Papermaking, regardless of the scale on which it is done, involves making a dilute suspension of fibres in water and allowing this suspension to drain through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is then removed from this mat of fibres using a press.
The method of manual papermaking changed very little over time, despite advances in technologies. The process of manufacturing handmade paper can be generalized into five steps:
Separating the useful fibre from the rest of raw materials. (e.g. cellulose from wood, cotton, etc.)
Beating down the fibre into pulp
Adjusting the colour, mechanical, chemical, biological, and other properties of the paper by adding special chemical premixes
Screening the resulting solution
Letting the solution dry, which forms your paper.