Shipping Pottery and Ceramics Without Breakage

"I made it. I glazed it. I fired it at 2,300 degrees. It survived all of that. Then UPS dropped it off a truck." That's a comment from a potter on Reddit, and it has 4,000 upvotes because every ceramic artist knows that feeling. You spend hours on a piece — wheel throwing, trimming, bisque firing, glazing, glaze firing — and then you hand it to a shipping carrier and hope for the best.

Hope is not a packaging strategy. But the right technique is. Potters who ship regularly and successfully have damage rates under 3%. The ones who wing it see 15-25% breakage and eventually decide shipping isn't worth it. It is worth it. You just need to pack like someone who knows what a sorting facility does to boxes.

Understanding Ceramic Vulnerability

Not all ceramics break the same way. Understanding how YOUR pieces fail helps you package them better.

Ceramic Types and Fragility

Where Ceramics Break

The break almost always happens at the weakest structural point:

Knowing this, your packaging should put the most protection around handles, rims, and protruding elements — not just around the body.

The Packaging Method That Works

After years of trial and error (and too many damage claims), here's the method that consistently delivers under-3% breakage for functional pottery.

Step 1: Stuff the Inside

If the piece is hollow (mugs, bowls, vases), fill the interior with crumpled newspaper or tissue paper. This prevents the walls from flexing inward on impact. A mug with an empty interior is essentially an unsupported cylinder — one good squeeze and the walls crack. A mug stuffed with paper is a solid mass that resists compression.

For teapots and lidded pieces, stuff the body, then wrap the lid separately (see Step 4).

Step 2: Protect the Vulnerable Spots

Before wrapping the whole piece:

• Handles: Wrap the handle independently in a few layers of bubble wrap. Build up the padding so the handle is encased in a cushion of its own. When the package hits the ground, the handle's bubble cocoon absorbs the impact before it reaches the ceramic.
• Spouts: Same treatment as handles.
• Rims: Run a strip of bubble wrap around the rim like a headband.
• Feet/base: A circle of bubble wrap or foam under the base.

Step 3: Wrap the Entire Piece

With the vulnerable spots pre-padded, wrap the entire piece in bubble wrap. Two full layers minimum, three for high-value pieces. Secure with tape.

The final wrapped piece should feel like a soft ball with no hard spots. Run your hand over it. If you can feel the ceramic through the wrap at any point, add another layer there.

Step 4: Handle Multi-Part Pieces

Teapots with lids, sugar bowl sets, cream and sugar pairs — these need individual wrapping.

The rule: no two ceramic surfaces should ever touch each other, even through bubble wrap.

Wrap each piece individually as described above.

If pieces nest (a lid on a teapot), do NOT ship them nested. Wrap them separately and place them side by side. A lid rattling inside a teapot will chip both pieces.

Place a cardboard divider between individually wrapped pieces in the box.

Step 5: The Box

Box-in-box for valuable pieces: For anything over $100, use the box-in-box method. Inner box snugly fits the wrapped piece. Outer box has 3" of packing peanuts or crumpled paper on all sides around the inner box. This creates a double suspension system that handles virtually any drop a carrier can dish out.

Step 6: Fill Every Void

The wrapped piece goes in the box. Now fill every single gap with cushioning material. Pack it TIGHT. Not so tight that you're putting pressure on the ceramic, but tight enough that the piece cannot shift when you shake the box.

What to use:

Step 7: The Shake Test

Pick up the sealed box. Shake it side to side, up and down, and rotate it. You should feel nothing moving inside. No rattling, no shifting, no thumping. If anything moves, open the box and add more material.

This test takes five seconds and catches 80% of inadequate packing jobs.

Plates and Flat Ceramics

Plates deserve their own section because they break differently than three-dimensional pieces. A plate lying flat in a box is weak — any pressure on the center can snap it. A plate standing on its edge is strong.

How to Ship Plates

Wrap each plate individually in bubble wrap (2 layers).

Stand plates on edge (vertically) inside the box, like records in a crate.

Place a piece of cardboard between each plate.

Fill voids above and around the plates so they can't shift.

How to Ship a Set of Plates

For a set of dinner plates (4-8 plates):

Wrap each plate individually.

