surface and beatten into a pulp.

7. Then the beatten pulp is mixed with clean water and Takpul, an annual grass used as a gluing agent.

8. The mixed fibers are strained through a bamboo screen, which is shaken back and forth to create a crisscross pattern of fibers for extraordinary resiliency.

9. The wet paper is lifted off the screen and laid onto a wooden plate. Stones are placed to press out the extra moisture.

10. Each sheet of paper is placed on the drying board and left to dry in the sun.

11. The dried sheets of paper are pounded until they lie flat and smooth.

Cho, Eunah. Cho Eun Art. http://www.choeunart.com/Page/2864/0-1/Hanji+(%ED%95%9C%EC%A7%80).aspx

Yum, Hyejung. Traditional Korean Papermaking: analytical examination of historic Korean papers and research into history, materials and techniques of traditional papermaking of Korea. 2003. http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/publications/koreanpapermaking.html

Earliest form of Paper Folding in Europe

The history of paper folding in European countries is very scanty compared to other branches of paper art. However, the earliest paper folding is 50 years younger than the Catherine of Cleves manuscript. Also the childhood mainstay of a simple folded paper boat is found in the late 15th century.





Cassell’s Book of Indoor Amusements, which was published in 1881, contains designs dating from 19th century to mordern time. However, because paper is cut, not many mordern paperfolders favor the recreations and crafts from the book.

With various folds following the diagram, a box can be created from a squared piece of paper, like in origami.

Cultural exchange between the East and the West hardly occured in early centuries, but amazingly enough, similar art branches had evolved from paper.

Serena da Riva, Donna. Paper Folding in 15th Century Europe. http://www.loggiaserena.com/Resume/Documentation/PaperFoldingDoc.pdf

History of Paper Folding

Papermaking is considered to be one of the four great inventions of Ancient China. The technique of papermaking was brought to Korea and Japan. Later on, these Northeast Asian countries developed different styles and traditions of paper folding.
Korea accepted paper not only for writing, but also for making windows, wallpaper, and furniture. Koreans lived with papers for more than a thousand years.
Japan produced quality paper and developed independent paper folding. The Japanese also published the first books on paper folding (Origami).

Today, paper folding is used in various occasions, People apply paper folding to design architectural models such as space stations and to make clothing. Studies
have found that paper folding helps brain development, creative ability, concentrating ability, and geometrical understanding making paper folding a favorite children activity for learning mathematic skills.

Motive to Paper Folding

I have found interest in Paper Folding since I was a little kid. My aunt used to fold little ornaments and gave to me as a gift whenever I visited her.

Later on, I was amazed by a flat paper becoming a 3D object. Every object can be imitated out of a piece of paper!






The artistic factor of paper folding brought me to explore the different branch of art.
The mathematic factor of paper folding helped me through the geometry class.
The historic factor of paper folding surprised me.
For these reasons, I would love to share the fascination of Paper Folding with you.
I will be posting some instructions of paper folding for different levels and adding some comments/reviews of each project.