raw material for the paper nest is wood fibers. The wasps may be torn off with their mandibles fibers of thin branches, and chew it and mix with saliva to a pulp.
On the animal is not our view, but a Gallic (Or French) field wasp, Polistes dominulus . I caught a few days ago (May 12) when she bit off material from an old branch just a few yards from our Queen. The species P. dominulus is easy to spot: it is the only native wasp also with the upper side orange-colored probe flagella.