Handmade paper can be gifted to nearly anyone on your holiday list. If you can’t think of something for that special someone, why not try…Mother: What mom doesn’t want more photos of her children and grandchildren? Make her a one of a kind handmade photo frame with some gorgeous handmade paper featuring her favorite floral prints and tuck in a photo of you and your family for her to admire all year long.

Father: Give Dad something to really show off in his office by making him a bold and bright handmade paper sculpture. Maybe he likes origami, or he’s an M.C. Escher fan; either way, add some of those themes into your creation.

Grandparents: While more and more grandparents are logging online these days, most still have a fond place in their hearts for good old fashioned letters. A lovely set of handmade stationary featuring your grandmother’s favorite scent or your grandfather’s favorite colors, perhaps in a small basket with some stamps and a nice pen, would make a great gift.

Sister: Does she have a wedding or other special event coming up? Make her some beautiful customized invitations, or a simple set of cards for all occasions.

Brother: Give the gift of music and art by making a personalized CD featuring some of your joint favorites, complete with a handmade paper “album art” cover.

Best Friend: Make your own handmade scrapbook for him or her to put favorite photos in. Tuck in a few of your favorites if you like.

Child: A hand bound “All About Me” journal with plenty of room to draw and write would be wonderful for a child of any age. Personalize it with a photo on the cover, or draw your own image in.

Two citizens of Pune, India have been putting it to an even bigger use. The printers, Anil Gujar and Sunil Juneja, both of Pune’s leading printing press company, Inkfloat, are using discarded paper to create furniture.

The twenty-five year employees are even distributing their creations under the brand name “Encore.” The products, considered very eco-friendly, include stools, sofa sets, tables, chairs and other pieces of furniture.

By using the raw materials already in use by Inkfloat, such as canvas, vinyl films and banner cloth that are all transported in tubes made from paper, the two have been able to create new life from pieces that would otherwise be simply discarded and wasted.

The extra paper was sold to scrap dealers until the two discovered what they could create from the extra material. The stool, their first product, was so successful that they followed up with several other products.

Nothing is wasted in the process. The two use their current business space as well as current employees to create the paper-based furniture.

They’ve also decided to keep the process as green as can be, not allowing any metal, plastic or any other potentially harmful materials to be used in the construction of their products. Instead, they use environmentally-friendly glue, jute, cotton strings and other natural materials.

They recently featured a piece on Adina Levin, the co-founder of Collab. Collab is short for collaborators, and is a Manhattan based company that plans on re-localizing the economy through helping designers, writers, artists, musicians and other creative people collaborate together to form a more sustainable world.

By enabling these innovative minds with the tools and space that they need to collaborate together, Collab hopes to get them inspired and working together, which will hopefully yield environmentally-friendly products and processes to help create localized economy.

One sustainable practice that Levin advocates–and is knowledgeable in–is making homemade paper. Levin uses a very similar process to the one posted here at Paper Making. She also promotes a messy, hands-on approach, often touching the paper pulp and getting very involved in the process. Her video and instructions are perfect for anyone who isn’t afraid to get messy and produce some truly amazing results.

Would using handmade paper really support a more local economy and a sustainable world in general? In a word, probably. By using 50% less energy and 75% less water–as well as creating up to 90% less wastewater and 70% less air pollution–than paper made from unused fibers, it definitely has less of an environmental impact.

For your next gift or special purchase, you might consider buying one of these unique creations made by fine, handmade paper.Journals: Though all journals are mostly made of paper, handmade paper journals are highly unique, often displaying cloth or beaded covers that add an artistic style to the author’s thoughts. Typically quite exotic and bold, they are also often more durable than manufactured journals. The same sentiment applies toward handmade paper photo albums, photo frames and scrapbooks.

Bags: Rather than wasting brown paper–or even plastic–shopping bags, handmade paper bags provide a clever, beautiful alternative that is both stylish as well as eco-friendly.

Candle Holders: This is a very novel function of handmade paper, with it being such a flammable source. That said, there are some very simple, elegant designs created for holding and highlighting tea lights.

Clocks: How many of your relatives can say that they own a clock made from paper? It would surely be a more unique gift than another tie or fruit pie.

Desk Sets: From paper pads to pencil holders, the items on your desk needn’t be encased within stark cookie-cutter plastics. Why not go for a bold, batik handmade paper desk set instead?

Gift Boxes: How entertaining it would be to be gifted a handmade paper craft–within a gorgeous handmade paper box?

All you need is the wood of your choice (the softer the better–scrap pine wood is a good choice), a wood plane, your paper frame, bleach, a pocket knife, a blender, a basin or sink, food coloring and water.

To keep it eco-friendly, you may wish to use fallen branches around your home.

Take your wood plane and shave your wood down into small, skinny strips. Use your pocket knife to cut the strips down to very small pieces; they should each be smaller than an inch in length. Shave off the bark if you do not wish for it to show up in your finished paper.

Dump your small shavings into your blender and cover them completely with water. Blend them well until the pulp is nice and watery, like a wet powder. If you have an extra blender on hand, you may want to use that one, as blending wood can really dull your blender blades.

Add a small amount of bleach (only if you wish to make white paper; use other food colorings if you would like different shades of paper) and let it sit to soak into your mixture.

Finish as you normally would, adding your paper mixture to your paper frame within your basin, making sure it’s even all the way across the screen. After the water has been filtered out of the screen, allow it to dry as you normally would, and you’ll have your own wood pulp paper!

