One of the most frequent and easiest ways to have your stuff damaged: handling, storage and transport.
Do you SHIP art work and fragile items? Make sure you know the PACKING RULES! You do not want it to look like this when it arrives from the east coast! Do you have a carrier you trust? Do you have bubble-wrap and 2 sheets of cardboard for the front and back? Do you have a crate for over-sized work? Do you have 2 boxes that allow at least 4 inches around or on each side when packed? That is…AFTER it is wrapped with bubble-wrap.
The rules: Wrap with bubble-wrap using clear tape (a tape gun makes it easier), 1 pc.of card board on each side, front & back, then double-boxed and sent off with INSURANCE and with an experienced mail carrier! You can also call an art transport truck if there are multiples or over-sized pieces. There are art carriers who do it for a living! Ask us! We are here to help you with all your preservation, conservation & restoration questions about art and of course YOUR STUFF!
Insurance seems like a good idea too, don’t you think? I’ve got 100 items in the lab right now that are covered by insurance for repair/cleaning due to mold, smoke, damage from shipping and water damage.
If this seems like too much of a bother, then that’s OK. We call it job security… for us.
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Great site. I social bookmarked it. I hope the traffic to your site rises. I’ll be happy to tell others.
Your website and blog is very fun to read, it is not lecturing at all. Thanks Judith
I want to thank “Preservation Coach” very much not only for this post but also for his all previous efforts. I found this site to be very interesting. I will be coming back to here for more information… I guess signing up for the tips is a good way to get info too.
Hi Deidre,
Yes, the Preservation Tips sign up is a great way to keep the conversation going and I promise to send you interesting stories and good usable tips.
I was really interested in your posts on other blogs about being asked by the Smithsonian to be part of a delegation to go to Haiti to save/salvage art. I hadn’t heard anything about that effort. Thanks for caring and for being involved!
I’ve been trying to help spread the word about Haiti relief through Google ( http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/) as part of my efforts at Amnesty ( http://www.amnesty.org).
I am a big fan of yours for the efforts you make to raise funds for Humanitarian Aid… but I don’t remember where I heard about that from. Can you tell me more about it?
Sue,
As you might imagine, with a book name like How To Save Your Stuff From A Disaster, I am interested in humanitarian aid. I am donating a portion of all sales to help internationally, all peoples, races, religions, politics. My first goal is to raise $1million. We are just getting started and I have yet to set up the info and donation pages on our websites but yes, we are active. We give the raised funds to LDS Philanthropies for international use. They work with Catholic Charities, Islamic Relief, The Red Cross and others. 100% of all donations arrive to the needy. No money is spent on admin. More info to come so stay in touch!
One cause we have embraced is AAOH.org which we have supported for about 8 years now.
Very helpful tips about packing fragile stuff. I learned a lot from this article today. Thanks for sharing!
Don’t trust your antique furniture, family heirlooms, or delicate chandeliers to a packaging store because more damage happens with them than any other kinds of commercial packer. Don’t believe their claims about “custom fit to your specific needs.” They employ untrained, unprofessional personel.
OK Sam, thanks for the heads up.
Nice post again!! Some carriers don’t even care what the package is.. they are careless. You can write whatever you want and the outside and it seems almost like you are inviting them to trash it or steal it. How do you avoid THOSE problems when you ship art?!
Its happened a few times already that some of the items that I’ve I shipped were damaged. Good suggestions here.
Ooooh… bad luck Natalie. We ship and have things shipped to us all the time and we almost never get anything damaged. Perhaps you should evaluate how carefully you pack the items.
We do a bit of artwork packaging ourselves and find it’s almost always better to remove the framing from paintings then roll it and go with a rigid cardboard tube.
Peter, your practice of rolling paintings is the wrong way to treat original art. There are international conferences on shipping works of art, standards set by your industry and guidelines embraced by museums and quality art handlers. You need some education. Your techniques are especially suicidal for vintage art.
