Fine art shipping services

It is one thing to get the packing or packaging of your paintings right, and it is completely a different ball game altogether to get the fine art shipping right. Now, when you package your paintings properly, it makes the shipping easier and less stressful.  There are many options available for the shipping paintings and artworks. Now depending on the delivery location, while in the case of national fine art delivery, you can contact local courier companies,  whereas for shipping paintings to Canada, Brasil, shipping to USA or Australia you need to contact professional fine art international movers. Via our website you can compare costs of road transport against air shipping option and choose the most affordable fine art shipping solution. Check international moving qutoes now!

One of the major options for the shipping fine art, especially for local deliveries, is the usage of small parcel couriers.  However, one thing with this kind of painting shipping services is that it has size restrictions.  Most of them like DHL, UPS and FEDEX will not handle anything more than 150” in size. Because of the fact that paintings vary in size, you actually need to understand the size restrictions obtainable in the services offered by any of the carriers before you choose. Due to nature of local courier companies, there may be a situation when they will not be able to undertake your shipping, especially in case of shipping paintgins overseas to such destination like South Africa or shipping to Qatar.

The next option for the fine art international shipping is hiring paintings shipping companies. Now, you have to know that sending paintings by air freight is the next best option, especially for bigger or larger paintings that cannot be accepted by the parcel carriers. But there are some things you need to know about the use of fine art shippers.  Now, there are those who are experts in the shipping of artworks through freight. They are called international fine art shippers. You can make use of this set, but you have to pay more if you choose this. You can as well choose to use the common carrier system. However, the problem here is that you have to go through the insurance rules of these common carriers. Many of them have policies that have no cover for original works of art. You can also classify your artworks here as household goods and get the rate lowered, but you must insure that the insurance in place also covers such artworks.

Another thing is that if you are shipping paintings from UK through air or sea freight, or even shipping to Lithuania sometimes the packaging must meet special criteria of the particular freight forwarder. So sometimes you need to ensure additional palletizing for it to be accepted. However, this seems feasible only if you have your artwork or painting in a custom made wooden box or the cardboard box. It will reduce damages due to neglect, as the palletizing will allow it to be lifted and dropped by a forklift.

The next method to ship paintings is through the local internatinoal removal companies offering fine art delivery services. One thing with most of the moving firms is that they charge a bit higher. Another thing is that while your painting is in transit for a very long time, the risk of damages also increases. In view of this, you may consider the option that is faster, which in actual sense may be the moving companies. Via our website you can check shipping costs of sending paintings by air internationally or locally within Europe. Check removal costs to France and save on your shipment.

Packing small paintings for shipping

When you want to pack paintings of small size, you have to get these supplies ready, because they will make the job easy and faster for you. You must get an acid free tissue paper or a glassine paper for wrapping paintings, a heavy plastic bag, a poly wrap, a plastic sheeting and a bubble wrap. You will also need a foam board, packing tape, cardboard box and cardboard corner protectors.

When you have all these, the first step is to wrap the painting with the paper. This must be an acid free tissue paper or a glassine paper. In essence, any paper that should be used must be of archival quality. Nothing with active acid should touch the painting. Don’t touch the painting with your bare hand, you can use hand glove or an acid free tissue paper between your hand and the surface of the painting.
The next step is to create a diagonal triangle with either the archival acid free tissue paper or the glassine paper and place on the corner of your painting. Make sure a very good triangular pocket is formed with these papers in such a way that each pocket is placed on each on the four triangular corners or edges of the painting.

From here, you move to tape the already wrapped painting to a sheet of foam board. Here, you must make sure that the taping is done only on the tissue papers and not the body of the painting, and also insure that you make the size of the tapping a bit larger than the painting to give a little breathing space, while insuring a firm backing.

You have to go ahead and wrap the already covered work with some plastic sheeting. You can even put this inside a polybag. This is to prevent moisture. When you are through with this, you have to tape all the open sides to avoid the entrance of water. Make it water proof.

When are done tapping, you can now wrap the entire work with some bubble wrap. The preferred quantity is two layers. Form a protective pad with this and fasten with a tape. Make it look like a gift.

You can now go ahead to place cardboard corner protectors on the corners of the wrapped work.

Place the work as it is now wrapped in between two pieces of foam board. Form a sandwich with this and tape the sandwich together with a packing tape. However, don’t apply pressure on the surface to avoid any indentations on the smooth canvas.

The next step after this is to place the covered painting on another cardboard box. When you do, allow some form of space on both sides. A space of 3 inches will be fine. Now, you should fill the space with bubble wrap or shredded paper to insure that there is no room for movements and shifting.

Go ahead to seal the box with the H-taping method, after which you place the label and tape the label two. Indicate that the work is breakable by writing FRAGILE on different corners of the tape and also adding a fragile label on it. Now you have your painting ready for international shipping. You can contact moving companies offering fine art shipping from UK and book the service. To find the most attractive rates you can use our website to check how much is shipping painting overseas from UK by comparing multiple fine art movers. We work with companies covering furthest destinations including Dubai in UAE but also removals to Europe from UK locations. Recently we have began cooperation with companies offering shipping to Poland from UK.

How to pack large paintings for shipping?

