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Save Trees It's a Breeze! To Recycle Paper You Be The Maker!

Make your own ornaments or other fun projects using home made papers. You can use Newspaper, stationary, gift wrap, or any paper you have left over. Once you make the mixture using one of the three recipes below, form the PAPER into shapes, let it dry, or paint it!

This paper making recipe will help you recycle some of that wasted paper around your house such as: newsprint, envelopes, writing paper, left over gift wrap or other types of paper. Note: Sort the paper by color, because it will come out that tone.

Materials:

 1. Materials You Need: see picture

1. A large bowl 
2. Waste paper (about 5 sheets)
3. Water 
4. A mixer or food processor
5. Two wooden frames 8"-12" (you can buy a standard frame or make one)
6. A screen (nylon works well)
7. A stapler
8. A large Tub (dishpan for instance) 
9. Cloth
10. An iron
11. Optional, dryer Lint, thread,glitter, flowers, thin leaves, pine needles,potato or carrot peel...be creative here.

 2. Soak It
To begin,  shred the paper into small squares about 1 inch and put them into the bowl with hot water. Let soak for half an hour.

 3. Make A Mold
While the paper is soaking, make the mold
Attach the screen to each frameusing staples
Leave the other frame blank.
(You can also make molds from screens, or other objects (see below)

 4. Turn It Into Pulp
Place the soaked paper in the mixer bowl or food processor half filled with water. Mix at half speed until smooth
-At this point, you can also add small quantities of vegetables or plants to the pulp. In this case, mix until the mixture is uniform. (Only a small amount should be used or you will end up with mush)
-To add color to the paper , add nontoxic fabric dye or food coloring to the mixture.

 5. Swish It In a Tub
Pour warm water into the tub until it is half full. Then, pour the pulp into the tub until the mixture resembles thick soup.The thicker the mixture, the thicker your paper will be. Place the frame in and Shake it from side to side to distribute the pulp evenly until it makes a sheet of paper.

 6. Drain, Place It In a Mold
Take thepaper pulp and frame out of the tub. The other border frame on top. Hold both frames and turn the paper 180 degrees on to the clean frame.

7. Let It Dry
Place the frames horizontally and let it drip dry, or turn it over onto a cloth to dry 

8. Iron It
Place another cloth on top. Dry the paper by ironing firmly. Remove the cloth or letting it dry naturally 

9. Using Other Kinds of Molds
You can try other ideas like using baking molds, plastic, plaster or candy molds. This can be fun for ornaments, small gift tags, or wall ornaments. Spray the mold with PAM. Place the damp paper into a mold and let it dry-it should lift out when dry. To hang it add a string while it is wet. *this may take practice.

10. Left Overs
When you are done, you can throw away the screened pulp or keep the drained, leftover pulp in the freezer, in a plastic bag, for later use. NOTE: Do not pour the pulp into the sink or toilet because the pulp could block the drain.

 What Else You Can Do:

What you can make with the paper:!
With this recipe you can make your own

• greeting cards,
• stationary
• ornaments
• wall hangings
• jewelry
• toys
• sculptures

Remember use your imagination!