I had the idea to use my pasta machine (which I've previously used for rolling out polymer clay) as a printing press. Ink a thin plate with a raised design, place it on top of a sheet of paper, and roll it through. If you click on the image above, you can see a sort of haphazard step-by-step sequence of the process I used. I'm fairly happy with this technique, although the rollers on my machine seem to not be exactly parallel. I may investigate alternate press approximations. (Maybe a vise would work? And a vise would be a useful thing to have around anyway for other crafts...)
I recently read Palimpsest and have a bunch of crafty ideas in my head because of it. It's a great book with lots of rich, visual language and interesting characters.
riv, have you ever used your pasta machine for... making pasta? And you do realize you have access to a real printing press? ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, that's a neat hack and a cool result. Where'd the metal grating come from?
(My copy of Palimpsest is in the mail, yay! My to-read stack just keeps growing, of course, but, ehh, it's a stack, I'm supposed to pull off the top, right? :)
Yeah, well, the real printing press isn't in my living room :p And no, the pasta machine is dedicated for crafts.
ReplyDeleteThe metal grating was given to me by Yuki a few years ago. I think it may actually be intended for putting over open areas in computer cases, but I'm not sure.