Selling your work · Getting into galleries

What a gallery is actually looking at, and why a cohesive body of work beats twenty good unrelated pots.

How to approach one without wasting the only introduction you get. A gallery buys a maker, not a pot: twelve pieces that look like one person made them on purpose, a retail price set so that half of it covers your cost, a one-page wholesale sheet, and one email on a weekday. It is the last door in the selling order, and it opens more easily with a year behind you.

Four steps with a tick list at each: the body of work, the price, the sheet and the visit, and the email. Six mistakes, from twenty unrelated pots to a box on a Saturday, and four videos, two of them arguing wholesale against consignment.

This is the short version: the body of work, the price, the sheet, the email, each with a tick list. The consignment detail, the visit notes and the questions are in the comprehensive version.

x12Pots that look like one maker’s. Not fifty that do not
½Of retail is wholesale. Half has to cover your cost
x4Videos, from makers who have nothing to do with us
x4Steps, each with a tick list you can work off
Jump to a section
Why this page has words and video The whole idea in three lines The approach in six moves What you need before the email 1. The body of work 2. The price 3. The sheet and the visit 4. The email Four makers on selling to shops The one video to watch When it goes wrong How it works at The Clay Hole Questions people actually ask Related lessons
An illustrated gallery with brick walls and wooden plinths, pots of different shapes and glazes on display, and a smiling woman with auburn hair resting a hand on a deep red vase

Every step, the consignment detail, the visit notes and four videos.

Read it, then watch it

Why this is written down and filmed, both.

Getting into a gallery is one idea and one document. The idea is that a gallery buys a maker, not a pot, so a cohesive body of work beats twenty good unrelated pots, and the document is a one-page wholesale sheet, and both fit on a page you read before the email. What a page cannot give you is the wholesale-against-consignment pros and cons argued out by two makers, or one maker’s method for contacting a shop owner, and that is the videos.

Use both, in this order

Read what a gallery is looking at. Make the body of work, which takes a year. Watch the approach and the wholesale against consignment argument. Write the sheet. Send one email, on a weekday.

The whole idea

A gallery buys a maker. Show it twelve pots that look like one person made them on purpose.

A cohesive body of work: one clay, a small palette, a few related forms, made again. A retail price set so half of it covers your cost, held everywhere. A one-page wholesale sheet. Visit as a customer, then one weekday email with twelve photographs and the sheet, one follow-up, then leave it. Terms in writing.

The five-minute version

The whole approach in six moves.

If you have sold to a shop before and you just want the shape of it, this is the shape of it. Everything below is these six moves, slowed down and with the places they fail marked.

1A body of work, not a shelfOne clay, a small palette, a few related forms, made again until twelve look like one maker. This takes a year.
2Retail set so half covers costWholesale is half of retail. If half does not cover cost and margin, the pot is not ready. One retail price everywhere.
3A one-page wholesale sheetEach form, a photograph, dimensions, wholesale and retail, a minimum order, lead time, how you ship.
4Visit as a customer firstWhat they stock, how they price it, whether your work belongs. A gallery of twenty-dollar mugs is a different conversation.
5One email, on a weekdayTwo lines, a link to twelve photographs, the sheet attached, an offer to bring three pieces in. Never a box on a Saturday.
6Terms in writing, then deliverWholesale or consignment, one page: pieces, prices, split, breakage, payment date, return date. Then pack it per the shipping lesson.

Before the email

What you need before the email.

Six things, and the first one takes a year. The sheet is the one most makers never write, and it is the one that gets the order.

Twelve pots that belong togetherThe body of work. One clay, a palette, related forms, consistent feet and rims. About a year of making the same few things.
Twelve photographsFrom the photographing lesson: window light, white board, one frame in use per pot. A gallery looks at these first.
The cost envelopeFrom the costs lesson. Retail is set so half of it covers this and a margin.
A one-page wholesale sheetForms, photographs, dimensions, wholesale and retail prices, minimum order, lead time, shipping.
A visit, as a customerTo the gallery you mean to write to. Their stock, their prices, their customers.
A one-page agreementWholesale terms or a consignment agreement, written, before a pot leaves your hands.

Twelve pots that belong together, twelve photographs, the cost envelope, a one-page wholesale sheet, a visit, and a one-page agreement.

1

Step one

Make a body of work, which is the year before the email.

A gallery is not buying a pot. It is buying a maker. It wants to know a customer could recognize your work across a shelf, that you can make it again, and that March looks like September. Twelve pots that look like one person made them on purpose beat fifty good pots that do not.

Cohesive means one clay body, a small palette of two or three glazes you have fired enough times to trust, a few forms that relate to each other, and the same finish on every foot and rim. It is the opposite of a shelf of experiments, and it is almost always the result of a year of making the same three things, per the selling lesson, until they stopped being borrowed and became yours.

Galleries come last in the selling order for a reason. A market tells you what sells; an online shop tells you what photographs; a year of both tells you which three things are yours. A gallery approached before that gets a shelf of experiments, and a no from a gallery is a door that is hard to reopen. Line the twelve up on a table and look: if a stranger could tell they were one maker’s, you are ready.

