Manufacture of Folded and Twisted Paper Yarn

The tourist sector in Mauritius is aiming at welcoming 2 million tourists by the year 2015 and coming up with creative ideas and products branded with ‘Made in Mauritius’ to boost the country’s craft sector. This project looks into the manufacture of paper-yarn. Different types of paper were cut into ribbons of varying widths and converted into yarn by two methods: twisting and folding. The folds were made along the axis of a ribbon while twisting required prior moistening and was carried out on a modified yarn-twist measuring device. The relationship between the number of folds/twists and the strength of the resulting paper yarn was investigated. Yarn of high quality can be obtained by twisting ribbons of relatively smaller widths or folding relatively wider ribbons. The yarn can be used for manufacturing craft products.