How to Make Homemade Paper

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By HS Schulte
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Make Homemade Paper

You can make homemade paper. It is a great experience for children. The outcome is a sturdy craft style paper that can be used for making cards or special notes.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

blender
white glue
water
panty hose
wire hanger
sink

Step 1

Create the drying screen before you begin. You can create a drying screen by shaping the wire hanger into a square or rectangle. Stretch the panty hose over the wire being careful not to snag them. You will need a screen for each piece of homemade paper you plan to make.
Step 2

Tear up your old paper. I shred it with a paper shredder. What I don't use to make new paper is used for garden mulch. You can also tear the paper into 2 inch, or smaller, squares.
Step 3

Add water and blend. Place your paper in the blender. Cover it with water. Allow it to sit and soak up some of the water. Add more water to keep the water level about an inch above the top of the paper. Adding enough water is important to keep from over working your blender! Run the blender on low speed. Once you have grey liquid, blend a few more minutes. When you are finished, the original paper should be completely broken down.
Step 4

If you want colored paper, add a few drops of food coloring. Blend until the color is distributed evenly. I enjoy the natural off-white color of the paper with small specks of color from any colored paper in the mix. You can also get creative in this step and add natural elements such as sticks, shells, or flowers.
Step 5

Give your blended pulp a glue bath. Fill your sink with 4 inches of water. Add 2 tablespoons of glue to the water. Dump the contents of your blender into the sink full of glue water. Use your hands to mix it up. Make sure it is mixed well.
Step 6

Strain your homemade paper. Place your screen at the bottom of the sink. Wait a few seconds and then very slowly begin lifting the screen. You should lift as slowly as possible, taking at least 30 seconds to lift it from the water.
Step 7

Dry your new paper. Take your screen outside and dry it in the sun. It should be completely dry before you try to remove the paper. Very gently pull the paper off. To speed dry your homemade paper, you can try putting it in the oven on a very low heat setting. Just be careful not to set the oven temperature too high. You would not want to catch your homemade paper on fire!
Step 8

Iron your new paper (optional). You can iron the homemade paper if you wish. This will remove the wrinkles. If you do this, be careful not to scorch it with the iron.
Step 9

Make something pretty from your homemade paper. You can make special notes, cards, use it in scrapbooks or other paper crafts, or make a book cover out of it.

Comments

NaturalRemedies said

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on 2/16/2009 Homemade paper is a cute craft idea for kids!

wordstock said

on 12/28/2008 We will give this a try. Always looking for new ideas.

dsarokin said

on 9/3/2008 Dang! I'm fresh out of panty hose. But this looks like a terrific project for kids (or adults, for that matter). Definite 5* article.

Pixie1976 said

on 8/12/2008 I printed this out, because my daughter has been wanting to try this. Thanks! And we already have all the ingridients! Double thanks for keeping it simple.