Although papermaking has traditionally been located in urban settings, technological innovations brought about by an NGO brings a new trade to the rural backyards. Here's a do-it-yourself formula for making recycled paper at home
HANDMADE paper or recycled paper is in
hot demand these days as wood for the
paper industry is becoming a scarce
resource. IRED-Forum, No 54, brought
out by a Geneva-based NGO, Development Innovations and Networks, offers
a simple and easy method to make
recycled paper at home.
For papermaking, one needs newspaper and other waste paper, water,
buckets, tubs, small glass jars with lids,
several bricks, egg beater, blender, a flat
frame with stainless steel wire mesh
stretched over it, called a mould. Two
boards larger than the mould, a deckle
(a frame that fits on top of the mould
and is used to fix the size of the paper)
and a cotton cloth larger than the
deckle complete the list.
The first step requires collection and
sorting of paper, if papers of different
colours are to be made. All accessories
such as staples, pins and sticky tape are
to be removed. The paper is cut into
small squares measuring 4 cm x 4 cm
and soaked in water 12 hours in
advance. A handful of the soaked paper
is then blended with a lot of water and
the pulp is poured into a pillow case.
To check the pulp quality, a little
amount is poured into a small jar and
held against light. If a large number of
unbroken fibres are found, then the
pulp should be beaten again. Water is
then added to the pulp in the ratio of
500 gms of pulp to five litres of water.
The paper press is made out by placing
wet foam, felt or newspaper on the
boards and covered with cloth.
Once the suitable consistency is
achieved for the mixture, it is stirred
again. Then the pulp is scooped onto the
mould by placing the mould and the
deckle vertically at the bottom of the
tub. The contraption is then turned till
it becomes horizontal and quickly
pulled out of the water. To lace the
fibres together it has to be shaken gently.
Later, excess water is removed by tilting
the mould sideways and the deckle
removed without touching the pulp.
This wet paper is then overturned
onto the press carefully. One side of
the mould is held on to the edge of the
press and the other side is slowly
brought down in one continuous
movement till it lies flat on the press.
The four sides of the mould are at first
gently pressed and then very carefully
lifted off. The entire paper should stay
on the press, otherwise, the whole
process beginning from dipping the
mould into the mixture step, will have
to be repeated.
Once the excess water runs off,
the press is laid on several layers of
newspaper or directly on the ground.
For a smooth finish, the wet paper
can be laid out on a glass window pane
or a door, facing the sun. The drying
process takes about six to 24 hours
depending on the weather conditions
and voila! your homemade recycled
paper is ready.
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