m. (of paper) made by
hand with a
special process that creates a pattern of evenly spaced,
parallel lines on the paper. The
basic process used to make such paper is more than 2,000 years
old. It consists of taking
raw material (such as straw, leaves or
bark), placing it in a large vat and pounding it with a heavy tool to separate the material into fibers. The fibers are suspended in water and a mold of
wire mesh is dipped into the
fiber-water mixture. The fibers cling to the mesh in a
thin layer and
form a wet
sheet of paper with a ribbed pattern. Once dry, the
final paper receives no
special finish or coating, as some papers do, and retains the pattern created by the
wire mesh.