Handmade Paper

The production process of a hand made paper starts from cooking the dried bark of "Lokta" or Daphne Papyracea with ash or caustic soda solution. The soften bark received after boiling is taken out and washed with clean water to remove impurities and then cut into small pieces with sickle. The small pieces of bark once again cooked with the required proportion of water. After cooking, the soft bark is cleaned with water then kept on a plane and flat stone for beating with wooden hammer to turn into fine pulp. After beating the pulp is mixed with required amount of water and stirred with wooden ladle to form a homogenous emulsion of pulp. Then the potful of pulp-measuring tool is put into the frame which is being floated in the pond. As soon as the pulp is put over the frame, the frame is gently shaken to spread pulp evently over the frame. The frame is then taken out from the pond and the frame with the layer of the pulp (wet sheet of paper) is taken away for drying in the sunlight. The layer of pulp which becomes a sheet of paper in the frame after drying is peeled slowly from the frame.