In terms of big paintings that are larger in size than the 48"x48" measurement, you have to get similar supplies as it is in the smaller aspect. Get your glassine paper or its acid free paper equivalent. In all, they must be archival in nature. You will also need the plastic bag, poly wrap, and plastic sheeting. Other things you will need include a bubble wrap of a considerable size, foam board, packing tape and cardboard corner protectors. If you want to use cheap container shipping option, you will also need some form of custom made wooden crate for paintings of this size.

Now, to start the exercise, you have to wrap the painting with an archival paper which is acid free. It can be the tissue paper or the glassine paper.

The next step is for you to form the protective diagonal triangle with glassine papers, to protect the 4 triangular edges of the painting. Make sure this triangular pocket is made firm enough, though with some space, and placed at the four corners of the painting.

When you are through with this, you tape the already wrapped painting to the normal piece of foam board as it is with the smaller sized painting. Make sure you tape only on the tissue paper corners.

You also have to do the moisture protection by wrapping with a plastic sheeting or poly wrap or by putting it into a plastic bag and tapping all-round with the packing tape to cover all possible leaks so as to avoid water damage. Make it water proof.

You can now go ahead and work on the painting with your bubble wrap. Make sure you offer at least three layers of protection in this regard. Make sure that the protective padding is strong enough and secure with a tape.

At this stage, you need to build the wooden crate with which you will secure the work. You can get more information on how to build and pack the work in a crate from the net.

Packing and shipping framed paintings

The next types of painting you may be involved with are the framed paintings. This may be paintings of any size at all. No matter the size the framed paintings come in, they can be packed and shipped the same way. For the packing of this type of painting, you will need a glassine paper or the tissue paper equivalent. Just make sure these are acid free and archival in nature. You will need some plastic sheeting or alternatively a poly wrap. You will also need the bubble wrap, packing tape, and cardboard corner protectors and painters tape. Others are the foam board, shredded or wadded white paper. A cardboard box or a custom wooden crate is needed for an artwork that is larger than 18”x24” in size.
The first step is for you to construct the custom crate or build a cardboard box. Make sure that this is designed to give at least 3 inches space on all sides, so that there will be room for padding.

The next step is to remove the acrylic pane or protective glass from the frame if it has anything like this. When you do, you have to use the tape to run an X in front of the glass. This is to insure that even if the glass breaks in the process of the movement, the tape will do the job of keeping the broken pieces in place and not allowing them to disintegrate. However, if the frame does not have any pane or glass, then you have to move to the 4th step, but if yes, move to the 3rd step.

The third step is that you should use two sheets of foam board and form a sandwich on the glass or the acrylic pane as the case may be. Make this sandwich to have a size that is at least 2 inches larger than the glass. This should be observed on all the sides. You should go ahead and seal the wrap with a packing tape. Make sure that it is so firm that the glass or acrylic pane is not shaking inside. It has to be intact.

When you are through with this, you should go ahead and wrap the painting in the glass line or the archival tissue paper, which in any case must be acid free.
Go ahead to do the plastic sheeting or ply wrap, so that your work is protected from all forms of moisture and water. The next step is to use the corner protectors designed with cardboard to protect the entire corners of the wrapped work.  This will then take you to wrap the paintings in bubble wrap. Make it to be up to 3 layers and tape with packing tape. However, if the painting is larger than the normal 18”x24”, then you will need to go ahead and construct the wooden crate.

Then you have to sandwich this with at least two foam board sheets all around and place it into the cardboard box or the wooden crate as the case may be, observing the 2 inches space on all sides of the crate or wooden cardboard. Fill this up with the shredded papers, to insure that it does not shake, and tape with the proper tape. 

At this juncture, you have to place the label and tape with good tape. Make sure you label it fragile with the printed label, and also indicate so on all sides with a marker or pen.

Packing of rolled canvas paintings

When you have a painting of about 72”x72” in size, you can remove it from the stretchers. When you do this, roll this and ship it in any of the heavy duty mailing tubes. This can be around 8” and 12” in size, though dependent on the size of the painting. However, you have to be dead sure that the painting is dry before you do this.

However, under normal circumstances, you will need some supplies whenever you want to pack rolled canvas paintings. The supplies include the normal glassine or archival tissue paper, all acid free.  The heavy duty mailing tube is the next, and this must come with the plastic end caps that can be covered. You may also need a smaller tube that will offer the inner support to the outer bigger one. You will also need a packing tape and bubble wrap.

To start, you have to sandwich this canvas. This should be done between the layers of tissue paper or the glassine paper.

When you have done the covering, you now roll the artwork that is already covered with papers outward around the smaller plastic tube. This would have given it an inner support when you do.  However, make a soft rolling because when you roll too tightly, you can damage the piece. After this, then you roll some amount of bubble wrap layers on the canvas, as this will pad it and seal it against moisture. Seal this with tape as you finish.

You should now go ahead and place the first tube and its package containing the artwork into the outer mailing tube. Make sure any extra space is filled with bubble wraps in a way that the edges of your painting are not crushed.  Here, you have to place the end caps and go ahead to seal with the packing tapes. At this juncture, you have to label and tape.

If you require full services solutions of shipping paintints, you can use our porta to check how much is shipping to New Zealand from UK if you are sending either small or large paintings via air or sea.