How to Make and Recycle Paper

8/8/2019 How to Make and Recycle Paper

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How to Make and Recycle Paperby Chopsteeq on August 15, 2007

Table of Contents

License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) .............................................................................

Intro: How to Make and Recycle Paper .............................................................................................

step 1: Making the frame! .......................................................................................................

step 2: Making paper pulp! ......................................................................................................

step 3: Pulp to paper ..........................................................................................................

step 4: Frame to blanket .......................................................................................................

step 5: Making more paper! .....................................................................................................

step 6: Conclusion! ...........................................................................................................

Related Instructables ...........................................................................................................

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Comments ...................................................................................................................
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License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Intro: How to Make and Recycle PaperWe all know that recycling paper is one way of reducing our ecological footprint by lowering the total amount of waste we produce. However, many people don't knowhow paper is actually recycled, or even how much of the items they put out in recycling bins actually gets recycled. In this article I will explain how easy it is to makpaper using a very simple process that utilizes tools readily available in the market or even at home. It's fun, straight-forward and you help protect theenvironment by recycling your own paper!

Items needed:- 2 *identical* picture frames. Get rid of the glass/acrylic sheet and only use the frame itself- some sort of mesh, something like what is used on windows to keep the bugs out. You can get a fiberglass roll of this stuff for $7 at any hardware store (e.g. the HomDepot) and it works great- duct tape- nails and/or stapler- hammer- large tub that can fit both frames (one on top of the other) horizontally- pestle and mortar or blender to mash up the paper to form a pulp- old wool/acrylic/polyester blanket that can be cut up- spray bottle- sponge- manual press or lots of books to press the paper down and squeeze water from the paper pulp- paper (preferably used computer paper, as newspaper will give you bad quality recycled paper)- something to cover your work space because this can get messy ;)

The picture below is just for the icon for this step. This picture is in context on step 5.

Image Notes1. Sheets of paper drying. Note that they curl up slightly.

step 1:Making the frame!Alright, so the first thing we need to make is the frame with the mesh. This will be used to scoop up the pulp in the tub, ultimately forming the paper. This meshed framcalled "mold".

To do this, get one of the frames and put it on a table, with the smooth side facing up (the side without the grooves where you attach the back of the picture frame). Geyour mesh/netting and put it on top of the picture frame. Cut up a piece that roughly matches the size of the picture frame.

Align the mesh so that it covers the whole picture frame, then nail it down. Make sure the net is *straight*, if it's wrinkly it won't work properly. I used a stapler becauseeasier. If you use a normal stapler, slowly staple the mesh down to avoid bending the staples.

After the net is in place, hammer down the nails/staples to make sure they are "in" the wood, you don't want any spiky nails or staples sticking out.

(see pic)

Cut out any extra mesh you have (whatever is not on top of the frame) and duct tape the sides of the frames. Do not go over the "middle" of the frame, only tape thesides.

(see pics)

Your mold is now ready. The other frame remains unnetted, and is called the "deckle".

Now cut out the blanket in pieces that cover one of the frames entirely. After you've done that, it's t ime to shred paper.

(see pic)
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Image Notes1. Cut up a piece of netting that roughly matches the size of the picture frame.

Image Notes1. Staple or nail the netting down. After that, hammer any nails or staples that aresticking out into the wood.

Image Notes1. Duct tape the sides. Make sure not to cover the "inside" of the frame.

Image Notes1. Your frames are now ready. This is how you would dip them in the tub - the

netted frame at the bottom, net side up; and the unnetted frame on top of it, withthe grooves facing up (smooth side facing down).

Image Notes1. Shred yout paper into smaller pieces (don't put a whole sheet of paper inyour blender please!)


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step 2:Making paper pulp!It's better to leave the shredded paper in water overnight so that it breaks down more easily, but you can do it without that. Put some shredded paper in a blender, addwater (more water than paper) and blend it all together. You can do this manually using a pestle and mortar.

