Clay is one of the most versatile mediums. You can create anything out of clay, it’s not just for dinnerware. I have seen stools, coat hangers, and even shoes made out of clay. Now, I know what your thinking….shoes? Y’all forget about cinderella and her glass slippers? Personally, I’m going to choose a glazed, ceramic shoe over a plain glass slipper every single time.

I didn’t actually make a shoe (don’t tempt me), but I did want to get creative this month by challenging myself to put clay’s utilitarian nature to good use. Making something other than dinnerware was a top priority, and since I recently had the pleasure of getting together with friends who helped teach me about the different types of hand-rolling techniques. It got me thinking about decoration, and what surface texture I could add to pasta. I thought attempting to make some pasta boards and a few stamps would make for a fun bake.

First things first I needed to carve out some stamps.

Then I needed to make the final product!

From there it was just a matter of letting everything dry out slowly and evenly. These pasta boards and stamps have a tendency to warp if they are dried out too quickly. I like to put a heavy board over the top of pasta boards and then obsessively check the stamps to push them back down into a level position.

There they are hand carved pasta stamps, all ready to be used.