# Handmade and crafts > Jewellery, prints, candles and makes. Presentation sells the piece, so packaging is part of the product. Handmade buyers pay for the story as much as the object. Tissue, a sticker and a card turn a parcel into a gift, and they cost pennies an order. Most makers ship small, light items in padded envelopes or small boxes. Candles, ceramics and glass need a box with padding on every side. ## How to pack it - Wrap the piece in tissue and close it with a sticker. - Use a padded envelope for flat or soft items, a small box with padding for anything that breaks. - Add a thank-you card with your shop name. Avoid: Loose glass or ceramics in envelopes. One drop in the sorting office can break them. - **[Acid-free tissue paper, 100 sheets](https://sellersetups.com/product/tissue-paper)** (£7 to £11): A sheet of tissue costs pennies and changes how a £15 vintage shirt feels on arrival. Buyers mention it in reviews. - **[Kraft padded envelopes, D/1, 100 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/padded-envelopes)** (£14 to £22): Enough padding for a lipstick, a small figure or a sealed booster pack, with no box to fold. - **[Small single-wall boxes, 25 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/single-wall-boxes)** (£8 to £14): Use these for boxed toys and beauty sets that a padded bag would crush, when double-wall board costs more than you need. - **[Bubble wrap, 500 mm x 100 m](https://sellersetups.com/product/bubble-wrap-roll)** (£10 to £15): A long roll costs several times less per metre than the small packs sold in shops. - **[100 x 150 mm thermal labels, 500 fanfold](https://sellersetups.com/product/thermal-labels-fanfold)** (£12 to £18): Fanfold stacks feed flat behind the printer and hold more labels than a roll. 100 x 150 mm matches the label size UK couriers and marketplaces print. - **[Thank-you stickers, roll of 500](https://sellersetups.com/product/thank-you-stickers)** (£5 to £9): A sticker sealing the tissue makes the parcel look finished before the buyer opens it. Swap to custom stickers with your shop name once the brand settles. ## Postage per order - Royal Mail Tracked 48 Small Parcel: £3.75. Clothing and small boxed items up to 2 kg, with tracking for less than untracked 2nd Class. - Royal Mail 2nd Class Large Letter: £1.55 to £2.70. Single cards in a rigid mailer, jewellery and other flat items up to 750 g that fit through a letterbox. - InPost locker to locker, small: £1.99. Flat parcels up to 8 cm deep, such as folded clothes, dropped at a locker and collected from one. ## The kit a maker needs first Start with a pocket scale that weighs to the gram, because most handmade parcels are light and the postage band turns on small differences. Add a pack of small jewellery or presentation boxes, tissue paper and a roll of thank-you stickers. A label printer can wait. Most makers send a handful of orders a week at the start, and a home printer copes with that. Buy one once you’re cutting and taping labels most evenings. ## Packing so it arrives like a gift Wrap the piece in tissue, seal it with a sticker and add a handwritten card. That takes under a minute and it’s the part buyers photograph and share. Earrings and rings go in a small box inside a padded envelope, so they don’t slide to a corner and bend. Candles, ceramics and glass go in a box with paper wrap on every side, with enough padding that nothing moves when you shake it. Keep fragile wrapping and gift wrapping as two steps, with the protective layer outside the presentation. ## Storing makes and materials apart Finished stock and raw materials end up in the same drawers unless you separate them. Keep sellable pieces in labelled clear tubs or boxes, one per product line, and keep supplies somewhere else. Give each listing a short code and write it on the box or bag. At 10pm you can then pick an order by code instead of rummaging through near-identical pieces. ## Photos that show scale and finish A small light box gives you clean, even shots of jewellery and small makes on a kitchen table. Take one plain shot, one in the hand or on a model, and one close-up of the finish or texture. Buyers ask about size more than anything else. Put a coin or a ruler beside the piece in one photo, and state the measurements in the listing. ## Selling live and in batches Live selling suits makers who can show the process: pouring, stringing or glazing. A phone on a tripod and a clip-on mic are enough to start, with a soft light so the colour reads true. If you make in batches, list the batch together and say so. Buyers accept a made-to-order wait when you state it plainly in the listing. ## Growing past the first 50 orders At this point packing time starts to compete with making time. Pre-fold boxes and pre-cut tissue in a quiet hour, so packing an order becomes a two-minute job. A thermal label printer and a postage tool that pulls in orders from your shop save you copying addresses. Order custom stickers or printed tape once your shop name and look have settled. ## Common mistakes - Sending rings loose in a padded envelope lets them bend at the corners, so put them in a small box first. - Guessing weights pushes you into the wrong postage band, so weigh every finished parcel on a gram scale. - Photographing on a busy patterned cloth hides the piece, so shoot on plain white or a single neutral surface. - Leaving sizes out of the listing brings returns and questions, so give measurements and show scale in a photo. - Buying 1,000 custom boxes before your look has settled wastes money, so start plain and brand with stickers. ## Setups - [Etsy handmade studio setup](https://sellersetups.com/setups/etsy-handmade-studio): A light box for clean product photos, plastic-free packaging that feels like a gift, and a spare room laid out to make, wrap and post 10 to 40 Etsy orders. ## Questions ### Do I need branded packaging from day one? No. Plain mailers with tissue and a sticker look deliberate. Move to custom printed stickers or tape once you’ve settled on a shop name and a look. ### Can I post candles? Yes, in the UK. Wrap the jar, box it with padding and keep it upright if you can. Hot weather softens wax, so avoid leaving parcels in a warm car. ### How much should I spend on packaging per order? Keep it to the materials you’d miss if they weren’t there: a box or mailer, tissue, a sticker and a card. Price your work with packaging included, rather than treating it as an extra. ### Can I post handmade soap and bath products? Usually yes, but some ingredients and liquids have rules. Check the current Royal Mail prohibited and restricted items guide before you list, and seal anything that could leak in its own bag. ### Do I need a light box for jewellery photos? Yes for small, shiny pieces, because it softens reflections. Daylight by a window works too, if you shoot at the same time of day so colours stay consistent. ### Should I offer gift wrapping? Many makers already wrap every order, so a gift note option costs little extra. Leave the price off the packing slip for gifts.