Customer Spotlight: How Chelsea Pottery Co. Uses Custom Packaging Tape

Chelsea Pottery Co. Brings Handmade Artistry to Every Detail, From Pottery to Branded Packaging Tape

The jagged, snow-capped Tetons serve as the backdrop for Chelsea Pottery Co., but their customers also get to take a piece of the mountains home with them. Founder Chelsea Phelps creates handmade pottery inspired by nature and the Idaho landscape around her.

She wanted her packaging to feel just as personal, but packing handmade pottery comes with its own challenges. After struggling with clear tape and other options, Chelsea found Stomp's custom packaging tape, which fit her packing setup better while giving her shipping boxes another place to carry her artwork.

Before the shipping boxes came years of figuring out how to turn pottery from a side project into a family business.

Photo courtesy of Chelsea Pottery Co.

From Farmers Markets to a Family Pottery Business

Chelsea has always been an artist. About 11 years ago, she was working as a nanny three days a week, which gave her more time to focus on ceramics. She started selling her pieces at a local farmers market on Fridays and soon met her husband, Jared, who encouraged her to think about pottery as a real business possibility.

After having their first son, Chelsea became a stay-at-home mom while continuing to make and sell pottery. She mostly worked on ceramics during the summers while caring for him. Then the COVID-19 pandemic changed the family's plans. After Jared lost his job, they switched gears and committed to building the ceramics business full-time.

Chelsea taught herself how to build a website, sell pottery online, ship fragile pieces, and keep the business moving through plenty of trial and error. Since 2021, Chelsea Pottery Co. has grown into a family operation, with Jared helping across the studio, shipping process, kiln work, and plenty of tasks in between.

The studio has grown right along with the business. Chelsea says:

"Our studio has changed right along with it. It started in a bedroom covered with a tarp, and now we have a full garage studio with running hot water. It feels like a big deal. There have been a LOT of changes over the years, and I’m really proud of how far it’s come."

Chelsea Pottery Co.'s branded packaging tape printed by Stomp.

Bringing Chelsea's Intentional Artwork to Her Packaging

Chelsea wants her pottery to feel genuine, like something she would have made for herself. She carries that hands-on approach into nearly every part of the pottery process. She makes her own glazes and slips from scratch and gravitated toward sgraffito, a technique that involves carving through clay slip to reveal the clay body underneath.

With a background in printmaking, that process felt familiar. Nature is another constant source of inspiration, from memories of Vermont's forests and lakes to the Tetons and mountain landscape surrounding her Idaho home.

That style shows up across Chelsea Pottery Co.'s mugs, vases, jars, cups, and other pieces, where colorful illustrations and nature-inspired details help tie each collection together.

The packaging tape became another place to carry the same visual language. Rather than using something generic, Chelsea designed tape that combines pottery-inspired illustrations and Chelsea Pottery Co. branding with a practical "FRAGILE" message. Since the business ships boxes in different shapes, sizes, and styles, the tape helps tie those packages together visually.

Chelsea also appreciated being included when adjustments to her artwork were needed for printing. Instead of changing the design without her input, Stomp reached out so she could make those changes herself.

Photo courtesy of Chelsea Pottery Co.

Making the Switch to Stomp's Custom Water-Activated Tape

Before finding Stomp, Chelsea had plenty of challenges with other packaging tape. She initially used standard clear plastic tape with a regular dispenser, but packing 75 or more orders in a month could be hard on her hands.

She later switched to brown water-activated "FRAGILE" tape, but that created a different problem: the rolls did not fit their dispenser. Chelsea says they ended up cutting the sides off the rolls, winding the other end around a pencil, and eventually hanging the roll from a metal hanger just to make the setup usable.

After years of working around the problem, Chelsea says Stomp's custom water-activated packaging tape fit their packing setup much better. She also likes being able to use paper tape instead of the clear plastic tape they started with.

"I love that the Stomp tape fits perfectly into our dispenser and feeds through with zero issues. The water-activated tape is also SO much easier on my hands when I’m packaging a lot of orders, which is a big deal when you work with your hands for a living."

Branded Packaging Tape Makes Standard Boxes Feel Like a Chelsea Pottery Creation

Chelsea ships pottery in a mix of USPS Priority boxes and donated, reused packing materials, so the boxes do not always match. Her custom tape gives those different packages one consistent visual element and adds a piece of Chelsea Pottery Co. artwork to each shipment.

What's Next for Chelsea Pottery Co.?

Chelsea Pottery Co. typically releases new pottery online about once a month, although summer markets can change the schedule. Shoppers can find the latest mugs, vessels, cups, and other handmade pieces on the Chelsea Pottery Co. website.

Chelsea also plans to experiment with larger pieces and would not mind adding a new kiln to the studio. More than anything, she says she is grateful that she gets to keep making and sharing her pottery:

"I love the idea that something I made with my hands can bring a little bit of joy into someone else’s day, even if it’s just one cup of coffee or tea at a time."

Stomp will happily keep the tape rolling while Chelsea keeps the wheel spinning.

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