Lucy Fagella Pottery

My Blog has Moved to LucyFagella.com

lucyfagellapottery — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 03:32:31 +0000

I am writing this post to let you all know that my blog here on wordpress.com has moved over to my own website. I liked wordpress so much that I got myself a new website at wordpress.org. Now I can have my website and blog all rolled into one!
This is my third website since 2005 (my how time flies). I am very excited about this new website… not that I didn’t like my last one, it’s just that after four years, it became outdated with the leaps and bounds in technology that have been happening. So this new website is mobile friendly, and connects to my two shops… “Shop Lucia Urns”, and “Shop for the Kitchen.” Both are secure sites which take all credit cards through Squareup.com.
For those of you who follow me here, you will no longer get your automatic email notifications when a new post comes out… but the good news is that you can sign up on my website for a monthly update of studio news, classes, workshops, events, sales, and blog posts!
Take a look at my new website at www.LucyFagella.com. and follow me there by signing up with your email contact!

Filed under: lucyfagella.com Tagged: Lucy Fagella, lucyfagella.com, lucyfagellapottery, new website, responsive website

The Pottery Trail is this Weekend

lucyfagellapottery — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 02:26:31 +0000

All the throwing, all the glazing, all the achy body parts that go with it. It’s such a build up to this event, our 11th annual Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail… and it’s all worth it!

Each year more and more people go on the Trail, taking the time to visit each of the nine studios, the host potters and their guest potters. Experience all the goodies we have in store. It’s not only about buying great pots, it’s also a celebration of food, friendships, music, and demonstrations! So if you haven’t been on this great tour through the beautiful valley of Western Massachusetts, now is your time! Check out our website here, and please don’t forget to support our sponsors for great food, and a place to stay!

Here is what is in store at my studio this time around!

Filed under: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail Tagged: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, Pottery tours, Western Ma. Pottery Tour, Western Massachusetts Pottery

Urns Honoring a Loved One

lucyfagellapottery — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 01:29:41 +0000

Today there was a really nice article in our local paper about the ceramic urns I make.

Cremation urns have been part of my pottery business for ten years now. The article tells about why I chose to do this as a potter.

See it here at, The Greenfield Recorder.

Filed under: porcelain cremation urns Tagged: artist made cremation urns, cremation urns, handmade cremation urns, Lucia Urns, Lucy Fagella, Porcelain urns, white urn

Making Asparagus Trays

lucyfagellapottery — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 02:57:49 +0000

I call these Asparagus trays, but the reality is that they can be used for anything from fresh cut bread to clementines.

I thought it would be nice to share some photos of how I make these oval, long handled trays!

Asparagus Trau on the worktable.

Freshly made.

Block Printing Tool from India

Thrown bottomless, then made into oval.

Joining the top to the bottom.

With handles, drying on worktable

Filed under: Asparagus Trays, patterns on clay, work in process Tagged: asparagus tray, Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, hors d'oeuvre tray, long tray with handles, patterns in clay, porcelain tray with handles

The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail

lucyfagellapottery — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 16:54:40 +0000

So exciting it’s our 11th Year! A tour of 9 potters at their studios, each having at least one guest potter! If you haven’t made this tour yet, now is the time. It is going to be a good one! Make reservations to stay at one of our sponsor B&Bs, and enjoy some great local food.

Take a look at our brochure and see for yourself!

See our website here. http://www.apotterytrail.com.

Filed under: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, western Massachusetts Tagged: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, buying local, Pottery tours, pottery trail, springtime in Massachusetts, Western Ma. Pottery Tour, Western Massachusetts

Getting Pots Made for the Pottery Trail

lucyfagellapottery — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 01:03:52 +0000

The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail is coming up in six short weeks! Our date this year is April 25th-26th. In between getting pots made for that, I am spending time getting all of my information and photos to my web designer for my new website! Hopefully it will be all up and running before the Trail. My current website was made in 2010, even though it’s nice, it is antiquated. It’s time for me to have a responsive website since a good percentage people use mobile devices to search sites. Maybe I will share some sneak peeks of the website soon, but for now I will give you a peek of the mugs that will be ready for the Pottery Trail.

Last week I was working on mugs and cups, I was getting tired of trimming the same old foot. I was also dreaming of warm weather and flowers… zinnias to be exact, in the studio garden to be more exact. So before I knew it these happy feet started to appear! I always like to have texture on the bottom of my mugs (usually made with a wiggle type wire). I think it’s fun to hold a mug and have something different to feel on different parts of the piece, and you can’t leave out the bottom! We will see if this foot design becomes part of my repertoire or if it’s just something to get me through till the zinnia’s are in bloom.

Filed under: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, ceramic mugs, work in process Tagged: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, handles on mugs, handmade ceramic mugs, Lucia Pottery, Lucy Fagella, making feet on mugs, the ceramic work table, work in progress

Patterns and Optical Illusions

lucyfagellapottery — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 14:23:28 +0000

Patterns, just love what they can do. Repetition, movement, optical illusions.

