Packing and shipping is a funny thing. It is INTEGRAL to the piece surviving its journey between point A and point B, yet no one teaches it (well I do, a bit), until recently no one talked about it and lots of artists just throw their stuff in whatever box with whatever “packing materials” are lying around. I used to do this, before working for an art handling company, and still cringe at the thought of sending out sculptures wrapped in plaster splattered bubble wrap, packed in old clay boxes.
Now, depending on what the sculpture is, it’s either cavity packed in foam or wrapped in tissue, then bubble, then more bubble and then space in the box is taken up with paper. For very fragile pieces I will double box them if needed. All this to say that a lot goes into this process and it takes a fair amount of time if you do it right.
Below are the boxes of sculptures from my Seconds sale and they are ready to head out to their new homes. This was two days of packing and labeling, but again, that time is really important to make sure that the pieces get where they are supposed to, in the way that they are supposed to. I also feel like it should be really exciting to open these boxes and see what’s inside, so I really try to focus on that as I’m wrapping them. For anyone selling and shipping work, or showing and shipping work, I’d say to think about how the person on the other end will feel opening the box and that is a great place to start. I will do a more in depth tutorial soon.
