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]