(see pic)

When you don't see any clumps of paper or unshredded paper, you can stop blending it. You now have paper pulp.

Dump this paper pulp into the large tub and add water so that it covers the mold and deckle (one on top of the other) horizontally.

(see pic)

Image Notes1. Tub with water and paper pulp.

Image Notes1. Blending the paper and water to make paper pulp.

step 3:Pulp to paperBefore you dip the mold and deckle in the tub, spray one of the blanket pieces with water, this will make transferring the paper pulp to the blanket easier.

(see pic)

After that, dip the frames in the tub. Note that the mold goes at the bottom, with the netted side facing up, and the deckle goes on top of it, smooth side facing down. Ifyou don't use the two frames like this, you will probably not be able to remove the paper from the picture frame. It all makes sense when you do it yourself.

(see pic)

Rock the frames in the tub and make sure that the pulp is evenly distributed. When the mixture in the water is homogeneous, quickly lift up both frames. The pulp will gstuck to the mold. Let it drip for about 10 seconds and remove the deckle. You will notice that there is no pulp where the deckle was.

(see pic)


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Image Notes1. Spray the blanket with a spray bottle. This makes it easier for the paper pulp toattach to the blanket.

Image Notes1. Gently rock the frames in the tub so that you get a homogeneous mixture.After that, quickly lift it up (see next picture).

Image Notes1. When you lift the frames up, the paper pulp attaches to the mesh. If you don'thave enough pulp (if you can see the mesh through the pulp) don't try to transfer

the paper pulp to the blanket because you will make a mess. It is difficult totransfer the paper from the mesh to the blanket when the layer is really think as itrips apart easily.

step 4:Frame to blanketAlign one side of the mold (pulp facing the blanket) with the blanket and slowly lower the picture frame until it lays flat.

(see pic)

Once the mold is flat on the blanket (pulp facing down), get a sponge and press it down on the net to suck up as much water as you can from the pulp.

(see pic)

After that, slowly lift up the mold. The paper pulp will remain attached to the blanket, and you can now reuse your frame.

(see pic)


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Image Notes1. Align the netted frame with the blanked and slowly lower it down, pulp facingdown.

Image Notes1. Squeeze a sponge on the net to make it suck as much water from the pulpas possible.

Image Notes1. Slowly lift the frame up. The paper pulp will attach itself to the blanket. If the

pulp is still stuck to the net, you might not have sprayed enough water ont heblanket or not squeezed enough water from the pulp with the sponge.

step 5:Making more paper!Lay another blanket on top of the one you were just working on and press it down to squeeze as much water out of i t as you can. I don't have a press, so I use a buncheavy books (that's where a lot of my university investments went to, to use books to press paper :( )

(see pic)

If you keep making paper, you will eventually need to add pulp to the tub. Add pulp as you need it, and pile the newly made sheets on top of each other. Once you aredone, put the books on top of the whole pile and let them sit for a while.

After a couple of hours, remove the books and lay the blankets with the paper pulp one by one to dry. It takes a while to dry, so be patient (about 1 day).

(see pic)


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Image Notes1. Stack books on top of the newly transferred pulp to squeeze water out of it andmake it flat.

Image Notes1. Sheets of paper drying. Note that they curl up slightly.

step 6:Conclusion!Once dry, peel the paper off the blanket. You will notice that the paper is wavy. To straighten it , put it in a thick book or in a phone book and press it down with morebooks. Leave it there for a few hours and you'll have some nicely home made paper to write on, print on, and make all sorts of crafts!

I use paper recycled this way with my photography to make nice greetings cards that I mail to friends etc. I also sell them through my website! :)

Be creative with your new hand crafted paper and tell me what you've done with i t!

Image Notes1. Examples of greeting cards that I make using my pictures and paper I made myself.

