Ooh, ooh, ooh. Papermaking is so much fun. Do you have a press? Are you making it from torn up paper or from pulp you've purchased? In either case, you'll limit the lumps by spending quite a while mixing it in the vat - a paint mixer attachment on an electric drill is what we used the only time I've ever done papermaking with people who knew what they were doing. The results were excellent, too.

Woo. I've just started reading up on papermaking. I have an old mould and deckle that I sanded and refinished last night. I may need to buy new mesh for it as there's a tiny hole on the side, but I'm going to try reparing it first.

There are LOTS of books on papermaking. Have you checked the library yet?

I just recently purchased Paper making and bookbinding coastal inspirations by Joanne B. Kaar. There are instructions for doing embossed paper and water marks. (Plus the photography is great and the book is full of rich colours.)

In terms of getting the water out:
the books I've read have recommend using J-cloths/kitchen cloths instead of felt as they're cheap and the paper dries faster. Another suggestion was to cut up an old cotton sheet into squares.

You can make a post (I think that's the right term) which is alternating cloth-paper-cloth. Put a board underneath and a board on top. Then stand on the whole stack to push out all the water. This is an activity best suited for the outdoors. If you live in an apartment put towels under your stack to catch the water that comes out.

Then there's drying. I haven't found any great suggestions on that yet...except for the wire clothes frame that people use to dry clothes. Use safety pins to attach the fabric with a sheet of paper stuck to it. When the paper is dry pull the cloth one way, then the other way and then peel off the paper.