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Gabrielle Schaffner Ceramics

handmade functional pottery
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making garganelli on my porcelain pasta board

making garganelli on my porcelain pasta board

a new project : pasta boards

March 9, 2019

If you know me at all, you know that besides making pottery, I love to cook and I especially love to make pasta. In my spare time I watch repeat episodes of Pasta Grannies, Vicky Bennison’s show that joyfully  documents Italian women making pasta by hand (on Youtube—if you’re not watching it you are missing out). 

Early last year  I was scrolling instagram when I came across a gorgeous pasta making tool called a cavarola board.  I’d never seen one before—a flat board, with a delicate surface pattern, elaborately carved with diamonds, dashes and dots. The surface texture looked like terra cotta to me, and I was intrigued.

After some research I realized they are actually made of wood (there is a great post on Steve Sharafian’s blog  A Serious Bunburyist about the cavarola board and some of the pasta made with it) . 

But the end, my misunderstanding had brought me down a path—that I should make my own boards, and why not make them from clay. Porcelain, with its smooth, easy-to-carve surface and its vitrified (sealed when fired) properties seemed like it could actually be ideal.

I made myself a crude slab board to try it out and loved it for rolling garganelli and even patterning the edges of my ravioli. The added textures creates a way for the sauces to grab onto pasta.

After I carved the rolling surfaces, I realized the other side was a perfect painting surface—the finished pieces remind me of the thick tiles I have often admired in Italian ceramic and antique shops. I added holes to each board so they can be hung on the wall when they are not busy rolling garganelli, cavatelli, malloreddus or any other sturdy handmade pasta that benefits from a grooved surface.

Gabrielle_Schaffner_pasta_board-peacock-vase_1.JPG Gabrielle_Schaffner_pasta_board-peacock-vase_2.JPG Gabrielle_schaffner_handmade_ceramic_pasta_board-heron_1.JPG Gabrielle_schaffner_handmade_ceramic_pasta_board-heron_4.JPG Gabrielle_Schaffner_pasta_board-blue-vase_1.jpg Gabrielle_Schaffner_pasta_board-blue-vase_3.JPG

Since they’ve come out of the kiln, I have been making pasta all week, testing the various patterns to see where I go next—and I cannot wait to make more boards (a few other ideas for pasta tools are brewing as well—corzetti stamp coming soon). 

porcelain pasta board

porcelain pasta board

Gabrielle_Schaffner_pasta_board-blue-vase_4.JPG
forming flour + water malloreddus

forming flour + water malloreddus

I’m looking forward to putting these boards out into the world and hearing(and seeing ) how they go.

And I’d love to hear about other pasta forms and tools, please do tell me any you think I should know about.


A recipe: Carla Tomasi's Cassola →

recent work

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I’ve lost my posting mojo again!

Here are some peeks into the last week or so—the studio is hectic as we get ready for open studios (October 19&20), and we snuck away to Cape Cod for a few nights to advance celebrate both L and M&rsq
Last few pots jumped into the kiln and now I’m settling into a mini cycle of throwing and slabbing. 🤹‍♀️ 

Meanwhile I’m listening to music on an apple home pod. Somehow I set the Siri up in it to speak Italian (which is fine, gives
Feverfew 🌼 ( I think?) in recent bud vase. 
Flip side in the next picture. 

In the background, Olivia Cavalli’s Stagioni cookbook which I am really enjoying. The third  picture is a delicious “Polpettone alla Ligure” from the book
Nearly there for a full kiln. It’s been so long I have no idea what on the lower shelves 😂

Second pic is the flip side of the large spoons, and the third is the cataclysmic mess of my current work table. The more I paint, the smaller my work
Big rough ravioli tonight, with a side of a @pastagrannies binge. 
Many thoughts of @carla_tomasi , as well as @rachelaliceroddy in the kitchen tonight. 🥂
Still knee deep in re-entry somehow, but ohhhh the  tomato sandwiches of August 🔥
Back home, unpacking, knee deep in re-entry. 
1000 mile drive ✔️ (thanks to L), fueled by homemade pasties and little rolls and pizzas. 

I’ll miss the eagles and sandhill cranes but to be honest it’s good to be back in the city, with the
I am heartbroken that we have lost Carla Tomasi. 

Carla gave so freely of herself, taught me and so many people so much in the kitchen. 

She had a brilliant, sharp wit and a huge heart. She brooked no nonsense. She always answered the littlest ques
Last night: 
Gnocchetti sardi, which always make me think of @carla_tomasi ❤️

Extra good when you put your dinner guests to work. They are made with a simple semola rimacinata and hot water dough which is perfect for vacation pasta making—then