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d v r t is m n t s

Comments

50 comments Add Comment view all 89 commen

nutsandbolts_64 says: Jun 15, 2010. 5:26 AM REPHow do you clean out the pulp leftovers on the blender or the mortar and pestle? My parent won't let me use the blender (and the mortar and pestle) forthis... About the press, all you need is a rig that has a (an array of) large bolt(s) that you just screw to press the thing. Oh, and would pointing a fan or a haidryer speed up the drying process?

tbcross says: Jul 10, 2010. 9:20 AM REPIf you're making homemade paper it's a good idea to use a different one than the one for food prep especially if your going to make quite a bit. It dulls t

blades a bit and it's rather hard to get out. As to speeding up the drying process it's worth a shot cant hurt to turn a fan on it. But I'm no expert so othersmay have better ideas.

KABUKISTAR says: Dec 12, 2008. 12:36 PM REPDo you think it would be possible to recycle wrapping paper, in this way?

beehard44 says: Dec 11, 2009. 7:22 AM REPrecycle the wrappers from people who gave you a gift which has no value. hehehehehe!!!!!!

Rectifier says: Mar 28, 2008. 12:02 PM REPDoes anyone know how well homemade paper takes ink? I usually wr ite with fountain pens and am constantly annoyed by the inconsistent quality of papeavailable, some writes beautifully and some "feathers" to the point of unreadability, even within the same pack of paper or journal book. Short of buying big

nice paper, i think it would be neat to try to make my own. But I get the feeling that this homemade paper, at least, will soak up ink like a paper towel - whakind of finishing is required to make a nice, smooth-writing paper?

beehard44 says: Dec 11, 2009. 7:20 AM REPusually they add what is called "binder" which gives the paper a smooth finish and binds the fibers together. Usually, the starch of the office paper isenough to bind the fibers, but if you want it smoother or water resistant, add a bit of glue or cornstarch

note: cockroaches LLOVE starch, that's why i prefer glue.

thepelton says: Mar 20, 2009. 12:51 PM REPHardness and the ability to make ink ride on the top and not soak in and blur is a problem I have had with making paper. You can also make paper fromlong straight stemmed plant stems soaked in builder's lime and water until it breaks down and dissolves all the soft green part, leaving the fibers. Longstraight stemmed plants would include cornstalks, iris leaves, fennel (the smell would carry through), and grass. I remember taking a nature walk, andseeing another plant, and suggesting that it could be used that way. The lady in charge of the nature walk advised me not to use it... it was hemlock. Iremembered enough about Greek History and the death of Socrates to realize that was a bad idea.

haunted_lady says: Apr 4, 2010. 8:53 PM REP@thepelton I would not tell people to use lime in this project. Lime also breaks down human flesh serial killers use it. YUK. There are thousands ohow to's and books on making paper to use natural plants. Also you should make a frame and a deckle for this project so it will not curl.The ned result is two interlocking frames.

I like the way you told people to use old fabric..cotton sheets and t-shirts work the best.

thepelton says: Apr 5, 2010. 10:01 AM REPThe lime I was referring to was notquicklime, but builder's lime, which is not as caustic,more easily available, and workable.

haunted_lady says: Apr 5, 2010. 5:40 PM REPWell that is good but note what you said is " as caustic" there is no reason to do anything but natural ingredients in paper-making.Why buy stuff ? I used to teach art and I taught this as a recycle project you don't need to buy anything. I used to go to flower shops and asfor the flowers that cannot be sold as well and put the petals in ....You can make molds and do paper casting too :) You can them put in

objects of all sorts..Try not to buy stuff if you can folks we want to purchase less and be better to the planet...plus making stuff shows howsuper crafty we are :)You have to make a strong binder and that can be out of natural things as well...People made paper for thousands of years before we had Wall-mart ...

thepelton says: Apr 6, 2010. 2:26 PM REPWhat just coccurred to me is that ashes are alkaline, and can often be gotten for free, and a litt le bit, but not too much, would negate theacid in newsprint. Put too much in, and you'd have LYE.
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haunted_lady says: Apr 6, 2010. 4:48 PM REPWhat ashes? I did not say to burn things and put ashes in..if you mean the petals..not not too many because then you can see yourwriting. They cannot touch because they will make a hole usually as well.

