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.

Are you thinking like a tree/ sign post type thing? Or something flat but with "hooks" i don't wear jewellery so trying to think what would be practical.

I went down a rabbit hole designing pie funnels and light pulls 🤭🤣

The market I'm doing will be at our studio and they'll be offering paint your own, so probably wouldn't be allowed to do anything like that. Might work elsewhere though :) or even just regular ceramic oven paint that people can decorate something, take it home and bake it..

Sorry for the delay! I'm in South Wales- Carmarthenshire. I'm about to start a new job so juggling a few bits at the moment. I'm not entirely sure of rules, but happy for you to give me a shout. When I've made some bits I'll post photos of all the things I've been inspired to make.

I got an embossed pottery heart keyring once which was lovely and only cost a few pounds and would be a lovely little stocking filler.

I’m not sure whether Skandi is still as popular as it was but, when DD was young, we bought some heart and star-shaped cookie cutters of varying sizes and (alongside gingerbread) bought some white air-dry clay to make tree decorations and gift tags. I probably used a cocktail stick to punch holes/write messages. In any event, they looked pretty threaded with thin gingham red ribbon.

I’d happily buy colourful chunky clay bead necklaces to go over jumpers?

Yes, like a small tree or signpost.

Plain is good as once the jewellery gets hung on it it looks quite decorated anyway.

@MousespoonsI love the idea of that hedgehog, it sounds sweet but functional, plus I love hedgehogs.

Oh another thing which seems to sell well is ceramic herb/vegetable labels for gardeners.

Tea bag dish. I was forever buying these for my Mum cos I was sick of finding used teabags all over the house. Plant pots, one year for the church fete a group of us got together and painted plant pots we sold them with soil and a packet of seeds. They went down really well, maybe you could do something like that. I can't remember how much they were. Trinket dishes are also a nice idea.

I love the ceramic tree ornament I bought once, just a simple heart shape but it had lace pressed into it and a beautiful glaze.

I'd avoid anything that would come into contact with food or drink (even if you're using commercial glazes marked foodsafe) as unless you're prepared to pay for expensive tests then there's always a chance of leaching (just don't advertise anything as foodsafe, people can then do as they please after).

Flower frogs, soap dishes, trinket bowls, tree ornaments and gift tags are all easy and relatively cheap to make and sell well. You could also make buttons and big beads if there's a potential for 'crafty' customers. Bud vases too maybe?

(I'm a hobby potter too and regularly make stuff for our pottery group sale, here's my Instagram page in case you want a look, i'll try and add some I photos of some of the things I've made to sell in the past that have been successful https://www.instagram.com/alice.pottery.and.stuff?igsh=b2Zwbm1uZ29ncDFn )

I did pottery until i realised that im shit at it. But things i have used and aren't pointless craft tat- garlic grinder plate. I recall i made the spiky bit with scissors. If I was doing it again id make a deeper moat around the textured bit and the rim to collect oil. And a handle with a hole in to strip herbs. Bee cups, wrong time of year, but they are popular. And like others-gift tags/ornaments. Thin as you can.

Instead of ollas/orlas/pots you could try making watering spikes, theyre much easier to make, they're basically hollow spikes you put into the ground and put a bottle of water upside down in them.

Please don't make tea-light holders unless you have good business insurance (and even then some insurers won't cover you).

Typically tea-light holders are made from jesmonite or concrete because they are fire-resistant, non-combustable and have been extensively tests. They are therefore not a danger and unlikely to crack unlikely ceramics. If a ceramic tealight holder cracks there's a high change the tealight tips and well...you're fucked, quite frankly, as the seller.

I make candle holders and tea-light holders, and I have to do vigorous safety tests on each batch, my insurance is astronomical because of the risks involved in creating your own candle holders, and more importantly it costs a fortune to do 'right.'

I make festive stacking candles (christmas trees, snow-men etc) and stacking tea-light holders, and each one cost me over £25 to make (not including labour or the tea-light/candle refill that would be included). And that's without the bulk attempts/trial/errors to make sure the safety is up to industry standards. Tealight holders/candles are a really over-saturated market as well and it's really hard to make a good profit unless you can churn things out in bulk. And then you need to add in your 'costs' (i.e. your hours worked).

It sounds like a great idea until you realise ceramic's aren't the right base material and working with both jesmonite and concrete is toxic and requires specialist equipment, your insurance is going to cripple you, and your fire-safety testing (when done extensively to ensure you're covered under insurances purposes for worse case) can cost several hundred pounds.

Wax melt burners are slightly different, but you also should have good insurance to sell them given the risks.

TLDR; don't sell anything that might be used to have a combustable in it unless you have done extensive safety tests and have bloody good insurance.

Just like as @AlicePottery said 'avoid anything that will come into contact with food or drink', tealights/candle holders and wax melt burners are the same.

If you do a tea bag dish, make it so it can double up as a teaspoon rest. Think modern kitchen, or seasonal a lot are wooden spoon size and the likes of B&M, HB etc are fashion colours.

I’d buy Christmas tree decorations

Christmas hot chocolate spoon (?)

OK so I'm going to be mundanely boring and practical now.

So assuming the Christmas market is at the beginning of December you have a max of 17 weeks to design, make and glaze stuff. If you're a novice you make not appreciate the pressure on kiln time as people start of think of Christmas - it's a serious thing, trust me. Especially hanging decorations which if you want them glazed on both sides have to go on a special frame which take up a lot of space. Best thing to do is keep things really simple - techniques you're comfortable with, glazes you've used before, hanging decorations glazed just on one side. Assume there will be breakages, cracks and big delays in kiln access. Don't try to make too many different types of things - ends up looking like a jumble sale - pick 2-3 things and make several of each, different sizes, different colours.

And be sure how you pay for your finished pottery at the studio, so you can cover your costs. Things in the £1-3 bracket although possibily attractive to buyers will probably cost you more than £1-3 to make.

Oh and avoid customised stuff and commissions, especially as a novice - biggest source of hassle and customer dissatisfaction ! Nothing like a friend asking for a house name plate for her mum to kill your creativity, skill and ultimately your friendship. I've been potting for a long time so I know of what I speak.

Making stuff for a market can be stressful - please don't loose sight of the thing you told us right at the beginning - I do pottery as therapy.

Oh and another thing - next year start your Christmas making at Easter !

Good luck and have fun

Look at what’s selling in Oliver bonas

glasses plates for bedside
jewellery
Xmas tree bauble

Disclaimer: I’m not artistic so don’t know if I’m suggesting really hard stuff or not.

Fridge magnets? Small Christmas figurines like angels, Father Christmas, small nativity set? Hanging tree decorations?

Is polymer clay an alternative? Again, I have no idea what it costs so maybe not.

I googled ‘small pottery Christmas figurines’ to get a picture to show you what I mean, but there were so many fantastic images that you’re better off googling yourself, really amazing stuff.

Berry washing bowl

Christmas decorations for the tree

More of a decoration idea but if you’re glazing Christmas ornaments in various colours, maybe consider including some Nightmare Before Christmas influenced themes - more Halloween colours, black and white stripes etc. I know plenty of people who put a few bits up around Halloween and keep the crossover elements up for Christmas. Particularly good if a ceramic Christmas ornament comes out a bit wonky - that’s the Tim Burton influence, 100% intentional.

Star shaped “gift tag” type Christmas Tree decs. Rin on hangers. Glazed in seasonal colours. Stamped “Noel”. “Peace” etc . Similar with Holly leaf shapes, angels, hearts a whatever you have a cutter for.