Packaging fragile items is one of the important elements and challenging things that we do in product shipment. Therefor it is very necessary to know the rules of packaging. I like the way, this article is written. Thanks for sharing.
Good info that I need to know about. I’ve started collecting and love all the new info I’m learning about.
Good info that I need to know about. I’ve started collecting and love all the new info I’m learning about.
Interesting article, thanks for sharing, always need to alert people of shipping methods and how items can be destroyed.
Thank you for sharing those tips when shipping art work or fragile materials. This is a helpful reminder for anyone. I also like our advice about insuring valuable things.
I am impressed by the quality of information on this website. There are a lot of good resources here.
The information on this site is worth reading. Tips when shipping art work or fragile materials are really useful. The other good thing I like is about advice for insuring valuable things.
When shipping goods we always suggest to use export wrap and plenty of bubble wrap on fragile items.
it is a very nice blog.
i’ve never used a moving company that didn’t damage something in the process and I’ve never shipped anything that wound up being damaged – I guess because I packed it myself. Long story short, if you want it done properly – do it yourself.
We ship painting, using UPS courier. Of course, when you send the goods, you have to do the packaging. Good article on the subject. Its a good idea to over pack to be on the safe side.
Awesome tips given here in this article. thanks for sharing. have a nice day.Thanx
Use the correct packing materials by buying of the correct supplier. Also make sure everything is water tight as well. Thanks John
But it is vital to pick a trusted and reliable moving business, always, but especially when you have valuable items to pack and ship. Pay for a cheap shipper, get a cheap job. But just because you pay a lot of money, doesn’t mean you’ll get a good or conscientious packing job! Be interested in what the people are doing whom YOU hired to handle your treasured and valuable items and be “on them” to do it right.
Interesting article and very nice blog. Thanks Judith
I like your post and thank you for the guidelines that you have shared giving us more tips on saving our stuff.
Very helpful tips on packing breakable material. Many thanks!
What a great post!
@john sheffield,
How can one decide which material to choose?
Hi’
We cary out fine art work and as a pointer you should not wrap oil paintings in bubble wrap. 1st you should wrap the canvas in greaseproof paper. Bubble wrap can make paintings sweat, especially if the vehicle the artwork is carried in is not climate controlled. So a few layers of greaseproof paper on oil paintings, then a layer of card, then the bubble wrap and then place in the appropriate case or container. Kind rgds Carlos.
We move a little bit of artwork in our day to day removal jobs, and it is always a tricky procedure. We mainly only do local moves of this kind, so are able to pack it safely in a removalist truck wrapped in grease proof paper, bubble wrap and blankets. Haven’t damaged a painting yet. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for the article.
It seems like an educational blog which always some new information to visitors and Enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
Howdy! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.
I really like your site.and really enjoyed this post.Very helpful,, the style of this article I’m like, really pretty good.
Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can’t wait to read lots of your posts.
Thank you for the work you have put into your nice blog. We will bookmark to your blog because it is very informational. We love the site and will come back to see your new posts.
When I need Moving Services I call the pros at Packing Service, Inc. for all my Shrinking Wrapping or Moving Labor needs. When it comes to Palletizing or Crating Services these dudes know their stuff. They also provide only Flat Rate Quotes not estimates that are likely to change by the time you get your items shipped to you. Check them out at http://www.packingserviceinc.com for your instant Flat Rate Quote.
These are pretty cool advices! My best friend is moving and I am going to help her with the packing process. I will take the instruments needed and we are ready to go! Thank you for sharing the tips here!
I hope the traffic to your site rises. I’ll be happy to tell others.
I am definitely enjoying your website. You definitely have some great insight and great stories.
This is a wonderful article. And thanks for maintaining the quality of the articles on this blog. I know its tough with all the spam that circulates. This packing and shipping info was great. Thanks.
Wonderful post. I appreciate your attention to this subject and I learned a good deal.
Great sharing you have done here Thanks a lot