Packing pottery for wholesale

Making pottery is an art and I beleive packing pottery is an art as well. Packing individual pots is not that hard. You can bubble wrap it and put it in a box full of peanuts. But for wholesdale orders, multiple pots need to be packed together. You want to pack efficiently so you can fit several pots in one box and at the same time make sure it is not so tightly packed that the pots hit against each other and break.

Also keep in mind that you can get bigger and bigger boxes to pack more and more pots. I don't recommend that, because if the box is large and awkward, the likeness of it being dropped is higher. I usually use two sizes 17"x13"x13" and occasionally a 18"x18"x16" box. Of course this depends on your size of pieces and the number of pieces you need to ship in every order.

First the tools of the trade.

A good heavy duty packaging tape

Fragile Labels or tape. I sell these rolls of tape at great wholesale prices here.

Stretch wrap. This is my life saver. I couldn't live without this stuff.

A good blade

Bubble wrap (Use recycled only if it is in good condition)

Scrap cardboard

Packing peanuts (I use recycled clean peanuts that I get from a local electronic store)

I wrap each piece (in this case my mugs) in bubble wrap. Then using stretch wrap I wrap pieces together with cardboard in between them. This way the pieces don't touch and have a cardboqrd buffer in between. The stretch wrap is wrapped tightly to make sure the pieces don't move.

With 2 inches of peanuts in the bottom layer of the box, the mugs are placed with enough room on the sides and between the two packs of mugs. Then pack peanuts around the corners and edges with another layer of peanuts and more mugs.

Finally it is topped with more peanuts, invoices, business card and info about my work.

 Try not to overfill the boxes and tape them securely with tape. I also label the boxes with my pottery labels.

 I am sure every potter/artist packs their work in their own way. I would love to hear of more ideas you have and what works for you. Do comment and share with your social networks.



Corner Booth Design

It is time to make changes to my booth design again. Nothing significant but just something for a corner booth. I had got great suggestions on my blog for booth designs and shelves, so I hope to get more recommendations for a corner booth. The picture above is of my in-line booth with shelves on one side, wall panels at the back and pedestals to the other side.

Here is a computer sketch of my current in-line booth design.

For the corner I am thinking of two options. The one above which is similar to my in-line design and would encourage people to walk in and give more open space.

One thing I have noticed is when people just stand at the edge of the booth and fear coming in... As though I will hold them at gun point till they buy something. LOL! So to give them an opportunity to browse without commiting to come in my booth, I thought of this design with shelves along the open sides of the booth. Advantage is that I get lots of storage space, but I think it will be hard for to talk to my customers, or tell them about my work or point to something or pull something off the wall.

For an outdoor show I know this design can be bad with bad weather. No way for anyone to look at your work while it rains on them.

Do you have any recommendations? I will have a corner booth at the upcoming Best of the Northwest show Nov 18th-20th. So any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

New Butter Trays

Many of you have seen and purchased my lidded butter dishes which are still my best sellers. With a suggestion from the Luna Sea Gallery in Pascadero, CA, I am introducing my new butter trays. They are still charming and colorful with a different design and a great price point.

They can also be used as spoon rests or serving.

Check them out in my Etsy shop.

Potters Council Show NCECA 2012

I am thrilled to find out that my Pillow Bowl has been accepted for the Potters Council Show, "The Chormatic Edge" at NCECA 2012 which is in my hometown Seattle!!

If you have been following my blog, you must have read about the learning experience I had with these pillow bowls. I had titled the blog entry "Try Try Try till you succeed". Being accepted for this show does show a measure of success. So if you have an itch to try something new, keep at it and you will achieve it.

Handbuilt Lidded jars/ mugs

I have been experimenting with a new idea of decorating my surfaces which is a conbination of my slip decoration and adding color in a different way.

These are my initial pieces with which I made the surface of the mugs by rolling on to a textured surface that I slip slip decorated. And then I ran a brayer on the raised surface to add the black color to the raised surfaces. Don't know how this will look when finished but I like the look so far. What do you think?

Since I am still experimenting, I think these can make cool lidded cups or even sugar jars. Do you prefer sugar jars with the lid cut out for a spoon to go in?