This is probably a cool hack that you may want to do it once in a life time – making your own paper at home. You can use newspaper, or recycling paper, and couple of other usual materials such as hairdryer, sponge, and wooden frame:
PROCEDURE:
- soak some of the newspaper in water (it’s better if you let it to set for a day or two);
- squeeze out the excess water;
- with the mortar and pestle, crush a little bit of paper at a time until you get a homogeneous paste, consisting of fibers isolated from each other (figure 5);
- repeat this until you have enough paste;
- fill the bowl halfway with water;
- put the paper paste in the bowl and stir it to separate the fibers;
- remove any resulting clumps (a dense suspension of fibers must remain in the water);
- immerse the frame in the watery suspension in the bowl (the sieve should be facing the bottom of the bowl);
- slowly remove the frame from the suspension keeping it steadily horizontal; eventually move the frame to even out the layer of fibers (figure 6);
- wait for the water to drain;
Making and Recycling Paper at Home – [Fun Science Gallery]
What’s the point of making paper out of (news)paper? Oh well. Neat.
Don’t use newsprint. The paper will be too weak and too gray. At least use old copy or printer paper.