The primary material consists of hemp, cotton or linen rags. In earlier times these rags underwent a sort of ‘rotting' lasting several weeks, in order to soften the fibres. This method is no longer used however, and so the rags go directly to the ‘cutting up room' where an employee cuts them up into thin strips using the blade of a scythe and gets rid of any impurities (bubbles, elastic etc) The baskets full of rags (thin strips of material) are then taken to what is considered as the heart of the mill: the ‘mallet stack'. And here is where the magic gets to work: rags come in but they leave as a paper paste.