The idea for making paper from wood is thought to have come from someone who watched wasps build a nest. They chew up pieces of rotten wood to make a pulp, then stick the pulp together to make a nest. The first paper to be made from wood was made in China about nineteen hundred years ago. The wood came from the mulberry tree. In Japan paper made from mulberry leaves is used to make doors and windows.

The paper we use is made mainly from conifers. The logs are ground up to make wood chips about two centimetres long and half a centimetre thick. These are mixed with water and chemicals and mashed into pulp.

Other substances are added to the pulp to give certain properties to the paper. These include china clay which gives the paper a smoother surface, and resin which makes the paper more water-resistant so inks can be used on it more easily.

The pulp is squashed flat between many rollers and the water is removed. This makes paper. As the paper leaves the machine it passes through hot rollers to make it completely dry and give it a smooth finish.