Ideas for affordable handmade pottery gifts to sell at Christmas market

[EllaBella1983]

This is my first post, so bear with!

I'm a novice potter. I'm also an absolute cheapskate but I also love handmade things and supporting locally made goods. In December I'm planning to participate in my community studio's Christmas Market. From a seller perspective, I do pottery as therapy, but I don't want to undermine those who use it as a form of income by undermining their prices. From a buyer perspective, I generally go to markets, look at things and think eek, that's a lot.. (even if I appreciate why it's the price it is) but wish I could support the seller by buying something small but still fab.

So I thought as well as my higher end items (plates, mugs, etc.), I could sell smaller items which didn't really require much in the way of decoration or individual processing, but were still hand made.

I like useful things. I'm not one for random bits of tat (or ornaments- as I've heard they're called), so my inspiration is a bit limited to what I would like to buy and use, and how much I would pay for it.

So I'm asking... if you went to a Christmas fayre on the hunt for presents, what would you want to pick up and what would you want to pay for it?

I'm thinking of a £1-5 section for stocking fillers, a £5-£10 for small gifts, and then £10+ for other bits. Also with a view to doing customisable gifts such as house signs, which could be pre-made and then decorated and glazed post purchase.

Please throw your ideas at me.

I love handmade ceramics - my ideas:

Pie funnel
coasters
brooches
small plant pots
small soap dish
small bud vase(s)
yarn bowl
oil burner/wax melt thingy
Christmas tree ornaments

my favourite - I have a tiny pottery hedgehog, it has a groove on the bottom that sits on the side of a bowl and lots of holes you can put cocktail sticks in - really cute on the side of a bowl of olives.

Round ceramic disk gift tag with a hole and threaded ribbon. Glazed front side with leaf imprinted design. Reverse left blank for the customer to add their message and recipient's name. Sold with a gold sharpie or chalk pen

Love the hedgehog idea!!

I have a tiny bowl for salt flakes which I use when cooking & baking. Don't see them around much.

On an advert I saw a small oval cup with varying size small holes. The idea is you thread a herb stalk (eg rosemary, thyme) through from inside to out and pull.....the herb leaves stay in cup and stalk can be disposed of. I googled trustpilot with company name and it was total scam (I've been caught before so ultra cautious now) so didn't purchase, but if I ever see one at a craft show I'll buy it. Could also promote for home made sage and onion stuffing at Christmas.

This is possibly a bit niche but I love tiny clay houses. Google Glenshee Pottery bothies - that kind of thing.

One of the nicest gifts I got from a potter was a ceramic pendant on a leather thing which was almost like a pebble with a hole in the middle glazed in a beautiful metallic colour. Although I did crack a tooth when reaching down

Soap dishes.

Whatever small thing it’s good to have a business card and wrapping that makes it clear it’s a handmade item. Adds so much value if gift giving. Like ‘Handmade in Croydon with love by Ellabella designs’.

I saw a pottery match striker! Amazing. The top part carried the matches and you turned it over to strike the match. I thought would be a great stocking filler.

Is it possible to make little bells, I’d definitely buy one if you sold them? A little bell on a ribbon would be lovely at Christmas.

Something that seems popular at the moment are worry stones. They are basically a pottery pebble with a dent in them to make them tactile.

I love little pottery ghosts , very simple and yes I would buy a snowflake decorated Christmas one , but that might just be me !

I wonder about very simple pottery Christmas ornaments?

I'm thinking buy some cookie cutters in the shapes of stars, snowflakes, maybe Christmas trees. Cut out clay, poke a good hole through for stringing them up, glaze, maybe a reactive glaze? They would be very low effort I think so hopefully could be quite low cost and would probably fit round other items for popping in the kiln? You could also do pottery initials with a hole in which could either be used as Christmas decorations or to decorate e.g. a child's bedroom door? And maybe also house numbers? Not sure if that would be a thing people would buy, though I probably would!

If you do soap dishes please put holes in the bottom so they drain, and preferably ridges. I hate wet soap with a passion. I also recognise this may make them too annoying to make so also feel free to ignore me 😅

Tiny bowls with ideas for what to use the tiny bowls for are also a good one. E.g. salt as someone said above (also offer a tiny spoon?), olives/dips, jewellery. I think if you can help people see how they can use it in their life they're maybe more likely to buy?

I dunno if they're too much of a pain in the backside to make, but I have a set of what should be saucers for espresso cups, but work incredibly well as tiny plates. I love them for giving to people to pop a few nibbles on before dinner if I am having a dinner party, or to eat puddings off to try and discourage myself from eating too much. I reckon they're about 11?cm diameter, and they're one of my most used pieces of crockery.