When I was a writer for a write my research papers company, a student requested that I write a research paper on the topic of homemade paper. I never thought that paper can be made at home using just some basic materials. You may be wondering where you can get the cellulose though. Paper is made out of cellulose, so you need a lot of it. In fact, it is the most important material you will need. If you don’t know anything about cellulose, all you need to know is that it is found in plants. Some plants are richer in cellulose, while others have less. And leaves contain cellulose too. So, why not make paper using leaves? It’s a great way to recycle all those leaves that are littering your entire garden.
Can Paper Really Be Made From Leaves?
Yes, homemade paper can be made from leaves. I was surprised myself to learn about it. Of course, the best way to extract the necessary cellulose would be from trees. However, you surely lack the equipment to grind an entire tree into dust. Leaves on the other hand? They are easy to work with. Of course, an even easier alternative would be to recycle all the paper (including the newspapers, of course) that you use in your house and make new paper from it. However, if you want to make your own paper from plants, you should really give it a try. You don’t need many materials and much time to do an excellent job. Yes, it’s true that the paper you can make from leaves at home is not as resilient and as white as the paper you buy. This is because the cellulose fibers in leaves are not as adequate for paper-making as the cellulose fibers found in tree bark or papyrus plants.
Steps to Make Paper From Leaves
Keep in mind that making paper from leaves is not for everyone. You need to dedicate some time and effort to this process. In most cases, you can make some paper in just 2 days. It’s not hard work, but it takes some time.
Here are the basic steps to make homemade paper from leaves:
1. Collect the necessary raw material (leaves). Of course, you can collect as much as you want. The more leaves you can harvest, the more paper you will be able to produce. And yes, grass works also; just collect it with the leaves if you wish.
2. Make sure there are no contaminants such as plastics or dirt on your leaves. You can rinse the leaves in cold water until they are relatively clean.
3. Use a pair of scissors to cut the leaves into pieces of ½ to 1” in length. Alternatively, you can use garden shears.
4. Get a non-corrosive pot and fill it half full with cold water. Weigh the leaves and then add them to the pot. Pour 20% of the weight of the leaves of soda ash into the water and then stir. Bring the mix to a boil and then let it simmer for around two hours. This entire process purifies the cellulose fibers because the alkaline solution dissolves starches, sugars, waxes, gums and lignin.
5. Strain the cellulose fibers and then rinse for several minutes or until the water runs clear (the mix in the pot will be black when you start rinsing).
6. Put the cellulose fibers in a blender with some water and blend for around 40 seconds.
7. Add some corn starch (or any other powdered thickener) into the blender and blend for another 10 seconds.
8. Fill a vat with water and with the pulp resulting from the steps listed above, and then submerge a mold and deckle into the slurry. Gently lift the mold and deckle so that a thin layer of cellulose is left on the screen.
9. Gently press a towel in the screen to remove excess water and then transfer the wet sheet of paper to an absorbent surface.
10. Use a sponge and brayer (or anything similar) to press on the sheet of wet paper to remove as much water as possible.
11. Put the sheet of paper on a flat surface and they use a dryer to dry it (or leave it out in direct sunlight for some time).
You can really create your own paper on your own home using nothing more than leaves,