How to Use Hemp Plants for Paper Instead of Trees

Trim your hemp stems into ½-inch pieces and place them in a large plastic tub. Fill the tub with warm water and allow the stems to soak overnight. You can get stems in hobby stores or online. The stems are no more harmful than hemp cord and are always stripped of leaves before shipping.

Scoop the hemp stems out of the water with a sieve and fill your blender to the top with the soaked stem pieces. Add about 2 cups of soak water to the blender, less if the blender threatens to overflow.

Lid your blender tightly and pulse it on "Liquefy" until the hemp stems are totally pulverized. Pour the resulting pulp into a clean plastic tub large enough to fit your deckle. A deckle is a fiberglass screen fastened to a wood frame; it can be made to any size. Repeat with the remaining soaked stems.

Spread a thick felt mat out next to the tub containing the hemp stem pulp. Push your deckle down underneath the pulp until it's completely submerged. Bring the deckle slowly back up. The screen should be covered with an even layer of dense hemp pulp.

Let the deckle drip for about a minute. Gently sponge excess water from the top of the pulp on the screen. Quickly flip the deckle onto the felt mat and lift it, leaving the rectangle of hemp pulp behind. Sponge the rectangle gently.

Continue making hemp pulp rectangles until you're out of pulp. Allow the paper rectangles to dry for 12 hours and gently flip them over. Allow them to dry for another 12 hours. At this point you should have fibrous, homemade hemp paper.