Chapter 517 Papermaking (1)

It’s no wonder that the entire live broadcast room was boiling with excitement after hearing about papermaking. In fact, in the entire galaxy, all the ancient papers are of museum collection level!

If you want to know why, we have to start with the ancient papermaking technique itself.

The traditional papermaking method of ancient China is to extract plant fibers from special types of plants, and then use multiple methods to finely process them. It takes a long time to produce finished paper.

Although productivity is highly developed in the interstellar age, green plants, which serve as raw materials for papermaking, are becoming increasingly scarce.

In addition, this traditional method is inefficient and extremely difficult to learn. In the interstellar age when ancient civilizations are gradually lost, no one knows how to use it anymore.

Therefore, the shortage of raw materials, coupled with the lack of skilled craftsmen, has led to traditional paper becoming increasingly rare, and eventually ending up in museums.

Now the people of the interstellar world have heard that another anchor on the Star Internet is going to broadcast papermaking live. How can they not be excited?

"Paper is a tool for writing. I think it might be useful when we get to Dongfang City." Xia Tian explained briefly before turning to pick something out of a pile of grass on the ground nearby. "Be careful to break up the fibers, but don't break them."

She had a premonition that something might happen during this trip to Oriental City, and perhaps it would be necessary to use paper to record it.

Although the civilization of this era does not yet have written language, it may be useful to her.

Si Ye took the stone pestle from her hand and continued to crush the unknown mixed materials in the stone jar.

Can someone explain what papermaking is?

[Wait a minute, can mixing these grasses really make precious paper?]

[That mixture looks disgusting. I feel like it's going to fail...]

Xia Tian was focused on the content on the computer and didn't care.

Papermaking is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. A true papermaking master needs decades of experience accumulation, and she certainly does not have such magical skills.

But before, when I was broadcasting live on Earth, I had the opportunity to do a program about papermaking.

Later, out of curiosity, I tinkered with it at home for a long time. Although I couldn't make it as fine and white as traditional rice paper, it should be more than enough to meet basic writing functions.

"Let me handle these materials. You help me move the big water tank next to it." Xia Tian pointed to the water tank against the wall.

She decided to let Si Ye continue to process the raw materials, which should save a lot of time.

"The first step is to process these raw materials. You have to crush these raw materials first. The better you remove the glue, the finer the final paper will be. But be careful not to break it, otherwise it will be mixed and you won't be able to fish it out." Xia Tian said as he took out a handful of wood ash from the stove and put it into the clean water in a large water tank to stir it.

In just a moment, the clear snow water turned into a tank of turbid mud.

Si Ye didn't understand, but he knew that Si Ye must have her reasons for doing this, so he didn't ask too much. He just quietly did what he was doing, and occasionally paid some attention to the situation over there.

The next step is to put the completely crushed various plant fibers into a large vat and stir and soak them.

All they have to do is wait.

(End of this chapter)