Taking part in this year's Pittsburgh Potters Tour? The Promotional Toolkit has everything you need to bring buyers to your stop on November 21–22. You'll find ready-made Instagram posts and captions, email wording, brochure tips, raffle details and selling tips, along with a short to-do list to get you started.

Pittsburgh Potters Tour 2026 — Promotional Toolkit

We are excited to work with all of you to make this year’s tour a success. Below you’ll find what you can do to help spread the word.

People want to find pottery they love, meet the maker, and buy. They want to collect and they want to give gifts. If you have what they want, they will come back to you again and again, and that can make being a potter a sustainable way of life.

You are the most valuable asset the tour has. Connect with buyers and other potters, network, and spread the word.

Questions? Text Dan Vito at 412-953-1340.

Your to-do list

Hosts and guests: talk to each other now about how things will work at your stop, including setup, space, sales and who is promoting what
Pick up your 125 brochures and get them out, a few at a time
Download your ready-made posts and post one a week
Email your customers, students and friends about the tour
Donate one small piece for the raffle on the day of the tour
Get your stop ready to sell: a price on every piece and a tested card reader

Key messages

Buy Direct – Buy Local – Buy Pottery. This is the tour’s tagline. Lead with shopping, follow up with studio visits. Visitors meet the potter who made the piece and take it home the same day.
One weekend, 22 studios, 72 artists. Mugs, bowls, vases and sculpture from across the city, all in one weekend.
Perfect for holiday gifts. The tour lands the weekend before Thanksgiving, so shoppers find one-of-a-kind gifts before the rush.
Plan your route. The map and phone guide make it easy to hit several stops in a day.

Basic facts

Name: The Pittsburgh Potters Tour
Dates: Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, 2026
Time: 11am–5pm both days
Cost: Free. Registration is encouraged but not required at Eventbrite. They will send a reminder. LINK: Eventbrite registration
Web page, map and lineup: LINK: claypittsburgh.org/tour-2026-preview
Locations: 22 host studios all across the city, plus 50 guest artists. Map and directions: LINK: claypittsburgh.org/tour-guide-2026
Description: On the weekend of November 21–22, 22 ceramic studios throughout Pittsburgh open their doors, with 50 guest artists joining them. The public is invited to meet the makers and shop for one-of-a-kind, handmade pottery.

What’s in place and what’s coming

Clay Pittsburgh has built six things to bring buyers to your stop. Use them, share them and point people to them.

Preview page on the website. Visitors can see the work that will be at each stop before the tour, including pottery from both the host and the guest artists. LINK: claypittsburgh.org/tour-2026-preview
Tour-day phone guide. On the day of the tour, visitors open this on their phone for a map and directions to each stop. LINK: claypittsburgh.org/tour-guide-2026
Ready-made Instagram posts. Posts, over 200 of them, are already built for you. Take yours from the shared folder and post them to your own Instagram account. LINK: Instagram posts folder
Printed brochure. Hand it out before the tour. Visitors can also pick one up at every host stop during the tour.
Radio campaign. The tour will be promoted on WYEP and WESA.
Raffle. Visitors enter to win pottery donated by the artists at each host stop.

Brochures

We printed 10,000 brochures, and every participating artist gets 125 to distribute before the tour. Your job is to put each one in front of someone likely to come and buy.

We are setting up a number of pickup points around the city and working on delivery. As a last resort, we can mail brochures to your postal address for $12 per mailing. There will be more information available soon.

Where your 125 should go

Hand them to people you know. Friends, coworkers and so on. Circle your stop on the map.
Place small stacks in busy local spots. Good choices are coffee shops, bakeries, boutiques, galleries, bookstores, libraries and community centers. Favor places near your stop, since those customers are already close by and you can check how the brochures are moving.
Write a list of 10 places you want to approach.

Best practices

Ask first. Get permission before leaving brochures in a business, and ask for a spot by the register or door.
Start small. Leave 5 or 10. Check back and see where they are getting picked up. Add more as needed.
During the tour. Visitors can pick up a brochure at every host stop. Hosts should keep a stack by the door and by the checkout.

Raffle

We would like to hold a raffle, and we need your help to make it happen.

Why we’re doing it

It’s fun for visitors. A chance to win handmade pottery gives people a reason to stop and look.
It lets us collect email addresses. Everyone who enters gives us a way to reach them, and after the tour we will send them a short survey.
That data helps us win grants. Knowing who came and what they thought is crucial for securing future grants. Grant money pays for advertising, printing and brochure design.

