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The Clay Hole University · Selling Your Work

Packing and Shipping PotteryPrintable pottery guide

How to get a pot to a buyer in one piece, on paper: the wrap, two boxes with paper between them, the label, the price of the postage, and a log for every parcel you pack. Packed at your own table at home, because we do not ship from the studio.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 22 printable pages
  • 6 video picks
  • 8-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any printer
  • The lesson stays free
The printable, at a glance

What is the Packing and Shipping Pottery printable guide?

It is the free “Packing and Shipping Pottery” lesson rebuilt for paper: why handles and rims are what break, wrapping a pot into one solid lump, an inner box that fits, an outer box with two inches of paper all round, the shake test, weighing and pricing the packed box, the label, six ways a parcel goes wrong, and what happens at our studio and what does not. It is a guide for makers who sell, built from common practice and the videos of people who pack and ship pottery themselves. Made to be printed, kept on the packing table and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Packing and Shipping Pottery” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 22printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 6hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 10glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone about to post their first pot

The first parcel is the one that goes wrong.

Most makers lose their first sale to the box, not the pot. A handle snaps, a rim chips, and a good mug becomes a refund and a review you did not want. The fix is not clever. It is a short method, done the same way every time.

The guide walks it in order: stuff the handle, band the rim, wrap the pot into one solid lump, put it in an inner box it nearly fills, then put that box inside a bigger one with paper all the way round. Shake it hard. If anything moves, open it and fill the gap. Then weigh the packed box, price the postage from those numbers and print the label.

We want to be plain about one thing. The studio does not ship and does not sell members’ work, so the packing happens at your table at home. What the guide gives you is the part nobody teaches in a studio, and a log to write in so each parcel teaches you something about the next.

Look inside

Real pages, for the packing table

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark.

  • Page 3 of the “Packing and Shipping Pottery” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before any paper is cut: what you will learn, what you need, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls and what a good parcel looks like.
  • Page 5 of the “Packing and Shipping Pottery” printable guide: what you need on the packing table, shown with the sample watermark
    What you need on the packing tableThe six things to have in reach, and why three box sizes prevent most breakages before the padding is out.
  • Page 12 of the “Packing and Shipping Pottery” printable guide: how it works at the clay hole, shown with the sample watermark
    How it works at The Clay HoleThe plain statement of where our part ends: the pickup shelf, getting a fired pot home and checking the foot, so nobody buys it thinking we ship.
  • Page 15 of the “Packing and Shipping Pottery” printable guide: every parcel i packed, and how it arrived, shown with the sample watermark
    Every parcel I packed, and how it arrivedA log to write in: the date and pot, the inner and outer box, the packed weight, the shake test and how it arrived.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Packing happens with tape in your hands

A box gets packed on a table with a roll of tape and sticky fingers. Paper suits that.

  • The method where you can see it

    The wrap, the inner box and the outer box are set out one step at a time, each with a tick list, on a page you can prop against the box.

  • A reason for every rule

    Each rule comes with its reason: why the handle is filled, why the rim is banded first, why the outer box has paper all round the inner one.

  • A log for every parcel

    Columns for the boxes you used, the packed weight, whether it passed the shake test and how it arrived. A few notes beat a memory of what fitted.

  • Nothing to scroll with taped hands

    A page stays where you put it, and nobody minds if it gets a smear of tape.

How this one is built

Rebuilt for paper, not printed from a web page

Every guide in the series is set from scratch for print. Here is what that meant for this one.

  • Read against the studio’s own rules

    We checked the lesson against The Clay Hole’s rules and our other lessons. Where it was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • The two inches, worked out

    The lesson said two inches between the boxes in one place and an outer box two inches bigger in another. The guide now says two inches of paper on every side, which makes the outer box four inches bigger.

  • Plain about what we do

    The guide says up front that the studio does not ship and does not sell members’ work, and that the six videos are other people’s, linked, not ours.

  • Wet, not dry, at the foot

    Checking a fired foot before it is boxed means a fingertip first and, if it catches, a diamond pad used wet with safety glasses and an N95 or better. The guide says so where it comes up.

  • Video notes that match the videos

    Each video note says only what the video’s own description and chapters show, with a code that takes you straight to it.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link is a short Clay Hole address. If a page moves, we repoint the address and your printed copy still goes to the right place.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Packing and Shipping Pottery” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

The first thing a lot of members sell is a mug, and the first thing that goes wrong is the box. A handle snaps, a rim chips, and a good pot becomes a refund and a review you did not want.

Send the first one to a friend, or to yourself. Open it. If the mug is fine, the method is fine. Then tell us how it went. We love hearing about the first sale.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
The series

Build a little pottery library

Every printable guide in The Clay Hole University series takes one free lesson and rebuilds it for paper, with workbook pages, a glossary and a quiz with a worked answer key. Each one keeps its number for good, so a guide you buy today is the same guide in the same place next year.

Put any five printable guides in your cart and the cheapest one is on us. Put in nine and the two cheapest are on us. It happens automatically at checkout, no code to remember.

See every printable guide

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
Sits next to

Three lessons that pick up where this one leaves off

Each one is free to read online, and the codes in the guide take you straight there.

