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The handmade paper industry

The Cottage industry of hand made paper making is also a source of employment since a long time in the remote hills of Nepal .It has been playing an important role for generating income of the rural economy. Handmade paper making art has been widely spread all over the hilly region of the country and large number of people are involved .Hand made Paper making art helps local people for making their financial status strong. Paper making is popular in local village because it based on local raw material and local labour.

What is Nepali Handmade Paper ?

Nepali Hand made paper is made from the inner bark of a shrubs locally known as "Lokta" or Daphne Cannabina or Daphne Papyracea which can be found at altitude of 6500 feet to 9500 feet. The height of this shrubs are 10 to 15 feet with basal diameter ranging from 2 to 3 inches. The leaves are green in colour, 2 to 4 inches long and 0.5 to 1 inch wide.

The flowers are white with a sweet smelling scent. The inner fibrous bark of this plant is the raw material used for the making of Nepali hand made paper. The "Lokta" or Daphne Papyracea has characteristics of growing after cutting from above 6 inches from the ground and becomes again matured to cut after 5 to 7 years. Thus it preserves the fragile forest ecology of Nepal. The long fibrous in hand made paper is admired for its rough attractive texture, durability, strength and resistance to insects.

The Art of traditional paper making method

Process 1	Production process of a hand made paper starts after boiling the dried bark of "Lokta" or Daphne Papyracea with ash or caustic soda solution. The soften bark received after boiling .Again washed with clean water to remove impurities and then cut into small pieces with the local knife named Khukuri.
Process 2	The small pieces of bark re- boiled with the required proportion of water. After boiling, the soft bark is cleaned with water again and kept on a plain and flat stone for beating with wooden hammer to turn into fine pulp.
Process 3	After beating the pulp it is mixed with required amount of water and stirred with wooden ladle to form a homogenous blend of pulp. Then the pot full of pulp-measuring tool is put into the frame, which is being floated in the pond. As soon as the pulp is put over the frame, the frame is gently shaken to spread pulp evently over the frame. The frame is then taken out from the pond and the frame with the layer of the pulp (wet sheet of paper) is taken away for drying in to the sunlight.
Process 4	The layer of pulp, which becomes a sheet of paper in the frame after drying, is peeled slowly from the frame.Sheets are collected and made a bundle of the paper and then supplied in to the paper products manufacturing unit for making the paper production.