Packing ?

[turtleglass]

So im almost finished packing everything in my house and can not wait to get on the road south. I got a few glass treasures that I have no Idea how to safely pack and store. Any suggestions on where to get puffy pouches or cases or packing techs for these items. they are fragile sculptures and a really spikey pipe. Thanks yall :) :turtle:

[ALIEN!]

crumpled up newspaper, not too much that there's pressure, but enough that the pieces can't move around. Dont use a shitty beat up box either. I've never had a piece die in the mail or otherwise.

[Muse]

looks like a gun case with egg-crate foam would work. or you can dumpster dive your local upholstery shop and do cutouts in a foam block.

Just lay the piece down on the top, sketch the perimeter, cut to twice the depth, remove 'plug' , cut said plug to remove the depth of the piece to create a hole in the center of the foam block. place piece in hole, add plug and your bomb proof!

I've seen some really elaborate sculptures worth thousands of $ shipped across the country this way unscathed... but you could prob get away with a gun-case.

[turtleglass]

may try foam blocks if i can locate a upholstry shop, feel like a gun case will push on them too much maybe causing it to break. Mostly concerned about trees but mostly the flower. the pipe could prol be in a case. :turtle:

[Uriel]

A friend of mine once shipped a $2000 3ft tall 360 leaved glass 'year tree' back from Dubai to the Uk, badly wrapped in newspaper slung in an old box, it survived 2 sets of slingers, the flight, the baggage wheel, 2 subsiquent house moves. It lost its base when it got dropped onto a slate floortile.. dont underestimate Boro...

[Master Yoda]

pack it well and insure it well

[MUPH]

Packing peanuts and bubble wrap. You should have plenty around the shop

[hashmasta-kut]

use boxes that are a couple inches large in every direction than any protuberance on your work. then packing peanuts are number one option, after a layer of bubble wrap on the work, and newspaper second option to peanuts.

[dew]

sick 2ba sherly!

[vetropod]

Sounds like you're moving and want to preserve those, so of them (the tree in particular) look like they might be extra fragile.

IF you're moving and don't have to worry about who's unpacking, IGNORE all of the above suggestions and go to JoAnn Fabrics (or your local sewing store) and get "polycotton batting", it'll be in the quilting section. There are different grades and you can feel which one is the squishiest through the bag - get that one, or two or three if you've got a lot more than the above.

When you pack these pieces into boxes, put plenty of the batting in and leave lots of space around each piece. You want to pack the batting in, but not too tightly - if its too tight, it'll put too much pressure on the pieces. If done correctly though, it will support all parts of each piece evenly and really cushion them.

Trust me on this, I've got a decent collection of mostly sculptural work (my own included) which I just moved 2500 miles and had i storage for 5 months before unpacking.

If you're shipping to a customer, you can still do the batting but you really have to emphasize to them to be careful while unpacking. If they just grab it out, the batting can catch on extra fragile parts and break them when pulling out - I learned that the hard way.

Newspaper would be just fine for the pipe and perfume jar, but the other pieces are much too fragile for that. The foam also wouldn't be great for the more fragile pieces, unless you do it right, which is too much for me to expain here.

[Aussie]

the batting can catch on extra fragile parts and break them when pulling out - I learned that the hard way.

that's why I use cotton wool, it gives when it catches even on really thin parts.

the following instructions are for one of the pieces I currently have in a traveling exhibition that's going all over Australia. This kind of packing might not apply to you, but I've never had a problem with breakages this way ... except once, when the shipping company somehow drove a forklift through a crate ... this was kind of a boon, though, as I got insurance. Fortunately I was able to use many of the salvaged pieces and with comparatively little work was able to put another piece just like the broken one back into the exhibition ... and that ended up selling to a collector in NY. Gotta love boro.

Anyway, below is how I pack fragile pieces for shipping. I use an electric kitchen knife to do the foam cut-outs.

(I had to put the NB in the instructions because the people who run this exhibition usually don't allow organic packing material ...)

[vetropod]

^^^ thanks for sharing that, Chris! ^^^

[Aussie]

no worries ... I forgot to mention that I learned the hard way with the synthetic wool, too :D

[sunray]

I have a box of cotton that pulls out (Bought at a hair supply house) and I wrap all the little tree limbs etc and then pack it. They use this for giving perms..to wrap the neck so the solution won't run down.
Works good for me and its not that expensive..

[turtleglass]

Great Info YALL !!!!! I love it :) and Yes Im packing for storage, since we are selling our house and living in RV full time. I wish I could bring all my treasures with me and thats only the real fragile ones . the whole coffee table was full of treasures (rocks, lots of turtles, glass, etc.....) that I gazed at all the time. We have been collecting them on our travels over the last five years. I will miss them but one day they will have a new home and a proper lighted display case. and thanks dew i thinks its a badass 2ba piece as well, got it from him @ AGI :) :turtle: