Packing/Shipping Methods

[Julianna]

Hello!

I was wondering whether anyone has any tips for shipping sculptures which are awkwardly shapped, heavy, and/or fragile.

Until now, I've been okay with smaller sculptures, because I can pack them tightly, and they don't weigh very much. But now I'm starting to make larger sculptures, and the increased weight makes for some difficult handling. I'm wondering whether it is possible to pack something without using excessive packing/stuffing material to really pack things in...if that makes any sense.

Thanks!

J

[fritchie]

Julianna - Fortunately, I found a gallery relatively early on that does this for me. The one time I had to ship a piece across country, I packed it the way I had seen scientific equipment packed, tied to various corners, walls, or the floor of a wooden box. Obviously this was an elaborate job, but I made a packing crate slightly larger than the piece, wrapped it tightly in bubble plastic, and then ran heavy cord from points around the piece to hooks on the box. It got there fine, but this probably is overkill. By the way, dimensions probably were about 30 x 25 x 30 inches or slightly less, and weight about 130 to 140 pounds for the sculpture alone.

A friend who ships lots of bronzes slightly smaller says the wooden box is unnecessary. He uses a box within a box, both of cardboard.. The sculpture is put in the inside box, and it is filled with foam peanuts or something similar. That is put in a larger box and the packing repeated.

[JAZ]

The sculptor whose studio is downstairs from mine uses a foam that's intended for insulating houses. When sprayed into a cavity it expands to conform to the shape of the cavity then hardens and it doesn't weigh very much. I'm not certain of the exact method, but she ends up with a box that has two chunks of solidified foam, each lined with plastic sheeting, each with a depression in the shape of half of the object you want to send. It's almost like a crude/simplified two piece mold of the object. She is not on this forum (yet!), but I'll tell her about your question and see if she'll post a clearer explanation than this one. I've never used this method, but it looked like a good safe way to send things. She ships plaster busts and other things this way.

[sculptorsam]

Does she then place this "mold" in a cardboard box for transport? Great idea. Just the right combination of sophistication and practicality.

Sam

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by sculptorsam

Does she then place this "mold" in a cardboard box for transport? Great idea. Just the right combination of sophistication and practicality.

Sam

Sam, Yes. I've just spoken with her and encouraged her to give her own explanation of the process, which she said she would. But I can answer your question. She takes a cardboard box and cuts 2" styrofoam insulation (the kind for houses) to line the box, holding it together with duct tape. she does it so that there are two halves. The foam stuff goes inside that, and roughly conforms to the sculpture. It's lightweight and relatively inexpensive. One drawback is that when the people at the venue put the sculpture back in to return it, they sometimes put it upside down inspite of the fact that she's marked the box and labelled it so that it should be clear. One of her plaster pieces cracked as a result.
She also pointed out that a lot of shows won't accept work packed with those packing peanuts.

[fritchie]

I first saw a product similar to this expandable foam in a government research lab about 1957, but I haven’t seen or heard of it since. Evidently it’s still available if you know where to look. The use back then was as thermal insulation in a science lab, where very accurate temperature control can be essential.

If this is a similar material, all you have to do to use it is provide an appropriate confining space, such as the foam-lined box JAZ mentioned, and spray about the right amount. For packing like this, you would need to generate two conforming halves, bottom and top, with no undercuts (the essential feature for pulling off the two pieces from the sculpture). Sounds great, and I wonder about cost and availability. Peanuts can be a real bother.

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by fritchie

I first saw a product similar to this expandable foam in a government research lab about 1957, but I haven’t seen or heard of it since. Evidently it’s still available if you know where to look. The use back then was as thermal insulation in a science lab, where very accurate temperature control can be essential.

If this is a similar material, all you have to do to use it is provide an appropriate confining space, such as the foam-lined box JAZ mentioned, and spray about the right amount. For packing like this, you would need to generate two conforming halves, bottom and top, with no undercuts (the essential feature for pulling off the two pieces from the sculpture). Sounds great, and I wonder about cost and availability. Peanuts can be a real bother.

Wow, 1957. A long time ago. I think it is basically the same stuff. It's available at hardware stores, since most people use it to insulate cracks in homes. I'm sure it's not too expensive because the woman who told me about it doesn't have a big budget. (I bet it would be more costly if it was available in art supply stores, wouldn't it?)

[dondougan]

JAZ (et al);

The polyuerthane foam in aerosol containers is about $4 to $10 per can depending on size of can and where you buy it (big distributers like Home Depot or Lowes, or your local hardware stores). For packing purposes, all brands are equivalent -- but look at the specific can for info on the expanded dimensional volume when cured. I have found that packing with this method works great for small, simple sculptural forms that are relatively compact.

For packing/shipping my more complex stone sculptures (which often have very delicate additional elements fitted in either stone, glass, or ceramic), I prefer to use the method described below, and for extremely delicate pieces I will also use two nesting crates as was mentioned in an earlier post.

I usually use a reusable wooden crate with closed-cell styrofoam blocks cut-to-fit and hot-glued into place so the sculpture is held away from the crate wall and so no shifting will occur. Multi-element sculptures (i.e. - a base element and the main element) usually require some wooden or styrofoam interior dividers inside the crate, attached with phillips-head screws as necessary. Then I use scraps of upholstery foam rubber to further cushion the sculpture. The assembly is documented with prints of clear digital image photos of the specific packing/unpacking steps, arranged on the paper sequentially and numbered clearly, with any explanatory text kept to a minimum (repackers don't seem to 'read first' very often!), and the paper is attached to the inside of the crate lid, which is screwed into place with long multi-purpose/drywall flat-head screws with finishing washers. The screw-heads are encircled with red marker to indicate they are to be removed and to distinguish them from screws which simpl hold the crate together.
The crate is usually fitted with built-in wooden handles (a smoothed/sanded forty-five degree cut on the bottom of reinforcing battens) if the crate is relatively small, or as many hinged metal screw-on handles as necessary for larger pieces.

Once I have to ship a piece in a crate like this, my net costs for making the crate and packing are added to the cost of the sculpture, so the entire selling price for the work is raised to cover my expenses. If I sell the work in my immediate area where I can deliver the piece then I retain the crate, and can use it for similar-sized works later with minimal costs for custom-refitting of the packing material.

I know this sounds like overkill, but it isn't!
One metaphorical hat that I wear besides making sculpture and teaching is to repair sculptures that have been damaged for several local galleries, museums, and auction houses, as well as private individuals.
I have seen too many poorly-packed sculptures in cardboard boxes that have been damaged or ruined to want to take any chances by being cheap for my own work. If I have a piece I have spent many tens or a hundred-plus hours making, I do not want it damaged because somebody (probably being paid minimum wage who has no experience moving and handling artwork) is careless and drops/throws things around.

Don
www.dondougan.com

[Julianna]

Wow!

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. That certianly beats the much more expensive and cumbersome method to which I was introduced a few months back.

For those of you who might be curious about it, it's the same concept as the expanding stuff, but it comes pre-packaged in bags. The bags come in a variety of sizes. The downfall is that the stuff inside the bags requires mixing and heating---the material is heated in a machine made (and sold) by the company, then kneaded together after it is heated. This all adds up to quite a hefty purchase, with the machine and the requirement for the bulk-purchase of the bags. I don't remember the name of the company, but if anyone wants more information, I can dig up the information and post it.

J