How it works

Each artist on the tour donates one small piece.
Each host studio gathers the pieces donated at that stop into a raffle basket (or a little cluster of pots) and puts it on display, along with signage that we provide.
With 22 host studios, there will be 22 baskets to raffle off.
Visitors enter the raffle by scanning the QR code on the sign, and then fill out a short Google form where we collect names and email addresses. They don’t need to enter at every stop. Enter once and you have 22 chances to win.
The drawing will be held the day after the tour.
Winners have two weeks to pick up their prizes.
Sometimes winners don’t pick up. In that case the goodies go to the host, who gets to keep them or save them for next year’s tour.

What we need from you

Every artist: donate one small piece on the day of the tour.
Every host: display the “basket” where visitors will see it, with the QR code beside it, and point people to it.

We have built over 200 ready-to-go posts. Download yours and put them on your Instagram and Facebook pages.

How to get and post yours

Open the shared folder. LINK: Instagram posts folder
Ignore the request to sign up. Find the files that start with your name, for example “Isabella Maroon post” and “Isabella Maroon post 2”.
Download them to your phone. On a computer, download them and send them to your phone.
In Instagram, tap +, choose Post, and pick the image from your photos. If the top and bottom get chopped off, select Crop at the top of the page, then choose 4:5 instead of square. These posts are made at 4:5.
Write a caption, or copy one from the Instagram captions section below. Add the hashtags and tag @claypittsburgh.
Turn on sharing to Facebook before you post, or post the same image and caption on your Facebook page.

If you are a host, post the images for your guest artists too. If you are a guest, post your host’s.

Tags and hashtags

Tag: @claypittsburgh on every post, so we can reshare it. Tag your host or guest artists as well. LINK: instagram.com/claypittsburgh
Main hashtag: #PittsburghPottersTour on every post, so all tour posts collect in one place.
Extra hashtags: #BuyLocalPittsburgh #ShopSmallPittsburgh #HandmadePottery #PittsburghArtists #PittsburghPottery #Ceramics
Link to share: LINK: claypittsburgh.org/tour-2026-preview, or “link in @claypittsburgh’s bio”

Pair them with reveals of your new work

The ready-made posts tell people when and where. Your own photos show them what to come for. Use both.

Alternate. Follow each ready-made post with a reveal: a kiln opening, a finished piece, a shelf of work headed for the tour.
Say where to find it. End every reveal with “at Stop [#] on the Pittsburgh Potters Tour, November 21–22.”
Hold something back. Save your best pieces for the final week, when people are deciding which stops to visit.
Use video. A 15 to 30 second clip of hands on clay or a kiln opening reaches more people than a still photo.
Repost each other. Share posts from the other artists at your stop so your followers see everything that will be there.

Posting checklist

Don’t post everything at once. One post a week keeps the tour in front of your followers, then post every day in the final week.

Week of Oct 5: Your first ready-made post, announcing that you’re on the tour (caption 1)
Every week until the tour: one post a week, alternating a ready-made post with a reveal of your own new work
Oct 24: Work in progress (caption 2), plus a kiln or wheel reel
Oct 31: Meet the artist (caption 3)
Nov 7: Gift guide (caption 4), and send the long email
Nov 14: Add a countdown sticker to your stories. From here, post something every day: remaining ready-made posts and new work
Nov 19: This weekend (caption 5)
Nov 21–22: Live stories from your stop: visitors, your table, pieces still available
Nov 23: Thank-you post (caption 6)

Instagram captions

Six ready-to-post captions, one per week plus the tour weekend. Edit the [brackets] and add your own photo.

1. Announcement (post now)

Mark your calendar: I’m part of the 2026 Pittsburgh Potters Tour, November 21–22! 22 studios, 50 guest artists, and a whole weekend of handmade pottery you can buy direct from the makers. Find me at [Stop # / Studio name]. Map and details at the link in @claypittsburgh’s bio. #PittsburghPottersTour #BuyLocalPittsburgh

2. Work in progress (4 weeks out)

Kiln’s loaded for the Pittsburgh Potters Tour. These [mugs / bowls / planters] will be at [Studio name], Stop [#], November 21–22. Come find your favorite before someone else does. #PittsburghPottersTour #HandmadePottery

