HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR PRECIOUS CREATIONS WILL REACH THEIR DESTINATION UNHARMED?
Shipping your artwork can be a stressful process no matter how well you plan. Getting your work from A to B should be as easy as 1, 2, 3, but when things go wrong it’s too late to start wondering why you didn’t ask more questions…
GETTING READY
Before getting started you might want to ensure the surfaces you are planning to wrap your work on are clean. Maybe consider laying out a heavy plastic cloth on which to wrap the work.
WRAPPING YOUR ART
For work on paper:
Protect the work with acid free tissue paper on both the front and the back of the artwork. To prevent bending, place two or three layers of cardboard on both sides of the work. Tape the cardboard pieces together by taping around the outside. Place the taped up cardboard between two pieces of corrugated cardboard and tape all sides securely.
For work on canvas:
Wrap the whole work with acid free paper to protect the work from moisture and dust. Next wrap the painting generously in bubble wrap, without leaving anything uncovered. Secure with tape. Add cardboard corners to secure the corners of the work – which again, you have to secure with tape. Place corrugated cardboard around the canvas and add an additional layer of bubble wrap around the corrugated cardboard.
BUBBLE WRAP
We all love bubble-wrap – sitting for ages popping the little bubbles one by one. But bubble-wrap is one of the most effective packaging materials, relying on the air trapped in the bubbles to protect your valuables. The trick to using bubble-wrap is to use several layers building up a cushion of air around the object. With a few layers of bubble-wrap wrapped tightly and secured, you should be able to ‘bounce’ the object gently on a hard surface.
A single layer is ineffective, as is using second, or third hand wrap that has most of its bubbles popped.
KEEP AWAY FROM THE SIDES
Don’t let whatever you are packing touch the sides of the box, as it is these surfaces that will get bumped during transport. There needs to be a fair amount of packaging material between the inside surfaces of the box and your valuable object. If you gently squeeze the box and you can feel the object inside, it has not been packed safely.
WATCH THOSE CORNERS
The corners of a box or package are the most vulnerable to damage. Keep this in mind when packing. The four corners need extra protection and care should be taken to reinforce the corners of the canvas as well as the outer package.
BEWARE OF GLASS
Posting a painting framed with glass is generally not a good idea. Frames up to about A3 size can be packed carefully and should survive the trip, but any bigger is a bit of a risk unless it is sent in a specially constructed timber crate.
If you do choose to send a frame with glass, you can place strips of packaging tape across the front of the glass – covering most of the surface – which will keep the pieces in place should the glass break. This will prevent the broken shards from damaging the artwork.
DON’T CROWD THEM IN
If you are sending several objects like ceramic bowls, don’t be tempted to put too many in the box. Wrap each one separately in a suitable packaging material and place them in the box with a sufficient cushion between each.
Don’t be tempted to ‘nest’ the objects. If the package is dropped they will break each other. Rather send two or three well-packed boxes, than one that is stuffed full.
USE THE CORRECT TAPE
Don’t try to secure your package with ordinary sticky tape, masking tape, or whatever you have in your stationery drawer. Use proper packaging tape, it is strong and super sticky and will keep your parcel from popping open along its journey.
INSURANCE
We are all inclined to think ‘it won’t happen to me’, but chances are that one day it will. So it is best to be covered by insurance. Check with the courier company, post office or whoever is taking the parcel, what insurance options are available and exactly what it covers. Be realistic in placing a value on the items in the package.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
Courier companies calculate the cost of sending a parcel on two criteria – the size of the package and the weight. A small heavy parcel will be charged according to weight while the cost of sending a large light package will be calculated according to the parcel’s size, or volume. So when packing your artwork, don’t skimp, thinking that trimming a few centimetres off the size of the finished parcel will save you money.