What one voice looks like on a shelf

Walk a good gallery and look at any maker with more than three pieces on the shelf. The clay is the same on every one. The glazes are two or three, and they repeat. The forms are cousins: the mug’s handle is the pitcher’s handle, the bowl’s foot is the plate’s foot. The feet are finished the same way and the rims have the same weight. None of it is dramatic, and all of it is why a customer who bought a mug last year comes back for the bowl. That is the thing a gallery is looking for, and it is built rather than decided.

Tick list, the body of work0 of 4
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Step two

Set the retail price so that half of it covers your cost, and hold it everywhere.

Wholesale is half of retail, and the gallery doubles it back. So the retail price is set so that half of it still covers your cost and a margin from the costs lesson. If half does not cover your cost, the pot is not ready for wholesale: make it faster, in bigger batches, or price it higher everywhere.

Everywhere is the word. Your online price, your market price and the gallery’s shelf price are the same number, because a gallery that is undercut by its own supplier stops stocking that supplier. Raising your own retail is a smaller risk than a gallery that stops stocking you, and now a shop sells your pots too.

Consignment runs a different sum: the gallery pays you a share when a piece sells, at a split you agree before the pots go in, and the retail is still yours to set. The two videos on this page from Jess Van Den and David Clark go through the pros and cons of wholesale against consignment; the short version is that wholesale pays up front and consignment is how many small galleries start with a new maker, and either is fine with the terms in writing.

Tick list, the price0 of 3
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Step three

Write the one-page wholesale sheet, then visit the gallery as a customer.

The sheet turns a maybe into an order. One page: your name and contact; each form with a photograph and dimensions; wholesale and suggested retail beside it; a minimum order; lead time; how you ship, per the packing lesson. Most makers do not have one, and a gallery that waits a week for it has stopped waiting.

Then the visit, before the email, as a customer with no box. What do they stock, and at what price? A gallery of twenty-dollar mugs and a gallery of a hundred-dollar mugs are different conversations, and yours belongs in one of them. Who shops there, and would they buy what you make? Is there a maker on the shelf whose work yours would sit beside without either looking wrong? If the answer is no, the email goes to a different gallery, and that is a saving.

The photographs are of the twelve, taken as in the photographing lesson, on white, with one in use, at a link rather than as attachments, because a gallery looks at photographs before it reads a word. Badass Creatives’ five tips below are about approaching a shop, in under eight minutes.

Tick list, the sheet and the visit0 of 3
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Step four

One email on a weekday, one follow-up, terms in writing, then deliver.

You get one introduction. Do not spend it on a Saturday. A weekday morning email: two lines about who you are and why their shop, a link to the twelve photographs, the sheet attached, an offer to bring three pieces in. That is all. Never a box on the counter on their selling day, never a paragraph about your journey.

Follow up once, after two weeks, with one line. Then leave it; a gallery that wants you answers, and a gallery that does not is not moved by a third email. If they say yes, the terms go on one page before a pot leaves your hands: for wholesale, the pieces, the prices, the payment terms and the delivery date; for consignment, the pieces, the retail prices, the split, who pays for breakage, when you are paid, and when unsold work comes home. Jess Van Den’s first video below is one maker’s recommended method for contacting a shop owner, in eleven minutes, before you write the email.

Then deliver what the sheet said, when it said, packed per the packing lesson, with the same feet and rims as the twelve they saw. A gallery’s second order is decided by the first delivery, and the second order is the one that matters.

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Watch it done

Now watch four makers explain how they sell to shops.

Watch this one before the email.

None of these makers work here or know we exist. Between them they cover one maker’s method for contacting a shop, wholesale against consignment twice, and five tips for approaching a shop. Nothing but the still frame loads until you press play.

Eleven minutes on one maker’s method for contacting a shop owner, with some do’s and don’ts. The other three videos are in the comprehensive version.

Start here: how to contact a shop How to get your handmade goods into retail shops, gallery shops, and boutiques. Jess Van Den
Eleven minutes on one maker’s recommended method for contacting the owner or buyer of a shop you want your work in, with some do’s and don’ts about the process. Watch on YouTube
Wholesale against consignment Makers, should you sell via wholesale or consignment? PROS AND CONS Jess Van Den
Twelve minutes on the difference between consignment and wholesale, and the pros and cons of each. Watch on YouTube
The potter’s version Consignment vs Wholesale for Potters and Creators Mudslinger Pottery David Clark
Twelve minutes from a potter, talking while working on serving bowls, on the good and bad of selling by consignment or by wholesale. Watch on YouTube
Five steps How To Sell Your Handmade Products In Stores & Boutiques (5 Easy Steps to Get Started) Badass Creatives
Eight minutes on five tips for approaching stores: do your research, respect their time, follow through, keep it simple, and offer samples. Watch on YouTube

When it goes wrong

Six ways it goes wrong, and what to do about each.

The three mistakes that spend the only introduction you get.

Pick the one that looks like your inbox.

How it works here

At The Clay Hole, the gallery door is yours to knock on, and other members have knocked.

