I
thought you might like to hear this tale of which I was fortunate
to be part...
Out of the blue, Judie,
a very kind and sweet woman, contacted me about trouble she
had with trying to restore a garage-sale pasta machine that
she got for her daughter. She'd heard a PM could come in handy
when using polymer clay, but she didn't want to purchase a
new one.
She found the instructions
for cleaning a PM on my website and decided to tackle disassembly
herself. After two days with mounting frustration and no success,
she decided to donate the poor machine to me, hoping I could
perhaps use spare parts. She said she had thought about simply
tossing it in the trash, but that she had kinda bonded with it
during her ordeal to restore it. So, instead, she wanted to find
it a good home! :D
It arrived on my doorstep,
via parcel post, in a humble brown paper wrapper. I couldn't
resist the challenge of trying to restore the little thing. I
hate to see such exquisitely wonderful tools go to waste.
Turns out it wasn't
quite what I had expected. Yes, it was a pasta machine (made
by Mercato even!), but it was an all-in-one unit (the flat and
noodle cutting rollers all in one chassis) and it was the narrow
machine (about 4.25 inches across, instead of the standard 5.75
inches). It was a cute little baby. :)
|
Since
it was a uni-body unit, and I had nothing to lose, I decided
to try something I'd always wanted to - chopping off the "shelf",
that part that holds the noodle rollers. Out came the hacksaw,
the Dremel and whatever else I could use to work on metal. During
the process of trying to fix it (it wouldn't turn at all), I
also learned the final secrets about how pasta machines work.
I kinda feel like I successfully solved the final puzzle in an
endgame.
Now the little PM is
restored; derusted, lubed, and turning nicely. I told Judie that
I could ship it back to her, but she said that, in essence, the
PM's destiny didn't lie with her any longer. Thus, I told her
I would designate the machine for use in the beginner classes
I will teach. She told me she and her husband were going to commemorate
it by naming it "Jesus Pasta Machine"
and toasting its memory with a glass of wine.
Tis appropriate, I think,
that this curious event happened on Thanksgiving weekend. I know
I'm very thankful. Maybe one day, I'll donate it to someone who'll
be able to further enrich the little pasta machine's history.
:)
Desiree
|
