How to wrap a painting

When you decorate or redecorate your house, your apartment, your office or any other interior space with works of art, when moving or if you are an artist and you have to participate in an exhibition, sooner or later you are going to be faced with the problem of packaging and transporting works of art. So that they can be moved safely, you must follow a few basic rules.

The safety of your works during transport will depend on the packaging phase.

The “ transporting work of art ” section deals with the generalities concerning the entire operation of moving works, and in this article, we answer more precisely the question of how to pack a painting .

Here we offer you processes that we use ourselves at Art4you, which have proven themselves over thousands of kilometers and numerous trade shows, which often follow one another.

This packaging will allow you to ship your paintings by yourself, with your personal or rental vehicles (depending on the dimensions of each, of course!), minimizing the risk of breakage, using simple and inexpensive means. .

To package a painting that I would describe as “standard”, that is to say without prominent relief, the process will always be somewhat the same. We will protect this painting first with plastic packaging, the details of which I will give you below, then, depending on the case, we will secure the whole thing with cardboard packaging.

“BUBBLE” PACKAGING

When we talk about a “packing bubble”, we all imagine ourselves with a roll of varying width, height and price, which comes from the moving and storage section at the local hardware store.

This is where the whole story begins…

And no ! Not all “bubbles” are equal before the Lord!

Some are of very good quality and others much less, it depends on the supplier.

First of all, this type of packaging can have bubbles of different sizes (1 cm, 2 cm, etc.), which gives a more or less comfortable protective “cushion” thickness for your paintings.

The plastic sheet with which this type of packaging is made can be more or less thick, and therefore more or less solid. When you hear the bubbles bursting at the slightest movement, the quality is not good.

By the way, if you have any doubts, do not hesitate to contact a real packaging professional, the material is much better and often less expensive.

Example: http://www.escure-emplois.fr

In this type of packaging, a final quality factor proved decisive in our choice, because it provides a notable difference in efficiency.

These are two-layer or three-layer protections.

The bi-layer is the one that everyone knows, which has a smooth layer and a layer that forms the bubbles.

The one we chose to wrap the paintings is the tri-layer, where the layer forming the bubbles is sandwiched between two layers of smooth plastic.

This type of protection has several advantages:

The strength of the packaging is increased tenfold, meaning that the bubbles burst much less easily (even when you step on them inadvertently...). and that this packaging can be reused a certain number of times (a little ecological wink).
No risk of bubble marks on the painted canvas or on the glass frames.
You generally don't need to add extra corners made of cardboard, foam, or other plastic.

NB: Regarding Plexiglas frames, we strongly advise you to wrap the paintings beforehand in a suedecloth pouch, which you can easily make or have made ( https://www.marchesaintpierre.com ).

Attention!

We should absolutely avoid Kraft paper which causes scratches that are difficult to repair.

We chose to use tri-layer pouches, because they are more practical for quick packaging, as we know them well, at the end of contemporary art fairs, where we always have very little time to package the works of art. 'art.

These pouches are sold in sets of ten for small formats or five for large formats.

Example: https://www.labulle-paris.com

There is a choice of standard formats, be careful to count the thickness of your paintings, which can be a little complex depending on the shape of the frames.

Allow a few extra centimeters, so you don't end up with pockets that are "just too small".

To close your bubble pouch and so that this system can last over time by reusing your pouches, as well as if you have to fold your pouches on the board when they are a little large for the chosen format, here is what we we recommend from experience.

Close your pockets with masking tape (paper adhesive found in the paint section of your usual hardware store, 19 mm or 24 mm maximum width). This will prevent you from damaging your bubble. Glue strips of approximately 5 cm only at strategic closing points. Do not use the self-adhesive strip provided on the pouch.

This will hold up enough for the ride.

When you are at the destination point and need to open the pouch, simply break that paper tape at the fold, especially if you are in a hurry. You will easily remove the residue from the adhesive tape later by gently peeling it off, from the inside of the pouch towards the edge.

Now that you have completed this first step, we can take care of the cardboard operation!

“CARDBOARD” PACKAGING

Depending on the degree of fragility of your paintings, you may or may not need to complete your “bubble” packaging with a cardboard structure. The advantage, once again, is not having to run behind your cardboard or other plastic corners, because obviously one is always missing!

As with the bubble, there are different qualities of cardboard.

When you look at a cardboard edge, if there is only one set of "holes" it is called a single flute. If there are two rows of holes, it is a double spline.

Concerning the packaging of the works, we prefer the double groove, much more rigid and therefore much more solid.

But where can you find these double-corrugated cardboard boxes?

For now, don't be afraid to do some “recovery”!

Boxes of frames from artists' supply stores, boxes of mattresses, bicycles, car doors... Don't be afraid to ask the shopkeepers, it suits them, they throw them away!

The different types of works

The paintings

If you only have canvases in your vehicle and nothing blunt around it, we advise you to place the canvases face to face in the field, and thus protect the lateral sides with a double-fluted cardboard panel or poplar plywood. 3 mm thick and strap if necessary.

If you have really very eclectic table formats, you will certainly need to separate the formats with a cardboard structure.

Glass

Concerning framed paintings and coasters, like most drawings, watercolors, engravings, dry or oil pastels or even photos, cardboard packaging is obligatory if you do not want to end up with pieces of glass everywhere , which also have the unfortunate tendency to scratch the work underneath…

Once each painting is protected by its plastic cushion, they can be placed in individual or collective cardboard packaging, it all depends on the consistency of the formats, of course. We have transported watercolors in collective cardboard over thousands of kilometers in this way, without any problem. Obviously, they were placed face to face so that no hook placed at the back could cause damage.

This also applies to transporting a mirror.

Plexiglas

Although much less fragile than glass, plexiglass is the “king of scratches”!

You must therefore be sure that nothing can mar its surface.

After placing it in its suede pouch then in a bubble wrap pouch, we strongly recommend individual cardboard packaging, especially if they are large formats.

Generally :

If your paintings are not too fragile, you can simply place cardboard separators between the works. In the case of fragile works, opt for collective or individual boxes. If you have any doubt, choose the most protective solution. And above all, plan to optimize your loading.

Depending on the dimensions of your tables and your vehicle, the space saving system may be different. In certain cases and often for small formats, collective “crates” are more suitable.

Trick :

Can't find cardboard in the right size? Customize them or make them!

It's not complicated. Take the measurements from the table, add the thickness of the bubble plus a small margin. If you've never done it, look at how industrial boxes are constructed; there's no mystery in it, you just need a little imagination!

And if you build collective boxes, protect the part that touches the ground well with brown tape. This will save you from inconvenience in rainy weather!

On the other hand, pay attention to the quality of the adhesive tape!

The adhesive:

We will choose brown PVC adhesive tape and a professional dispenser. We avoid the local hardware store because the “claw” that cuts the tape is neither high enough nor sharp enough. This will save you from stressing over it and you will save a lot of yardage, because the PVC tape is thick enough not to “twist” and it is relatively “repositionable”.

(http://www.escure-emplois.fr)

CONCLUSION

This protection system has proven itself in the field, which is why we recommend it.

Of course, we understand that the amount of technical data may disorient you, but rest assured. It's mostly about logic and common sense. And speaking of common sense, the direction of travel or even how to place a painting in the right direction in the middle of a passenger compartment, I invite you to read the article dedicated to loading works into a vehicle so that transport is Perfect.

Good packaging!

Related topics:

How to wrap a sculpture
Arts transport : specialized transport of works of art
Transporting fragile objects