Pasta Shapes and Tools

Creations by Laurie Boucher

If you’ve ever fallen down the rabbit hole of pasta shapes on Instagram and wondered, “Who dreams this stuff up?”—meet Laurie Boucher. She’s a pasta artist, a generous teacher, a fearless tinkerer with tools, and a former attorney who flipped her life to follow flour, water, and imagination. Laurie doesn’t just make pasta; she invents pasta shapes and the tools to create them—then shows the rest of us how to do it, too.

Laurie Boucher at work — Photo credit: Laurie Boucher

From courtroom to cutting wheel

Laurie still has her law degree, but her daily briefs now look like sheets of golden pasta dough. Years ago she started posting her cooking journey as @baltimorehomecook, and the pasta community quickly noticed her knack for teaching and her relentless curiosity about pasta shapes. She teaches everywhere—cooking schools, wineries, breweries, and restaurants—and adapts her classes to the setting. Some nights you’ll learn pasta shapes and then sit down to a multi-course dinner; other times it’s a hands-on “make it and take it.” Either way, you’ll leave with technique, confidence, and a grin.

For a stretch she was the morning pasta engine at Café Campli near her home, clocking in at 6 a.m. to keep the restaurant supplied with fresh pasta. The concept leaned Abruzzese, but Laurie also produced Sardinian shapes, garganelli, and more as seasonal menus shifted. That experience sharpened her sense for which pasta shapes work in quantity and which are best for special runs or classes—useful wisdom for anyone who wants to scale up their own pasta production.

Why her pasta shapes stand out

Yes, Laurie honors tradition. But she also plays. Think of her approach as pasta origami: she studies historical shapes, then experiments—folding, pleating, twisting—until a new pasta shape appears. Her favorite prototyping medium isn’t dough at all but paper towels. If a fold works in paper, she knows it will likely work in pasta.

One of her most striking pasta shapes arrived by “happy accident.” While working through a Sardinian-inspired fold, she pinched and curved the dough and suddenly saw the flared silhouette of a cobra’s hood. The nickname stuck—Cobra Hood—and the shape’s ridges and creases make it a natural sauce catcher. When Chicago’s beloved Tortello was asked to submit a pasta shape for the TV series The Bear, they shared Laurie’s work with the show’s culinary team and invited her to help produce a few designs—including Cobra Hood—for consideration. Spot the shape in Season 4, Episode 2, and you’ll understand why pasta shapes can be storytelling devices as much as they are vehicles for sauce.

Tools of a pasta shape-shifter

Laurie’s Etsy shop is titled PastaArt for a reason. Her tool chest is part artisan tradition, part DIY innovation:

Pasta shapes and a Sardinian cutting tool — Laurie Boucher Sardinian pasta cutter

Sardinian brass pastry wheels/cutters. Years ago, these were nearly impossible to source outside Italy. Laurie tracked down artisans and began importing them so more home cooks could cut ornate edges for ravioli and decorative pasta shapes.
Textured boards. During lockdown she beta-tested patterns using taped-together skewers, then partnered with woodworkers to produce durable pasta boards with grooves that imprint dough. Her most popular is the “LuNi” board (named for her kids, Lucy and Nick), perfect for shaping garganelli or giving your pasta shapes a texture that grabs sauce.
Wearable pasta. Using a flexible, bakeable clay, she crafts pasta-shape keychains, ornaments, earrings, and necklaces—garganelli, farfalle, tortellini, you name it. They’re sturdy, light, and surprisingly realistic. A pasta machine company in Pennsylvania once decked out its entire showroom Christmas tree with her ornaments.

Pasta shapes made into jewelry — Photo credit: Laurie Boucher

Laurie’s ethos is refreshingly open-source: if she invented a technique or pasta shape, she’s happy to show you how it’s done. She won’t share other people’s recipes, but her own discoveries? Fair game. That generous teaching spirit runs through everything she does.

Pasta shapes for every cook

Different pasta shapes — Photo credit: Laurie Boucher

If you’re new to pasta shapes, start simple and tactile. Roll coins of dough on a textured board for gnocchetti sardi, or cut squares and roll around a dowel for garganelli. Once you get the feel for pressure and elasticity, try folded shapes—“origami pasta”—and you’ll see why Laurie prototypes with paper first. The geometry teaches your hands what your eyes can’t.

A few starter ideas inspired by Laurie’s approach:

Double-filled ravioli “twins.” Laurie’s a twin, and she once went deep on joining two pockets into one shape. If you’re confident with ravioli, try fusing two small pillows into a single unit and watch the seams become sauce-catching channels.
Cobra Hood cousins. Practice fan-folding and pinching on paper squares, then translate the fold to pasta. Even if your shape isn’t identical, you’ll discover new pockets and fins that hold ragù or butter-and-sage like a dream.
Naturally colored doughs. Spinach or parsley for green, tomato for red, beet for magenta, turmeric or saffron for gold—kids love it, and it’s an easy way to make veggie-forward fillings more enticing.

And remember: pasta shapes aren’t precious. They’re playful, practical, and delicious. The “right” shape is the one that delights you and pairs with your sauce.

Learn, make, and support

Want to study Laurie’s pasta shapes, tools, and classes?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baltimorehomecook/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurie.boucher.9
Etsy (PastaArt): https://www.etsy.com/shop/PastaArt?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=602087325§ion_id=30731306

Browse her feed for tutorials, look for upcoming classes under her “Pasta Made Simple” banner, and check the shop for cutters, textured boards, and those irresistible pasta-shape keychains and ornaments. Whether you’re a seasoned nonna or a brand-new dough-roller, you’ll find a pasta shapes project that matches your mood.