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.

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!

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.

6. Album or CD Art: Homemade CDs are fun, but their case covers can be rather boring without some fantastic art. The same goes for photo albums. Selecting a special scent or pattern, such as glitter or grass-embedded paper, can make a personal CD mix an even more special gift.

5. Origami: Get the sizes needed to create your own origami paper for an extra unique touch in your creations. Though the standard size of an origami square is six inches per side, it can vary depending on what you would like to make.

4. Invitations: With so many people desiring special, unique looks for their wedding, birthday and other invitations, handmade paper can come in handy. You are guaranteed to get a look that nobody else is using for your event.

3. Homemade Lampshades: Yes, you can actually make a lampshade out of your paper! In fact, you can even make an origami lampshade.

2. Homemade Journals: How cool would it be to have your own completely homemade journal? Everything inside, from thoughts to pages, would be of your own making.

1. Letters: Though probably the most obvious choice, in this age of e-mail people don’t receive letters nearly as much as they used to. The same goes for postcards. How delightful it would be to receive not only a real letter you can hold–but one that someone put a lot of creativity into?

Once you have your own unique collection of homemade paper, you’re left with a decion to make: just what are you going to do with it? Like any paper, we can start hoarding it up, “saving it” for special occasions when we really should put it to use. Here are ten ideas to get you started on using your new paper–and making way for new creations.

10. Gift Tags: Perhaps the most simple way to use your paper, homemade gift tags add a special personal touch to any gift (no matter your wrapping skills!).

9. Scrapbooks: People are always looking for bright, new patterns of paper to use in scrapbooking. Use it in your own, or give it as a gift for a friend who does scrapbooking.

8. Personalized Announcements: If you send out a family newsletter, post flyers about your band, or otherwise print out interesting notices that could use some diversity, try using your homemade paper.

7. Projects with Children: If you’re making paper chains, kites or any crafts with children, use your own paper for a bit of variety. The children may be interested in how you made it, spawnig their own interest in making paper.

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.

While we might save a few for sentimental value, most are fairly generic. Sometimes we can use them in scrap booking, or creating cool origami crafts or boxes; but for the most part, we’ve got an extra box of recycling to turn in.

Fortunately, this is a problem that can be easily remedied with plant-able paper.How cool would it be to enjoy your card–and then plant it into the ground to have a long-lasting gift of nature in its place? Every time you saw it, you would think of the person who sent it to you, and be reminded of the earth-friendly, natural gift of beauty from such a thoughtful friend.

While you can buy such paper, it’s also possible to create your own. You can use all of the steps in creating regular paper to begin with. Why not select some greeting cards for your paper base? Then they will already be infused with good thoughts and holiday cheer from past senders.

Now the variation comes in to make your paper plant-able. During the step where you add your paper “shake” mixture to a sink or basin, be sure to also add plenty of the seed of the plant you wish to be grown from the paper. Flat seeds work best, such as tomato, hollyhock, chili pepper, and forget-me-not. Then, follow through with the rest of the steps and you will have made an incredible gift of plant-able paper!

If you decide to give the paper as a gift in the form of a card, gift tag, stationary or anything else, be sure to note somewhere that it is plant-able and it can be torn up and directly deposited into the ground as seeds would be. The paper around the seeds will naturally disintegrate as the seeds grow.

The Papermaker’s Companion: The Ultimate Guide to Making and Using Handmade Paper by Helen Hiebert is considered one of the best paper-making books available. Written by the same author who wrote Papermaking with Garden Plants and Common Weeds, this book discusses various methods, materials, and techniques for the beginner as well as the advanced paper-maker. If you’re set on purchasing one book about the art of making paper, this book should be it.

(Hiebert’s other book, mentioned above, is worth a read as well–particularly if you’d like to explore ways to make paper out of things in your own backyard.)

Arnold Grummer’s Complete Guide to Easy Papermaking is another good guide for the beginner, and is focused mainly on household paper waste that can be re-used in creating new paper products. This book is great for the environmentalist paper-maker.

The Art & Craft of Homemade Paper by Vance Studley provides excellent illustrations and step-by-step instructions on basic paper-making using vegetable fibers. While many of his tips can be found online, it’s still a handy book to have around.

If you’ve mastered basic paper-making and you’re ready to try out new, exciting techniques, you may want to check out The Papermaking Techniques Book: Over 50 Techniques for Making and Embellishing Handmade Paper, by John Plowman. From watermarking to embossing, from adding scents to textures to other creative elements, Plowman will guide you through creating some truly unique projects.

First, gather up all of your grass clippings. You’ll need between six to ten cups of them. You may want to do this right after you mow the lawn, which is probably the easiest way to gather grass.

Add the clippings to a large pot, fill it with enough water to cover the grass, and mix in a half-cup of washing soda or baking soda. Allow this mixture to cook for an hour. (If you have plenty of time, letting the grass soak overnight in cold water first can loosen it up even more, making it easier to work with.)

Like you would do with other paper pulps you might create, pour your mixture into a blender and blend until it’s of a smooth, uniform consistency. Then you’ll follow through with the steps you used in making homemade paper from recycled paper.

Remember that you may have to play around with the consistency to get the thickness that you want. For variation, long prairie grasses and dried straw work as well.

Be sure to clean out all of your instruments and containers immediately, as this project can start to smell if left to sit for a long period of time!