Make recycled paper

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How to Make Recycled Paper

You can make your own recycled paper at home! Warning: this can be messy, so get help from a grown-up and do not wear any nice clothes that you would worry about ruining.

What You Will Need

Diff-paper2.jpg Diff-paper3.jpg


  • Screen, small window size
  • Press with vice
  • Blender
  • Iron
  • Bed sheets, cut into a size bigger than the screen
  • Tub - to hold the mix
  • Water
  • A messy work area!
  • Magazines that need to be recycled
  • Paint (acrylic)
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Rulers
  • Cardboard
  • Clothesline
  • Clothespins
  • Pens/pencils

Diff-paper1.jpg

What to do

  1. Cut magazine pages into two-inch squares and put into the blender. Add both water and paint (just a little bit of paint). Blend.
  2. Dump the mixture in the tub and repeat the above step until tub is full. The consistency of the mix should be like oatmeal.
  3. Get the press out and have your sheets ready to go. Place one sheet down on the press and make sure it is flat.
  4. Once the tub is full, take the wire screen and dip it into the mix horizontally. Lift the screen horizontally and let the water drain off.
  5. Take the screen and flip it over onto the press with the sheet. Take a cloth or a rag and wipe the back of the screen until you feel like the mix is stuck to the sheet.
  6. Continue this process until the mixture in the tub is empty or when your press can not hold anymore sheets of paper.
  7. Place the top of the press on the sheets, and vice the press for a couple of hours.
  8. Open the press and carefully lift each sheet individually with paper intact. Hang on the clothes line with clothes pins. Let dry overnight.
  9. Separate the sheet from the paper, and begin cutting glueing paper into the shape and size you want it to be.
  10. Iron out the finished product. Congratulations -- you have paper!