How to package a painting?

This is a question we hear time after time and comes in along with the requests for other special deliveries and parcels. If how do I deliver a painting is one of the questions that you find yourself asking then look no further, here are our top tips on how to package a painting.

Painting Couriers

At Abetta Couriers, we often work closely with museums and galleries. These are businesses that regularly handle fragile goods of all shapes, sizes and weights. You can understand then why their main requirement is safety. Imagine paying several thousand pounds for a painting or sculpture, only to find that it is in some way damaged or broken in transit. How can you ensure that this won’t happen and make sure that your work remains intact upon delivery?

Double Layers – Palette Wrap and Cardboard layers.

Despite safety being our main concern, there are always unexpected bumps in roads that cannot be predicted. Therefore we always recommend to everyone that you always use double layers especially if you are planning to deliver a painting. We often hear of people using single layers in their packaging but remember that everything essentially works like a shock absorber; the more material you have around your painting the less likely damage will occur. We would strongly recommend double wrapping your painting in palette wrapping before encasing it with a layer of cardboard padding. This provides a good base in which to protect your art and will prevent any indents that bubble wrap or others might cause.

Use bubble wrap not Styrofoam pieces

My last point leads nicely on to this. Styrofoam peanuts can sometimes imprint on your packaging and painting, especially if you do not have your inner cardboard padding. Also, the peanuts do not always fill every spot in the cardboard which can leave your package vulnerable in certain places. Bubble wrap is a much better solution for you to deliver a painting as it ensures that when you put your package into a cardboard box, there are no gaps left.

Tape up. Lots.

Putting your package into another layer of cardboard is highly recommended as this stops the interior packing from deteriorating. Make sure you secure your package with a high quality tape as this will prevent the painting from falling out and getting damaged. A common mistake that we see is that poor quality tape can often lose its adhesive-ness or can get cut, leaving your package vulnerable. This is particularly important for international delivery, where travel times are expected to be significantly longer than same day or next day delivery.

Fragile Stickers

As a courier company, we always make sure that all “fragile” labelled packages are stored correctly and safely so that any impact they might have will be minimised. There are so people that think by putting “fragile” on the package, that the courier will chuck this to the bottom of the pile, but this is not the case. We take pride in looking after all of our fragile packages.

Use a Courier that looks at deliveries on a case by case basis.

Treating your business on an individual basis always produces the best results and this certainly does not end when it comes to delivery. At Abetta we always look at each order individually and decide on what is the optimal mode of transport and everything, down to the finest detail, is planned to make sure your delivery is made with exceptional timing and without a scratch.

If you frequently find that you are delivering more paintings and other special deliveries, and need a specialist courier service give us a call us on 020 7870 3444 or email info@abettacouriers.com. We are a Courier Service situated in North London and we’re always looking for ways to deliver the difference.