Now that your preparation frame is ready, it’s time to pick out the medium for your paper. Different types of paper will give your finished product different looks, so be sure to select the look you want. For example, envelopes result in high-quality paper, while newspapers typically create gray paper. As long as the paper contains no wax, it should work.
Clean up your paper before you begin.
You’ll want to remove any stickers, staples, plastics, or anything else you can from the paper.
Though it’s not completely necessary, soaking your paper in water will make it much easier to work with. Presoak your paper for at least a day for the best results.
Once your paper has soaked, tear it up into very tiny pieces–as small as you can manage. If you’re making the paper with a child, this is a great step he or she can help out with. Once it’s all torn up, fill up a blender to the half-way mark with your shreds of wet paper; then fill the rest of the blender with warm water.
Start blending your mixture on slow, and gradually increase the speed until it’s an even color and well-mixed, which should about half a minute. Once you are finished, it should contain no remaining shreds of paper; your mixture should be one big uniform paper shake!
Next, fill up a sink, plastic basin, or other container with water. Be sure that your paper preparation frame will fit into the container before using it. Add your “shake” to the water in the container and stir it up until it has an even consistency. You may not need to add all of it; if you want a thick paper, go ahead, but if you’re after a thinner variety, like printer paper, simply add enough to make a thin mixture. You’ll want to try this step out a few times to determine which thickness you prefer.
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