Stack them with bubble wrap or foam sheets between each plate.

Wrap the entire stack in bubble wrap, creating a cylinder.

Place the stack on edge (NOT flat) in the box.

Fill all voids.

A flat stack of plates is asking for trouble. A vertical stack is dramatically more resistant to the compression forces in a carrier's truck.

Mugs: The Most Commonly Shipped Pottery Item

Mugs are the bread and butter of online pottery sales, and they're also the item most likely to arrive broken because sellers underestimate the handle vulnerability.

The Mug Packing Sequence

Stuff the inside with crumpled tissue paper.

Wrap the handle in 3-4 layers of small-bubble bubble wrap.

Wrap the entire mug in 2 layers of large-bubble bubble wrap.

Place in a mug-sized box (5"×5"×5" or 6"×4"×4") with void fill on all sides.

Place the mug box inside a slightly larger shipping box with 2" of cushioning between boxes.

Yes, this is box-in-box for a mug. And yes, it works. Potters who switch to box-in-box for mugs typically see their breakage rate drop from 8-12% to under 2%.

Mug-Specific Shipping Boxes

Several companies sell boxes specifically designed for shipping mugs:

If you ship more than 50 mugs per month, get custom boxes made to fit your specific mug dimensions. The closer the fit, the less void fill you need, the less the piece moves, and the lower your breakage rate.

Insurance and Claims

Carrier Coverage

Winning a Damage Claim for Pottery

Carriers deny pottery claims more often than other categories because they frequently determine "insufficient packaging." To protect yourself:

Photograph your packing process before sealing the box. Show the wrapping layers, the box-in-box setup, the void fill. Time-stamped photos are gold in a claim dispute.

Keep your receipt for packaging materials. It demonstrates you invested in proper materials.

Weigh the package and note it. If the carrier says the box was "inadequately packaged" but you can show a 3-lb mug shipped in a 6-lb package (meaning 3 lbs of packaging), that's strong evidence.

Use the carrier's packaging guidelines as your standard. UPS publishes packaging guidelines. If your packing meets or exceeds those guidelines, reference them in your claim.

Should You Self-Insure?

If your average pottery piece is under $50 and your breakage rate is under 3%, self-insuring (not paying for additional carrier insurance and just replacing broken pieces) might be cheaper than insurance premiums.

The math: 100 shipments × 3% breakage = 3 replacements × $50 = $150 in replacement costs. Versus: 100 shipments × $2 insurance per shipment = $200 in premiums. Self-insuring wins — as long as your packaging is good enough to keep the rate low.

For pieces over $100, always insure. The occasional high-value loss will wipe out any savings from self-insuring.

Eco-Friendly Packaging for Pottery

Many pottery buyers are environmentally conscious. They appreciate sustainable packaging. Here are options that protect AND align with eco values:

You can build a protective and sustainable packaging setup using recycled kraft paper for void fill, honeycomb paper for wrapping, and recycled cardboard boxes. It won't be quite as protective as virgin bubble wrap and packing peanuts, but for stoneware (the most common shipped pottery), it's adequate.

Setting Customer Expectations

One thing experienced pottery sellers do that new sellers skip: they communicate about packaging.

• In your listing: "Each piece is carefully double-boxed with bubble wrap and cushioning for safe transit."
• In your shipping confirmation: "Your pottery is packed with extra protection. If it arrives damaged, contact me immediately with photos and I'll make it right."
• On the box exterior: "Handmade pottery — FRAGILE — Handle with care"

That last one doesn't guarantee gentle handling, but the combination of "handmade" and "fragile" appeals to the human element. A delivery driver who reads "handmade pottery" is more likely to set the box down gently than one who sees an anonymous brown box.

And when damage does happen — because over hundreds of shipments, it will — a seller who responds quickly with a replacement and zero hassle earns a customer for life. Many potters say their best repeat customers are people whose first order arrived broken and was replaced immediately. The recovery experience built more loyalty than a perfect delivery would have.

Pottery is heavy, fragile, and handmade. Every piece carries hours of labor and creative intent. Packaging it right isn't just about preventing damage — it's about respecting the work that went into making it. Take the extra five minutes. Use the extra layer of wrap. Run the shake test. Your art deserves to arrive intact.