There are numerous ways to wrap your artwork to ensure safe transport. If you are entering the Stencil Art Prize and you are selected as a finalist, you’ll be asked to send us your artwork.
It’s important that you realise that once your artwork arrives at the Stencil Art Prize delivery address, it will be moved to a storage facility (which involves transport via vehicle), then moved to a judging location, and then moved to the exhibition venue.
So wrapping the artwork in decent materials will ensure not only safe delivery to us, but safe transit whilst in our care. You’ll need to wrap your artwork for transit even if you’re hand delivering the artwork.
This article has a few tips on how to wrap your artwork, we also recommend checking with the transport company (courier or post) about their packaging requirements before you package your artwork, as they’re the experts on packing advice.
- Ensure that your artwork is dry and wrap your painting in bubble wrap, with the bubbles facing “out” and the flat side against your work. Two layers of bubble wrap is generally sufficient. Use a small piece of packing tape to seal down the bubble wrap. Please don’t use excessive amounts of packing tape otherwise we’ll need to cut through the bubble wrap to remove it, which we prefer not to have to do.
- Cut cardboard at least twice the height of your work and slightly wider. Centre your painting on the cardboard, then bend the edges of the cardboard over the work, wrapping the work in cardboard and secure with packing tape. Use packing tape on each side of the cardboard and to each corner to secure.
- Label your package ‘fragile’
- As with any work you are shipping, label clearly. You should include: 1. Return address, contact name and phone number. 2. Shipping address, contact name and phone number
- Your artwork will be shipped back to you, or to your buyer if your artwork sells, in the original wrapping material so please send it in decent wrapping materials that can be reused after the exhibition.
- If your artwork is not flat, you will need to pack it accordingly with extra padding.
Or if you can take the packing up a notch and go as far as taking the white glove approach in this article.
Please do not:
- Tape together dozens of scraps of bubble wrap and make a larger patchwork bubble wrap piece.
- Tape together scraps of small cardboard pieces to make a larger cardboard wrap
- Go crazy with the packing tape direct on bubble wrap. It is very hard to remove bubble wrap that has been taped over completely with 5 rolls of packing tape.
- Hand deliver an unwrapped painting – it needs to be wrapped properly