3. Meet the artist (3 weeks out)

Hi, I’m [name]. I make [what you make] in [neighborhood]. On November 21–22 you can meet me at [Studio name], Stop [#] on the Pittsburgh Potters Tour. Buy direct, buy local, buy pottery. #PittsburghPottersTour #PittsburghArtists

4. Gift guide (2 weeks out)

Holiday shopping, solved. One-of-a-kind gifts from 72 Pittsburgh potters, one weekend only: November 21–22. I’ll have [item] starting at $[price] at Stop [#]. #PittsburghPottersTour #ShopSmallPittsburgh

5. This weekend (2–3 days before)

This Saturday and Sunday! The Pittsburgh Potters Tour opens at 11am. 22 studios, 72 artists. Start at [Studio name], Stop [#], and plan your route with the tour-day guide: claypittsburgh.org/tour-guide-2026 #PittsburghPottersTour

6. Thank you (Nov 23)

Thank you, Pittsburgh! Every mug that went home this weekend supports a local maker. See you on next year’s tour. #PittsburghPottersTour #BuyLocalPittsburgh

Email blurbs

Use the short version in a regular newsletter. Send the long version as its own email about two weeks before the tour.

Subject lines

Come find me on the Pittsburgh Potters Tour, Nov 21–22
Holiday shopping, handmade: the Pittsburgh Potters Tour
22 studios, one weekend. See you there?

Short version

I’m part of the 2026 Pittsburgh Potters Tour on Saturday and Sunday, November 21–22, 11am–5pm. Visit me at [Studio name], Stop [#], and 21 other studios across the city. All work is for sale direct from the artists. Map and details: claypittsburgh.org/tour-2026-preview

Long version

Hi [first name],

I’d love to see you on the 2026 Pittsburgh Potters Tour, Saturday and Sunday, November 21–22, 11am–5pm both days.

This year 22 studios across the city open their doors, with 50 guest artists joining them. That’s over 70 potters in all. Everything is for sale direct from the people who made it, just in time for holiday gifts.

You’ll find me at [Studio name], Stop [#] in [neighborhood]. I’ll have [new work / a special piece / a sale table].

Plan your route with the tour map: claypittsburgh.org/tour-2026-preview. On the day, the phone guide gives directions stop by stop: claypittsburgh.org/tour-guide-2026.

Buy direct. Buy local. Buy pottery. Hope to see you there!

[Your name]

Stories, reels and photos

Short video of hands and clay gets the most reach. 15 to 30 seconds is plenty.

Reel and story ideas

Throwing a pot start to finish, sped up, ending on the finished piece and “Nov 21–22”
Opening the kiln: the reveal
Glazing close-ups with the tour date as a text overlay
A quick studio walk-through: “Here’s where you’ll find me on the tour”
Countdown story sticker set to November 21, so followers get a reminder
Tour weekend: live stories of visitors, your table, and “still available” pieces

Selling tips

People come to the tour to buy. These tips make it easy for them.

Pricing

Put a visible price on every piece. Most people will not ask. They put the piece down and move on.
Offer a range of prices. A few pieces at $15 to $25 let someone who loves your work buy something today and come back for more later.
Keep work for sale separate from display or reference pieces.

Payments

Take cards. Buyers expect to pay by card. A phone reader such as Square is easy to set up.
Take Venmo or PayPal too, and keep change on hand for cash.
Test your setup the week before, not the morning of the tour.
Guests: agree with your host ahead of time on how your sales will be rung up.

Display

Keep work within reach. People need to pick a piece up, feel its weight and turn it over.
Show groupings. Sets sell.

Talking with visitors

Greet everyone. A hello is enough. Let people browse.
Talk about how the piece is used, not only how it was made.
Help them say yes. “That’s one of my favorites from this firing. Would you like me to wrap it up?”

Staying connected

Collect contacts. Encourage people to enter the raffle.
Put your business cards and your personal QR code on display, so visitors can take it home, contact you in the future, and buy more stuff. Your QR code should link to your website or Instagram page.
Remember the goal. A visitor who doesn’t buy today may buy online, order a commission or come back next year, but only if they can find you.

Stop readiness checklist

Every piece for sale has a visible price
Card reader tested and ready
Venmo or PayPal set up, and cash change on hand
Some pieces priced under $25
Business cards and your personal QR code on display
Raffle basket and sign on display (hosts)
Hosts and guests need to be in touch about details like where and how work will be displayed, availability of shelf space, what guests need to bring etc.