Ceramics packing Friday

Today is packing Friday. No departure or farewell, it is for the ceramics sale. When I am selling online I usually send it also on a Friday (so I call that too packing Friday). But now it’s for the ceramics fair.

Packing ceramics for shipment is already an art, packing for a fair or exposition requires planning. A planning I usually start (too) late ….

Ceramics planning

Making ceramics certainly requires planning. Time to make, to dry, to decorate, to fire, to glaze and to fire again. That’s a schedule of several months.

The exhibiting and selling of what I make also requires planning. The art is to make both plans come together. An art form I still haven’t mastered.

Making ceramics and glazes is challenging enough for me. But to get out of my comfort zone…

Sales planning

Selling is and art, I have learned in recent years. I look at it very differently today than around 15 years ago, when I gently began to bring my ceramics to the marketplace.

Sales manager I will probably never be, but I did learn a lot about selling handmade products that I made myself. The people who love it are friendly and interested. They are more interested in me and my work than my sales techniques.

So I think it is a lot easier than selling ordinary products. Luckily, as I said, I’m not a born seller…

Internet sales

Selling online is other art that pleases me. It requires less planning, but a photography training. I like to take pictures, but for product photography I can still use some pointers.

E-commerce is now everywhere. Not only through my Etsy shop, but also via FB or INSTA. The purchase of handmade ceramics is now quickly arranged through a little “DM”.

The only disadvantage is that I have to send my ceramics. International shipping is a special subject. Oh well every advantage has its disadvantage..

Packing Friday

Selling on a ceramics fair also has its charm. The personal contact is a huge bonus (and sometimes the weather).

Anyway, enough talk, it’s packing Friday; so I gotta get started. Ceramics will last for thousands of years, but if you want to transport it in one piece, you have to pack it well!

I’ll go on with that again now!