Questions

Good to know

How is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is not going anywhere. The guide is that teaching rebuilt for paper: a learning dashboard at the front, a parcel log to write in, a one page reference for the packing table, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Does the studio ship my work?
No. The studio does not ship and does not sell members’ work. What you make here is yours to sell and yours to ship, and the packing happens at home. The guide is written for exactly that.
Does the guide tell me which carrier to use?
No. It tells you to weigh and measure the packed box and put those numbers into a carrier’s own calculator before you list, because carriers charge by size as well as weight. Which carrier is yours to choose.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate because it is written for someone who already has pots to sell. The method is short and set out step by step, and the glossary fills in the words.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is set for an ordinary home or office printer on regular US Letter paper, with nothing important near the edges, so normal printer margins cut nothing off.
Does it print in black and white?
Yes. The text, the tick boxes and the tables are black on white, and color is used for headings and small labels.
Can I use it on a screen instead of printing it?
Yes, it is an ordinary PDF and opens on a computer, tablet or phone. It is laid out for paper, though, and the parcel log and the one page reference are at their best on the packing table.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes, and most people do. The one page reference and the parcel log are the two worth having beside the tape. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen.
How does delivery work?
It is a digital download. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page right after checkout, so you can have it printed and on the table the same evening.
What happens if the guide is updated?
Every edition carries its version number on the last page. When we correct or improve one, the new edition replaces the old one in the shop, and we can send the updated link to anybody who already bought it.
Can I share it?
It is licensed for your own use. Print as many copies for yourself as you like, on as many of your own devices as you like. Please do not pass the file on, upload it or use it with a class or a group without asking us first.

Shake the box, then send it

Start with the handle, band the rim and send the first one to yourself. The guide keeps every step in front of you at the table.

Get the guide · $5.00

The Clay Hole University Printable Guide Terms

Licensing, safety, digital delivery, and refund terms

Your copy is yours. The guide is not.

Your purchase gives one individual purchaser a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license for personal use only. You may download the guide to your own devices, print copies for your own use, write all over them, spill clay water on them, replace a coffee-damaged copy, and generally use the heck out of what you bought.

What you may not do is distribute the guide to anyone else, whether you charge for it or not.

That means you may not share, forward, email, upload, post, publish, copy, reproduce, resell, sublicense, redistribute, or otherwise provide the guide, or any substantial portion of it, to another person. You may not place it in a shared drive, group chat, membership library, online community, file-sharing service, studio resource folder, classroom packet, employee handbook, course, workshop, or other shared collection. You may not make copies for students, members, employees, friends, classes, studios, schools, groups, or organizations.

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If you would like to use one of our guides with a class, studio, school, team, or other group, contact The Clay Hole about permission or group licensing. Please do not make twenty copies and call it manifesting.

Pottery is wonderfully unpredictable. It also carries real risk.

We work hard to make The Clay Hole University accurate, useful, practical, and ridiculously thorough. But pottery is a hands-on craft involving countless variables that no written guide can completely control or anticipate.

Depending on what you are doing, ceramics may involve extreme heat, kilns, electricity, gas, flame, sharp tools, spinning machinery, heavy equipment, pressurized equipment, silica-containing dust, fumes, chemicals, raw materials, stains, oxides, glazes, combustible materials, hot surfaces, breakable objects, and other hazards capable of causing serious injury, illness, property damage, fire, or worse.

These guides are provided for general educational and informational purposes. They are not a substitute for hands-on training, competent supervision, your studio’s safety procedures, applicable laws or codes, Safety Data Sheets, or the instructions and warnings supplied by the manufacturers of your clay, glaze, chemicals, tools, kilns, equipment, protective gear, or other materials.

Studios, kilns, clay bodies, glazes, firing schedules, electrical systems, ventilation systems, equipment, environmental conditions, application thicknesses, material formulations, and individual techniques vary enormously. Something that works beautifully in one situation may fail spectacularly in another. That is part of pottery. Occasionally, it is a very expensive part of pottery.

You are responsible for determining whether any technique, material, combination, firing schedule, tool, or process described in a guide is appropriate and safe for your specific circumstances before using it.

Use appropriate protective equipment. Use adequate ventilation and dust control. Read manufacturer instructions and Safety Data Sheets. Follow your studio’s rules. Obtain qualified instruction when a process or piece of equipment requires it. Test materials and techniques before committing important work to them. If you do not understand how to perform something safely, do not proceed until you do.

Never assume that a ceramic surface, glaze, clay body, firing method, finished vessel, repair, decoration, or other result is food-safe, microwave-safe, dishwasher-safe, oven-safe, structurally sound, chemically stable, or suitable for any particular purpose solely because it appears in or is discussed in one of our guides. Verify suitability independently when it matters.

Ceramics also refuses to sign contracts promising beautiful results. Colors change. Glazes move. Kilns have opinions. Pots crack. Materials interact unexpectedly. Manufacturers reformulate products. Equipment behaves differently. The Clay Hole does not guarantee any particular aesthetic, functional, firing, glazing, structural, or other result.

By choosing to use the information in a guide, you accept responsibility for your own materials, equipment, workspace, safety decisions, testing, methods, and results. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Clay Hole and its owners, employees, contributors, and affiliates are not responsible for injury, illness, property damage, lost work, failed projects, kiln or equipment damage, financial loss, or other loss arising from or related to your use of, or reliance upon, the guide.

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Terms version 2026-09-19b