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Hand Made Nepalese Lokta Paper.

Nepalese handmade paper is made form the bark of the Daphne Cannabina or Papyracea bush and is known locally as Lokta. The Lokta bush grows in the shade of the mountain forests of Nepal at an altitude of 2000 to 3500 meters and when harvested will totally regenerate within six to eight years. Many communities in the mountains earn a living from harvesting the bark of the Lokta bush and the fragile forest ecology is preserved.

Lokta paper has long been renowned for its durability and natural resistance to insects. In Nepal Royal edicts, legal documents and Buddhist and Hindu religious texts have always been recorded on this paper.

Once the bark is harvested in the forests it is taken back to the villages where it is cooked in lye to soften the fibres and then rinsed and chopped. It is then cooked and rinsed a second time before it is beaten with wooden hammers on large flat rocks to crush the fibres. The pulp is then poured onto a screen in a handmade bamboo frame and is half immersed in water where it is gently shaken to even out the pulp before being left to dry naturally in the sun.

By buying this paper product you are helping to support some of the poorest communities in rural Nepal.

Hand Made Paper Note Book with Tie Fastening	£3.00
Hand made Lokta paper note pad with string tie. 8 inches x 4¼ inches (20cm x 11cm).