Thread: Advice - Best way to ship artwork

So my buddy is trying to ship some of his artwork to a client in NY. We were originally thinking of just carrying the pieces onto the plane but now that the pieces are each 36x36, they surely won't fit inside the plane. What are some ways you all ship?

Let me ask my buddy who is doing some prints for me.

make your own boxes, plain and simple. There are very few companies that sell boxes for shipping paintings and you usually have to buy them in large quantities. You can ask Mr. Carter or AMSMike, I sent them both a painting and they were both home "built" card-board boxes. If you search around for examples online there are some people who put a lot of time into transportation safety, but if the paintings aren't worth that much I would go to a local art store, ask for left over cardboard boxes, specifically the biggest they have and then just start cutting and taping up.

UPS usually does a good job and insurance costs aren't too bad.

If there are worth a considerable amount of $$$ I would be wrapping them in plastic to avoid any water damage and then wood crate them... if they aren't that valuable substitute the wood for cardboard.

Originally Posted by GNGPhoto

make your own boxes, plain and simple. There are very few companies that sell boxes for shipping paintings and you usually have to buy them in large quantities. You can ask Mr. Carter or AMSMike, I sent them both a painting and they were both home "built" card-board boxes. If you search around for examples online there are some people who put a lot of time into transportation safety, but if the paintings aren't worth that much I would go to a local art store, ask for left over cardboard boxes, specifically the biggest they have and then just start cutting and taping up.

UPS usually does a good job and insurance costs aren't too bad.

got any photos of your custom job? i have plenty of cardboard at my factory, so that wont be a problem.

I'll try to find some photos, but best rule of thumb is give the piece about three to five passes of bubble wrap on both the front and back for padding, try to make the box snug at that point and if there is any leftover space just use some newspaper for padding filler.

For example on a 24" x 36" painting with a 2" canvas thickness my box was 5" thick and 28" x 40". Gave enough room for the bubble wrap while not being worried about it being too tight that vibrations could affect the painting

Shrink wrap, bubble wrap, and in a wooden crate depending on the size of the piece. You can never be too careful I would use a private courier if the piece is worth a lot.