thepelton says: Apr 7, 2010. 2:53 PM REPI was thinking of a means of putting something slightly alkaline into the mix to counter the natural acid of such source material asshredded newsprint. What occurred to me just a few moments ago is Sodium Bicarbonate would work and not be difficult to worwith.

porcupinemamma says: Feb 13, 2010. 6:48 PM REPHemlock-yikes! LOL I remember my friend wanted some fall colour for his window boxes, and he filled it with beautiful...poison ivy.

thepelton says: Apr 5, 2010. 10:03 AM REPIncidentally, did Porcupinemama's friend get a rash?

porcupinemamma says: Apr 5, 2010. 5:58 PM REPoh yah-and the poor guy was a hair dresser, and the rash was covered all over his hands :0(

thepelton says: Feb 16, 2010. 4:10 PM REPIncidentally, when I said hemlock, I meant "water hemlock" not the hemlock tree, which is no immediate relation to the small toxic annual.

hirpln says: Mar 13, 2009. 10:19 AM REPYou can use unflavored gelatin, Faultless spray starch ( the best), liquid starch or formaldehyde (not the best) to size a.k.a seal the paper fibers to allowwriting with fountain pens, markers or for direct use in SOME printers. Read your owners manual and check for use of watercolor or hand made paper.Also, not all (most) ink jet printers have permanency or water resistance, and this will directly af fect your quality on handmade paper.

lycoris3 says: Oct 27, 2008. 6:30 PM REPyou could refine your paper to smoothness by repeating the step of pressing them for the second time until you get your desired texture. I got this frombook called; The Book The Story of Pr inting and Bookmaking by Douglas C. McMurtrie. its on page 70 in the book if you find it. very thick and old bookbut very interesting if you like books like I do.

kd1uc says: May 27, 2008. 2:28 AM REPPaper needs sizing, such as gelatin that 'iconnu' suggested. This seals the fibers and helps prevent bleeding. If the paper you start with has sizingalready in it the paper should not bleed very much if at all. I made some out of the 'Yellow Pages" and ran it through my ink jet and tried my fountain peand found no discernable bleeding.

Rectifier says: May 31, 2008. 2:49 AM REPcool! so how does one determine if the paper has sizing already? I guess a test scribble with a fountain pen on the scrap paper will tell?

kd1uc says: Jun 1, 2008. 10:23 PM REPA test blotch is the best method. Pretty much any commercially made paper has sizing added. If you use a ball point or pencil you don't needsizing but you said you like your fountain pen so... I have been trying to make some paper out of corn husks. I have boiled and reduced the thehusks into fibers but I haven't had time to beat it into pulp yet. The mash so far looks great but gross. Right now I dried it so it would not rot too until I can get the t ime and ambition at the same t ime. Just about any vegetation will make paper including grass clippings.

haunted_lady says: Apr 5, 2010. 5:41 PM REPGrass doesn't have enough fiber in it I don't think. You can only pick certain things and regular grass I doubt would work unless it had growtall and gotten super wide like i t does when it goes to seed...Cattails are a good one..it makes are really good pulp!

thepelton says: Apr 7, 2010. 2:56 PM REPGrass soaked in builder's lime works, and leaves a grassy scent to the paper made. I would love to try fennel, myself, and make licorishscented paper.

iconnu says: May 12, 2008. 10:42 AM REPyou need to add gelatin to keep ink from bleeding. the plain kind, not the "always room for" kind.
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sprmin says: Jun 8, 2009. 9:12 AM REPthis is great, i was skipping some steps before, but this is great. ill use this to make signs saying: recycle paper and stuff. thanks.

beehard44 says: Dec 11, 2009. 7:15 AM REPyah, planning to put the "this ain't virgin blah blah blah" sign on it . Probably sell 1 piece A4 for about 10 cents?

kirstenn says: Oct 21, 2008. 2:17 PM REPdo you have a specific water to paper ratio? im so glad you wrote this, im recycling our off ice paper into notebooks and things for us. this would be neat forour contracts. :] i know it is typically advised not to, but can shiny paper work for this at all? if not, what makes it not work? thanks again

beehard44 says: Dec 11, 2009. 7:14 AM REPi read that as long as your paaper is submerged, then it is fine.