I have been making these little treasure boxes with different patterns and glazes… here are some of the blue ones. I have included the images of the process… how I draw the pattern using a square grid, then apply wax resist to the pattern. I love the way they look glazed but not fired. But what I really want you to look at is the optical illusion that occurs on the finished blue piece. Do you see a leaf/petal or a diamond shape? I see one first, then the other after awhile.

These will be available soon on my new updated website, and in my etsy shops… I need to have a long photo session, and get all the new stuff up!

Filed under: Salt box, treasure box, work in process Tagged: ceramic boxes, ceramic salt cellar, lidded jar, Lucia Pottery, Lucy Fagella, optical illusion, patterns, patterns in clay, porcelain, square grid, treasure box, treasure jars

Ceramic Spoons

lucyfagellapottery — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 02:40:22 +0000

I started making my first ceramic spoons a little over a year ago. I wanted to make a spoon to go with my sugar jar, but really had no clue as to how I would make one that didn’t look like a ceramic soup ladle that potters made in the 1970’s for their soup tureens. I started playing around with some hand built spoons, but they were very primitive looking… like a third grader made them. My intention was to make the spoon and the sugar jar a full composition, a flow of two separate pieces coming together as a unit. I felt that for this result to happen the spoons needed to be thrown on the potters wheel. So I took to the internet and searched handmade ceramic spoons. There weren’t many out there that had the feel I wanted except for one potter, Chandra DeBuse. I looked at her spoons and thought, they are so playful and full of life! They have a fullness to them, and they don’t look primitive. They looked sturdy, unlike many of the spoons I was seeing, which felt like they would break with the slightest little mishap. Chandra’s spoons were getting very close to what I had in mind, but did not look like they were thrown on the wheel. So I logged these images of her spoons in my little noggin, and continued to keep searching for others. I then found Lorna Meaden’s spoons, which are very nice. They are full looking, like Chandra’s, and very sturdy, and functional looking, and parts of them looked like they were thrown on the wheel. I had what I needed to move on. I thank Chandra and Lorna for their inspiration. Now it was time to set out making some spoons on the potters wheel! Spoons that expressed who I am as a potter. It took me a little time to make them look right, and feel right, and function well, but like all things learned in pottery… patience is the key to success. Here are the latest batch of spoons from the most recent kiln firing, and a photo of the sugar jar and spoon which can be found on my etsy FoodieCeramics shop.

Filed under: ceramic spoons, sugar jar Tagged: ceramic spoon knolling, ceramic spoons, handmade spoons, knolling, Lucy Fagella spoons, red dots, sugar jar, sugar jar with spoon, wheel thrown spoons

Patterns through the Years

lucyfagellapottery — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 05:41:40 +0000

I went to college for ceramic art 30 years ago… ugh, I’m getting so old. The first 15 years after college were spent teaching pottery, farming, and having kids. The last 15 years I have been a full time, making-a-living-from-it potter. When I look back at the pots I have made, there is a thread that keeps surfacing… and that is pattern. I really love the repetition and movement that happens with overlapping patterns. I also love the soothing repetitive lines of a ripples in the water, or windblown sand. Patterns are literally everywhere in nature. It is no wonder that artists have consciously or unconsciously include it in their art. My favorite patterns are from Islamic architecture and American quilts. Check out my Pinterest board on quilts and patterns!

Included below are pots of mine from the past 10 years.

Goblets with stamped pattern, 2004

Biodegradable Urn BlueTie Quilt, 2007

Tiles with pattern, 2009

White Stamped Urn, 2010

Biodegradable Urn, June Star, and Sun Squared, 2012

Star leaf cup and saucer, 2015

From my morning walk today. Snow spattering.

Filed under: Biodegradable clay urns, patterns on clay Tagged: art urns, artist made cremation urns, ceramic cups, clover leaf pattern tile, cup and saucer, funeral urns, Lucia Urns, patterns in clay, quilt patterns on biodegradable urns

The Pottery Cycle Begins for the New Year

lucyfagellapottery — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 01:24:26 +0000

It was such a busy holiday schedule this year. I was quite wiped out after all the shows, sales, and packing of online orders. Then came Christmas with lots of family visiting… a few wonderful days of a completely full house… once it was all over I just laid on the couch for a couple of days.

This past Monday I was back full time in the studio and the new cycle of pottery for the year began. It started with filling an order for mugs and making a batch of test tiles for testing Sheffield Pottery’s new version of their 92700 porcelain. Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with paperwork, packing orders, and making some keepsake urns. Today was finally a full day with my hands in the clay… ahh, what every potter wishes they could do all the time! I trimmed the keepsakes, and made lots of lids for them. Tomorrow it’s trimming the tiny lids, which is very difficult because they are so small, (the size of the urn is about 3″x3″).

And so the cycle continues…

Filed under: urns Tagged: 92700 Sheffield porcelain, ceramic test tiles, green keepsake urn, keepsake urns, Lucia Urns, lucy fagella urns, Porcelain urns, pottery lids drying, urns by Lucia Pottery, work in process