San Francisco Center for the Book

Revive your manual pasta maker by learning how to use it to create small drypoint prints. This technique uses the pressure that normally rolls out the pasta dough to print artwork.

Students will learn how to use different materials to create a plate including milk cartons, Tetra Paks, and Akua plate material. They'll learn how to ink up the plate, add packing to the pasta maker for the perfect impression, and pull prints to make a small edition.

The small-format prints created in class will be up to 4” by 6”. Prints will be made using a drypoint needle and a cutting knife and will be printed on Rives BFK paper with different kind of inks. The materials fee includes a drypoint needle, chipboard & felts as well as printing paper that students will be able to take home to continue making prints on their own pasta machines.

*The pasta machine does not get any ink on it, so using it for pasta AND printing is perfectly fine. Oil based etching ink will be used during class; the instructor will demonstrate how easy it is to clean up without any heavy cleaning solution.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to bring:

• Hand-crank pasta maker if you have one - only the basic maker is needed, we do not need the cutting or ravioli parts!
• Empty milk cartons and/or Tetra Paks for printing (Tetra Pak is a type of packaging used for store-bought soups, broth, nut milks, etc. Google it!)
• Ideas for small prints - come with sketches

About the Instructor:
Bettina Pauly (she/her) lives in San Francisco and works as both a book artist and a letterpress printer with Kim Vanderheiden at Painted Tongue Studios, Oakland, California. She loves books and boxes both as physical objects and as containers of meaning. She is interested in a variety of folded, sewn and woven structures in which she can incorporate her printing.