A studio website you build by chatting, with a photo gallery, event tickets and forms built in.

People are buying a maker, as much as an object

Handmade work sells when the buyer feels something about the person. Say how you make things, what material you use, how long a piece takes, where the studio is and what you enjoy about it. A page with one clear photo of you at work and a short, direct story will do more than a polished artist statement full of abstractions.

Commissions, shipping and workshops

• Commission form: what they want, size, colors, deadline, budget
• Your lead time, so buyers know when to ask
• How you pack and ship fragile work, and what you do if it breaks
• Local pickup, markets and open studio days
• Workshops with a capacity and a materials note

Commissions go better when the form tells the buyer how it works: a conversation, a sketch or sample, a deposit, a date. Describe that process in a few sentences.

Markets, seasons and search

Many makers earn most in the fall and holiday season and from summer craft fairs. Put your market calendar on the site, with dates and booth numbers, and send a note to the list before each one. In search, buyers use words for the object and the method, like "handmade stoneware mugs" or "hand-thrown pottery in [city]," so use them in titles and descriptions, along with the name of your studio town. Keep prices consistent across your shop and the markets you sell at.

What a buyer checks before commissioning or buying from you

Someone who finds you at a market or in a friend's kitchen looks you up later, often weeks later. They want to know you are still making, and what it would take to own a piece. They check:

• Recent work, photographed well, with sizes
• A price range, even a rough one
• Whether you take commissions now, and how long the wait is
• Your next market or open studio date
• How to reach you without hunting through a feed

Lead with the commission wait and the next market date. Those are the two things people write to ask.

The apps a maker uses, and where sales happen

Card orders aren't available on the site right now. If you already sell through a marketplace or your own store page, keep it, and Chip can put a button on every page that opens your listings. The site carries what a listing can't: your studio, your process and your market calendar. One-off sales can still happen by email or message.

The Photo gallery is the center: albums by body of work, a detail shot and a scale shot for each piece, in portfolio rows or a masonry grid. Appointments takes commission consultations and open studio visits, with notes for size, colors and the deadline. The Announcement bar says "at the spring fair this weekend, booth 14" and ends on its own. The AI Agent answers shipping and care questions from your pages. Contacts keeps the people who asked about commissions, tagged, so you can write to them when your list opens.

A walk through the Clay Hare Studio example

Clay Hare Studio is the made-up potter in the preview: handmade stoneware and pottery workshops. The home page shows a few mugs and bowls and a link to the current collection on the selling page the potter already uses. Workshops lists the next wheel-throwing dates and how to save a place. Commissions explains the process (a chat, a sample, a date) and has a button to book a consultation. About has a photo at the wheel and a short story of the studio.

It goes at clayharestudio.dollarsite.page for free until you connect a domain you own. You can build yours by describing your work to Chip, or by sending 5 to 15 phone photos of pieces and the studio.

When Etsy and Instagram already bring buyers

Marketplaces bring strangers and Instagram keeps followers warm. Both are worth keeping. A site gives the buyer who met you at a fair one place to find you, and it shows up when they search your studio name. Check your marketplace's rules before you point buyers you met there toward buying from you directly. Put your site address on your business card, your packing slip and the sign at your booth.

Prices, editions and care instructions

Explain how you price: by size, by hours, by edition. Say whether prints are limited editions and how they are signed and numbered. Add care notes for ceramics, textiles or paintings. Be clear about shipping times, returns on handmade work and custom orders. Buyers of handmade work want to feel that they understand what they are paying for.