Seifpic says: Jul 18, 2009. 2:44 PM REPi think 1 part paper to 1 & 1/2 part water works good.

Chopsteeq says: Oct 21, 2008. 7:55 PM REPI don't have an exact ratio. You'll just have to try it out and see what it works better with the paper you're using! Shiny paper can work, I've usedmagazines before, but those that are too shiny might have plastic residues and other stuff in them that might not go well with the rest of the paper pulp.

beehard44 says: Dec 11, 2009. 7:12 AM REPyou can turn newspaper into high quality recycled paper, about the same quality as office paper.Just soak it in freshly boiled water for 24 hours, blend in hot water, and blend longer than usual.our project in school was to make these recycled papers but we did not use additives, not even a blender!The secret is keep the water warm, have it submerged more than 24 hours and have a fast egg beater at hand.You just dip the Very small Ripped newspapers in boilin' water for 24 hours. After 24 hours, beat i t as fast as possible with the egg beateuntil the fibers are loosened, turned into pulp. Then just pour into a piece of window screen and leave to dry.......i dried mine with a hair drier..btw, nice instructable, probably one of the best.

hooloovoo33 says: Sep 3, 2007. 5:14 AM REPNo comments? Well I'll be the f irst then. How rough does the paper end up being? From the pictures it looks pretty rough. How does it do when you print oit? Those cards look good, I'm impressed.

Chopsteeq says: Sep 6, 2007. 1:05 PM REPThey are a bit rough, but it's not that bad. You can easily write on them (I've sent cards to people and wrote pages by hand using a gel pen). Most pens

will work just fine on them. But again, it is a bit rough. I'll try using J-cloths next time, Kiteman says it makes them paper smoother (scroll down).CpnChkn: the problem with glueing the edges to something is that the paper is still soaking wet, so I don't know if doing that will work in this case.

Turnip123 says: Sep 25, 2009. 4:37 PM REPIf you are looking for smoother. McMaster Carr stocks all sorts of mesh sizes of these screens. I've ordered a bunch for my Pyrotechnics.mcmaster.com Search Mesh Screens I'd use +100.

hankyknot says: Sep 4, 2009. 5:35 PM REPThis is just the inspiration I need to get back into making paper, thanks for a great instructible. I made a small clamp using 2 pieces of 1 x 4 timber 6 incheslong with four thumb screws, one in each corner and clamped 3"x3" pieces of handmade paper into blocks as long as the screws would allow then paintedone edge with glue to create memo blocks. Maybe I'll do an instructible for that one day.

Muzhik says: Apr 19, 2009. 9:07 PM REPDoes the paper look better / absorb ink better if you put a smidge of cornstarch or other sizing into the pulp? How about if you added some bleach to make

the pulp whiter?

spydyr says: Aug 20, 2009. 9:28 AM REPBleach doesnt quite work for this. Sun faded ot it a shade li hter.

gummydani says: Apr 4, 2009. 8:19 AM REPHi - this looks really neat. I am looking for a way to make a small disc out of recycled paper that is about the thickness of 10 sheets of paper. Is it possible tmake a really thick paper sheet using this method? I also want to but fragrance oil on this disk afterward - would this work do you think?
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11/11

http://www instructables com/id/How to Make and Recycle Paper/

nybras66 says: Jun 2, 2009. 4:54 AM REPWhy don't yuo use a cylinder form, instead? Something like the cartoon inside toilette paper or every other paper roll. I think yuo can fill it with paper puand once dryed, you can cut the roll in disks like bread. It's only an idea, I don't know if this really work well...

spydyr says: Aug 20, 2009. 9:26 AM REPSounds good in theory. I tried to use a toilet paper tube f illed to the brim and packed tightly. Took 2 weeks to dry, and even then the interior was stimoist. Cuttin it was fairly easy with a serrated blade. It wasn't smooth but it worked. So maybe just half full or 1/4 full would be ideal for this set up

lukej says: Jun 26, 2009. 5:44 AM REPSometimes I just mash up some paper in a bucket, scoop it into an ice cream tub and let dry. Pull out and put in fire. Artificial wood. Good for places wherewood is scarce.

