Shipping Your Art - After You Paint (27 of 28)

There will be times as you progress in your art career, if you choose to take it in that direction, where you'll need to ship your artwork either to a client, a gallery, or an exhibition. Of course, if you're a hobby artist, you may end up shipping a piece to a loved one. Anytime you move a piece of art, you increase the risk of damage. And this is especially true with shipping. It risks physical damage as well as exposure to extreme fluctuations in temperature and humidity, which we learned earlier is a potential issue with art. The objective is to get your artwork from one place to another with as little impact as possible. So, it needs protection on all sides. And anything that touches your art directly should be at least acidfree and even better archival for long-term storage. Just in case the piece sits in storage for a time in its packaging and to prevent short-term exposure to damaging acids. First, before delivering work or shipping, make sure your artwork is in good condition. Stretched canvas that has begun to slacken should be tightened with your stretcher keys, but not over top. Protective materials such as bubble wrap, foam, glassine, regular tissue paper, saran wrap, craft paper, and wax paper should never touch the face of the artwork. Although glassine is debated, make sure that only archival materials lay next to the art such as Tyvek, which is a high density polyropylene, myar, or some other breathable protective interle. Glassine is often chosen for items that have loose pigment since it doesn't have static electricity as we mentioned. But if you choose glassine as your interle for shipping, just make sure that the shipment will be consistently cool or cold. Avoid glassine if it's going to be exposed to hot or humid climates. Once you have the painting surface protected with archival interle, a common practice is to sandwich the piece between pieces of cardboard and then tape the two cardboard slabs together to secure the set, making a kind of sandwich. Acidfree cardboard is best, but as long as the artwork is protected with interle, regular cardboard is fine shortterm. The cardboard should be a little bit bigger than the artwork and compressed enough to prevent much movement. You could use cardboard corner covers and tape them to the bottom slab of cardboard to ensure that the painting won't move. Some experts warn against wrapping artwork completely in plastic as it can create a kind of greenhouse effect. That said, when I ship my unframed watercolor paintings, I like to secure them in a large map folder and then I stick the whole thing into an archival clear bag just in case it's exposed to any moisture in transit. So far, I've never had a problem and it gives me peace of mind. If possible, avoid shipping paintings under glass. I really prefer museum glass as a glazing for my watercolors, but some shows require acrylic due to weight limitations and breakage liability. Plus, shipping definitely puts glass at an extreme level of vulnerability. It's also heavy, so it'll cost more to transport. In these cases, UV filtering acrylic is preferred. Unless you're shipping a pastel, charcoal, or other fryable work. If you have to use glass, make sure you tape the glass surface with a low tac tape just in case of breakage. A grid pattern is what's recommended. This will help protect your painting image at least a little bit. Try to avoid the frame itself. And never tape museum glass. It has a special coating that could get damaged. There is a special adhesive created specifically for this purpose called glass protection tape or glass skin. So that might be something to look into. Painters tape is said to work as well, but keep in mind tapes may not be a good idea for museum glass. The most common container used to ship artwork is a doublewalled high strength cardboard shipping box. I've done a lot of searching over the years and personally prefer shipping boxes from Airflat. Two similar providers are Master Pack and Museum Pack. These boxes are reusable and are specifically designed for two-dimensional artwork, either framed or unframed. Unframed flat artwork such as watercolors, prints, and other works on paper can be shipped in their flat folding boxes. Airflat calls them print pad boxes. And you can get them either lined with a special puncture proof liner or plain. The first option is great, but the box is much heavier and more expensive to purchase and ship. I've used both and I feel that the unlined is really perfectly fine for most work. The lined is wonderful for the more expensive pieces. The thicker boxes are meant for framed work or unframed canvas and board. These boxes include multiple layers of shock absorbing foam. The airflow version is called a strong box. The perforated foam layer is cut to the specific painting size. The middle is basically cut out. The painting nestles into the foam and then is surrounded by foam on all sides as well as on top. They're wonderful and like the flat boxes are available lined or unlined. Being reusable, they're perfect for