Paper
is made from many kinds of plant fibers. Paper can be made from nearly
any fibrous plant and indeed, throughout history, it has been. Paper
starts out as plant fiber, which is then beaten and/or immersed in
chemicals until the fibers are separated and collapsed. In this way,
each fiber offers the maximum surface area for bonding to the other
fibers. This material is called pulp, and the process is called pulping.
Cotton is the most common fiber used to make paper. Long stringy fibers
are a bit difficult to work with but make stronger paper.
The fiber characteristics of each plant vary. All plant fibers contain
strands of cellulose called microfibrils, and these are generally
grouped into a bundle that forms the fiber. The fibers are oriented
roughly parallel to one another like string cheese. These fibers are
held together and interpenetrated by lignin, the presence of which
reduces the strength and diminishes the optical brightness of paper.
Depending on the plant fibers used for making handmade papers, these
papers are classified into tapa paper, cardstock, chiri paper, lokta
paper, lupa paper, washi paper, mulberry paper, etc.
