Easy Etching With a Pasta Press

I recently moved house and a lot of equipment is un available at present so I thought it would be an idea to go back to basics and print without the fancy presses and tools.

I used:

Paper
Clear plastic sheet
a needle

Felt

A pasta making machine (I was given mine. trust me if you know anyone with one they will not use it and will be happy to give it to you)

Ink (I have etching ink which is burnt linseed oil and pigment.. but I have used shoe polish as well as oil paint and had successes)

water and a tray to keep the water in.

More paper.. seriously if your printing you will want to make a whole bunch of prints.

If you want to go freestyle then that’s cool an you can skip a few steps. If not then find an image you like.. Pictures of family members tend to go down awesomely this time of year.

Also remember that the printing process will produce a mirror of the image your looking at so you might want to flip it first using an image editing software.

You could add a little more space for your border but endure you will be able to run the sheet through the pasta maker

If you have an etching tool then this step could be a whole lot easier. If not then I recommend experimenting with the marks you make.

Try looking at etchings for inspiration, there are techniques which can be used to shade such as cross hatching which could make your work look awesome.

I like to use paper towels. I tend to have a lot of them around an there cheap.

This step could have been mentioned earlier.. but makes more sense here.. The wetter the paper the better.. as long as it is not falling apart.

Then make a whole bunch more.