shipping to exhibitions or galleries where artwork sometimes needs to be shipped back. Their print pad is nicely designed as well. It's a package within a package. And when you open the inner box, it opens like a door hinge. This is the lined version. And they include some corner adhesives to hold the piece in place. I like to place my artwork in these archival map folders secured with clear corners and with a piece of interle over top. I then place my information folder on top, gently taped. Close the hinge. And then I close the outer box. Once you've taped the box shut, you're ready to go. Shipping crates are essentially wooden boxes with padded interiors to create a shipping container that's extra protective. These are usually used for larger framed paintings, multiple framed paintings, sculptures, or ceramics. They can be custom built or purchased pre-built. Often you can find a local art crater by doing some online research, but you can also roll your artwork for shipping. According to many experts, though, paintings should never be rolled. This can cause cracks to form in the paint layer and lead to flaking. When storing your artwork, be sure to keep it in its original state. Unless it's an unusual piece, this will mean keeping it flat and without any uneven weight. If you decide to roll your work, make sure the painting surface is facing out using interle such as silicone release myar or Tyvec paper and use a wide diameter tube. 10 to 12 in is recommended. Sono tube was mentioned by conservators as a decent option. Once rolled, they recommend covering the rolled painting with myar to protect it. Now, artwork with loose particles or on heavyweight paper should never be rolled. However you package your work for shipping, make sure you have documentation on the back of the painting, as well as proper labeling on the outside of the box or crate. When dropping the piece off to be shipped, request that the box not be left in an uncontrolled environment for long. You can at least request it. I usually request a signature upon delivery, especially if the destination is uncertain, like outside of a home. I also like to include a note card with a personal message for my patrons when shipping art. I may also include the invoice or receipt, a fact sheet on caring for original art, my business card, and maybe a short bio. This is all usually placed in a large envelope and secured within the packaging where I'm sure they'll see it. I think something along this line is nice. It's kind of a professional touch that seems to mean a lot to buyers. Shipping costs vary greatly and depend on factors such as size, weight, how far the delivery location is, and how quickly you need it delivered. Costs include the cost of the box or crate, the packaging materials, and the actual transportation. If you're selling a piece on your website, one option is to work the shipping costs into your pricing, picking an average shipping cost and absorbing the excess if it goes over a little. By wrapping the shipping into your pricing, you can then offer buyers free shipping as an additional draw. You may want to stipulate, however, that there may be additional fees for overseas delivery, for example. If you don't like the idea of estimating shipping costs and absorbing discrepancies, you can simply price your work without the shipping included, adding it on once you know the destination. So, who pays for shipping when it comes to galleries, exhibitions, and such? Well, typically artists pay for the transportation to and from an exhibition. When you pay for the shipper to deliver your artwork, you can arrange to be charged for the return delivery after the show is complete. This is assuming your painting doesn't sell. Of course, it may. When working with a gallery, artists normally pay for shipping to the gallery, and the gallery pays for it to be returned again if it doesn't sell. If you're lucky enough to work with an art museum, the museum usually pays for shipping in both directions. You can use standard parcel shippers such as FedEx or UPS for basic shipping boxes and crates. I usually use FedEx. Other than hand delivery, this is a more affordable option. When I've had to ship within the continental United States, it's almost always below $100 for me. A boxed unframed watercolor is often about $30 to ship, while a smaller unframed oil was closer to 60, not including the box. The range I find online is 50 to 275, but again, it depends on all the different criteria. You could opt to use a consolidated freight company that specifically ships artwork. This is a much more expensive option, but for especially valuable works or fragile items or if you're shipping a collection of work, it may be a consideration. They'll take extra precautions when it comes to packaging and delivery, but you pay for it. We're talking about the cost being in the hundreds. This is all just an overview on shipping art. There are never guarantees, but these are a few of the best practices. I recommend doing your own research as well. In the next lecture, we'll close out the class. [Music]