Though rice paper traditionally means paper made from rice plants, today it can be made from just about any plant source, such as bamboo.

To make your own rice paper, you will need about a pound and a half of bamboo leaves, two and a half pounds of wood ash (such as from a fireplace), a big pot, a basin, water, a couple of towels, some mesh for straining, a mortar and a pestle for grinding, a wooden spoon, the frame you made for paper-making, any decorations you’d like in the paper, and some heavy books for pressing your paper.

To begin, shred your bamboo leaves and set them aside. Prepare your ash by mixing your wood ashes with your water in the pot. Boil the mixture for half an hour and let it sit overnight.

The next day, strain the mixture through your mesh. Mix your bamboo and the ash mix in the pot and cook it together for five hours. When it’s finished cooking, strain the whole mixture once again, and wrap the fiber that’s left in a towel.

Rinse the towel out with fresh water and squeeze out the excess water. Empty the fibers from the towel into your mortar and grind it into a paper pulp with your pestle. Next, fill your basin up with water and pour in your pulp. You should have about four parts of water to one part pulp. Stir it well with your spoon.

Follow through with the rest of your paper-making steps, and when you are finished, lay a piece of cloth over the paper before covering it with your books to flatten it out.

Carol Funke is known for her amazing handmade paper masks and dolls. She also creates commissioned handmade paper designs.

Award-winning artist Lois E. Jacobs creates her own paper and then uses it to form clay, wrap armature or create extraordinary watercolor paintings.

Elizabeth Kosterich uses handmade paper to create mixed media artwork, including unique and spiritual clay designs.

Laurence Baker is a printmaker and paper artist known for his colorful, unique designs on perforated paper and his enthusiasm for handmade paper itself.

Margaret Sage is the creatress of amazing Les Maisons paper sculptures, which she also paints. “I explore psychological conflict. For me, this is fertile territory, the unresolved issues from my past, things felt but not quite understood,” she says.

Barbara Pankratz uses computer printing and photo etching on paper she’s created by hand.

Jean-Michel Letellier is a modern, minimalist handmade paper artist who believes that the paper itself, not just what it is used for, is a work of art.

Mark Lander, a painter and ceramicist, is also a paper-maker who uses flax to create large-scale paper installations in galleries.

Danish author and artist Anne Vilsbøll is famous for her books and lectures as well as her extensive exhibitions, including the 1996 “Paper Road” event in Copenhagan, where artists all over the world convened to showcase their work.

Some of these stores specialize in paper exclusively; these are the stores where you may be able to find a wide variety of paper, from batik to mulberry to almost any kind you might want or need. Others sell a multitude of items and may not carry as many types of paper. Below are a few great places to purchase your own handmade paper.

FreetheSlaves.com: Human trafficking survivors make and sell paper for this company, which works to free victims of the human trafficking industry. Though only a few varieties are available, they are very affordable and for a great cause.

Creative Papers Online: This U.S.-based company has some of the widest varieties of handmade paper available. From marble to metallic, sea to silk, Japanese, mulberry and even papyrus, they are likely to have the paper you’re after.

CustomPaper.com: This website carries some beautiful designs for unique wedding invitations, gift cards or wrapping paper.

A.L. Paper House: India’s largest handmade paper provider, this store features a large variety of embossed paper designs as well as dew drop paper, embroidery paper, and many other assortments.

Green Field Paper Company: This store has a selection of very unique handmade papers, such as garlic paper, recycled denim paper, and hemp paper. They even have a “100% Junk Mail Note Set” for those wishing to purchase fully recycled materials.

Dryer lint may not have been on your list of things to reuse, but it can actually be a good base to use for making paper.To make new paper out of your old dryer lint, gather the items you need to make paper out of any other material–your blender, preparation frame, sink or basin, etc. You will essentially be performing the same steps–just with something you may have thought had no use whatsoever rather than your recycled paper or grass!

Like any other paper base, your lint color will show up in your final product, so keep that in mind as you collect your dryer lint. Soak your lint in warm water for half an hour to break it down for blending. If you want a more full-bodied paper, feel free to add bits of paper as your lint soaks.

Next, blend it in your blender as you normally would when making paper. Use about a cup of lint and fill the rest of your blender with water; then, blend until it’s a smooth mixture.

Follow through with the rest of your paper-making steps and you’ll have a wholly homemade creation that’s great for arts and crafts, letters or other paper projects.

You may have already dabbled in trying to make your paper age quickly before. You may have even learned the hard way that burning the edges only reduces your paper’s size and tossing dirt and coffee on it will only make it look dirty and smell like a diner. (Though you did have the right idea.) If you want to truly give your paper an ancient look, here is what you do:

Start by making your own handmade paper, or using some you have on hand special for this occasion. Then crumple your paper up into a ball, as if you were throwing it away (but please don’t throw it away!). Then, after brewing a strong cup of tea, unfurl your paper and paint on the tea color.

Alternatively, you can use a very strong cup of coffee (see, you did have the right idea). You can either paint it on as you would with the tea, or actually bake it into your paper. Place your paper on a cookie sheet (after unfurling it) and preheat your oven to its lowest setting. Pour the coffee over the paper, sponging off any excess, and bake it in the oven for just a few minutes. Keep a close eye on your paper; it can catch fire. Remove it after three to five minutes and it will have a dry, aged look.