PocoGato says: Apr 16, 2009. 5:55 PM REPSounds complicated. This is Elf btw! Well its good for the environment which im all for, but we should make this next time i come over.

unknown24 says: Apr 6, 2009. 5:03 AM REPit looks like bricks..

frankenboom says: Apr 1, 2009. 2:20 PM REPcould you use food coloring as a dye? Also, as I am a bit lazy, i dont want to go over to home depot until I absolutely have to, and i'm having trouble findingthe right screen online. What is it called exactly? Also, under 15$, if possible

Nirgal38 says: Jun 5, 2008. 11:17 AM REPI've made paper using other methods including Bill Nye's "pantyhose/clothes hanger" method. One thing I found especially useful is to i ron the paper with astandard clothes iron set on a low setting. I slip it between two commercial sheets of paper then press it for a few minutes. Once I'm sure the last of the wahas been heated out of the paper, I take off the commercial paper and give it a quick pressing right on the ironing board. I've made paper from oldnewspaper (very coarse and not good with runny inks), computer paper (good with pencils), old blue jeans (pretty light blue paper with interesting qualitiesand dryer lint (odd colors depending on what I ran through the dryer).

thepelton says: Mar 20, 2009. 1:09 PM REPPantyhose would be interesting. It sounds like it would give you a finer finish than windowscreen. I would love to try it.

Kiteman says: Aug 16, 2007. 2:42 PM REPNice instructable - there's not many people making paper the old way.

A few points, in no particular order:

You seem to be using heavily-printed papers for your recycling (image, step 1) - do you do anything to remove the ink, or is that the source of yourcolour?The frame with the mesh is called the mold, the plain frame is called the deckle (hence the papers you have made are "deckle edged", where theattractively-ragged edges are formed by fibres bleeding between the mold and deckle.A very serviceable mold can be made from the aluminium mesh sold in roughly A4 sections as raw material for repairing car bodywork.Deckles and molds can be made to exact sizes required simply by (heavy duty) stapling 15mm square timber.Woollen blankets can give an excessively-rough surface - non-woven kitchen-cloths ("J-cloths") are excellent substitutes for blankets, don't need tobe cut to size, and can be re-used almost as often as blanket.the curling ("cockling") can be cured by steam-ironing through a tea-towel, or prevented by pressing till-damp sheets against a smooth surface to dr(such as a clean baking tray, a sheet of glass or the shiny side of a sheet of hardboard.Don't try re-cycling kitchen towels (resins stop them breaking up) or glossy magazines (which are more clay than paper).Very thin dispersals of fibre in the vat can be "double dipped", building up extra layers of pulp and making the sheet thicker. Some decorative papeare made this way, with flat objects (leaf skeletons, petals, scraps of coloured tissue) laid on the first layer and then sandwiched by the second.

thepelton says: Mar 20, 2009. 1:07 PM REPA man named Congreve, famous for making a military rocket, also attempted to make a counterfeit resistant paper for the British Treasury by making it

triple layered, with a colored center "sandwiched" in the middle. It came out white when layed on an opaque surface, but colored when held up to a lighsource.

thepelton says: Mar 20, 2009. 12:53 PM REPInk on shredded paper will carry through to the final material unless you bleach it, which would weaken it, making it fall apart that much quicker. I madepaper from losing Lotto tickets, and could still read the dates and numbers on the finished material.

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How to Make and Recycle Paper

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