This page is written for potters everywhere. A few things are specific to our building.

Three things to know here

Members approach galleries and shops under their own names; the studio does not place members in galleries or take a cut of what they sell themselves. Studio sales and showcases like Gallery Night are the exception. What the studio gives you is the clay, the kilns, a year of making, and other members who have walked into the same galleries. Ask at the wedging table before the email.

Your name, your door

We do not place members in galleries or take a cut of your sales. Gallery Night has its own terms. Every pot on a gallery shelf that was made here is there under the maker’s name, with the maker’s claims on it per the claims lesson, and the studio’s name, if it appears, is where it was made.

Ask who has knocked

Some members have approached local galleries and shops, and what happened and what those galleries stock is the conversation to have at the wedging table before the email. There is no better research than a member who has been on that shelf.

The body of work, here

One of our clay bodies, two or three glazes from the wall fired at cone 5½ until you trust them, a few forms made again week after week for a year. Shelf space by Level decides how big a batch can wait between visits; the membership page has the shelf sizes.

The arithmetic, here

Half of retail has to cover clay from $28 a bag, the glaze firing from $4.80, the membership share and the hours, per the costs lesson. Making the body of work in batches is what gets that share down, and it is why wholesale is easier at forty pots a month than at ten.

Questions people actually ask

The ones that come up every week.

What is a gallery actually looking at?

A maker, not a pot. Whether the work has one voice that a customer could recognize across a shelf; whether you can make it again in the numbers they need; whether the photographs and the wholesale sheet say you are organized; and whether your price lets them double it and still sell. A cohesive body of work answers the first two. The sheet answers the rest.

What does cohesive mean?

That twelve pots side by side look like one person made them on purpose. The same clay, a small palette of glazes, a few forms that relate, a consistent finish on feet and rims. It is the opposite of a shelf of experiments, and it is usually the result of a year of making the same three things, per the selling lesson, until they became yours.

Wholesale or consignment?

Wholesale: the gallery buys the pots from you outright, usually at half of the retail price, and they are theirs. Consignment: they display your pots and pay you a share, at a split you agree before the pots go in, when one sells; until then the pots are yours in their shop. Wholesale is simpler and pays up front; consignment is how many small galleries start with a new maker. Say yes to either, and get the terms in writing; both videos on this page argue it out.

How do I price for wholesale?

Set the retail price so that half of it still covers your cost and a margin, from the costs lesson. That half is the wholesale price. Then hold the same retail price everywhere, yours and theirs, so the gallery is never undercut by its own supplier. If half of your retail does not cover your cost, the pot is not ready for wholesale yet; make it faster or price it higher.

How do I approach one?

Visit first, as a customer, and look at what they stock and how they price it; a gallery full of hundred-dollar mugs and a gallery full of twenty-dollar mugs are different conversations. Then an email on a weekday: two lines about who you are, a link to twelve photographs, a wholesale sheet attached, and an offer to bring three pieces in at a time that suits them. Never a box on the counter on a Saturday. Follow up once, after two weeks, and then leave it.

What goes on the wholesale sheet?

One page. Your name and contact. Each form with a photograph, a short description, dimensions, the wholesale price and the suggested retail. A minimum order, in pieces or dollars. Lead time. How you ship, per the packing lesson. It is the document that turns a maybe into an order, and most makers do not have one.

Does The Clay Hole place members in galleries?

No. Members approach galleries and shops under their own names, and the studio does not take a cut of what they sell themselves. Studio sales and showcases like Gallery Night are the exception. What the studio gives you is the clay, the kilns, a year of making, and other members who have walked into the same galleries and can tell you what happened. Ask at the wedging table before you send the email.

Related lessons

The other six lessons in Selling Your Work.

Three to read next.

A gallery is the last door, and every other lesson in this department is what you carry through it.

Selling your workHow to Start Selling Your PotteryThe order, and why galleries are last in it. Selling your workWhat a Pot Actually Costs You to MakeHalf of retail has to cover this. Selling your workPhotographing Your PotteryHow to photograph each pot, which a gallery looks at first. Selling your workPacking and Shipping PotteryDouble boxing, so the first delivery arrives in one piece. Selling your workCraft Fairs and MarketsThe market table, where a shop owner can find you. Selling your workFood Safe, Dishwasher Safe, and What You Can ClaimThe label on a gallery shelf, and whose it is.

That is the whole approach

A body of work. Half of retail covers cost. One page. One visit. One weekday email. Terms in writing.

Your first approach will be twenty photographs of everything you have ever made, sent on a Saturday with no prices, and you will hear nothing, and that is what almost everyone’s first approach is. The second, a year later, will be twelve pots that belong together, a sheet, and two lines on a Tuesday, and someone will write back. This is the last lesson in Selling Your Work, and it is the one that takes longest.

If you want the consignment detail, the visit notes, the agreement checklist and the answers to the questions everybody asks, switch to the comprehensive version at the top. Otherwise, go line twelve pots up on a table and look.

Back to Clay Hole University The order, and why this door is last

Written for potters everywhere. Where our studio does things differently, the page says so.