In a journey that began with making my first leather notebook in 2021, I want to continue by telling you about papermaking. First, collect your old, used paper of the same color, then tear it into small pieces to prepare it for recycling.

The next step is to soak these torn pieces in a bowl of water for 15 minutes. This softens the paper, letting it break apart more easily in the blender and turn into a slurry. Once the paper is soft enough, put a handful into the blender and fill it to the top with water. Don’t pack the paper down to the bottom, by the way — you’ll burn out the blender. There’s no rush; going a handful at a time is enough. The reason we add extra water along with the paper is to help it break apart more easily.

If you like, you can add a teaspoon of starch. I tried it both with and without starch and didn’t see a big difference. The purpose of the starch is to help the paper bind together better and whiten it a touch. But since I didn’t notice much difference, I carry on without it.

After this step, you’ll need your mesh frame ready for forming the paper. I wrote a detailed post about this before — see my Medium article “Handmade Leather-Covered Notebook“. You can check the details there, but I’m leaving a sample image below.

Once the frames are ready, you’ll need a large basin or tub to empty the blended paper slurry into. We had a big, deep red basin at home; I poured the blended paper into it and then added a bucket or two of water.

Mix well by hand so the paper slurry and water blend thoroughly. Then, with the mesh frame we prepared, lift your first sheet slowly out of the water. You need to wait for all the water to drain — it can take around 20 seconds.

After draining, you’ll have A4-shaped paper pulp pressed between two boards. Don’t rush at this stage — you can easily break up the sheet. Move slowly. The reason we hold the paper between two boards is this: the bottom frame carries the mesh, letting the water drain while the paper fibers stay on top. The top frame, with A4 width and height, is actually a hollow frame that gives the paper its A4 borders. You can also make an A5 frame and produce A5 paper — I’m planning to do the A5 version with a 3D-printed frame sometime soon, hopefully.

After draining the water and separating the top frame from the mesh frame, flip the sheet onto a piece of fabric laid flat on the floor. Then press a sponge against the mesh to soak up the excess water. And, like the bottom-left part of the image above, start lifting the frame slowly from one side. Some parts may stick to the mesh, so be careful and don’t move fast.

In the end you get A4 sheets like the examples above. Drying time varies with room temperature, but I let them sit for 2-3 days.

And the result is the paper-like sheets you see in the photo above.