Cut Edge Lokta paper 0.352 Ounces (A4) 25

There are four main steps in manufacturing and marketing of lokta paper and lokta paper craft products:

1) Harvesting the lokta bark

2) Processing the paper pulp

3) Producing craft products from the finished paper

Nepalese lokta paper is made from the fibers of the inner bark. In general, two types of evergreen shrubs are used (Daphne papyracea and Daphne bholua) that grow at high altitudes on the southern slopes of the Nepalese Himalayas between 1,600 and 4,000 meters.

The oldest surviving Lokta paper document appears in the National Archives of Nepal in Kathmandu in the form of a Buddhist sacred text, the Karanya Buha Sutra. The Karanya Buha Sutra was written in Lichchhavi script and block printed on Lokta paper. It is estimated to be between 1000 and 1900.

Historically, this paper has been handcrafted in rural areas of Nepal since around AD 1000, particularly in the Baglung district. With the introduction of craft paper imports from Tibet in the 1930s, the production of handmade lokta paper began to decline. In the 1960s, competition from commercial bulk paper from India brought the Nepalese craft paper industry into a state of decline. Few families in Baglung and the neighboring Parbat district retained traditional knowledge of making artisanal paper lokta.

To make the paper, the bark is boiled, then the fibres are cleaned and beaten to finally shape the sheet. To shape it, the fibres are drained into a former and distributed well, then the shape is removed from the water and left to dry in the sun.