Ship, Ship Hooray!

This week, I managed to complete the stitching and beading on an exhibition piece without bleeding on it. The piece is now packaged and ready to ship. A smarter person would start planning the packaging while making the piece. My head is usually elsewhere until it's done. Then I go rummage through Bill's shipping area for a box the right size.

This box wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was the right size. Two "pillows" made of bubble wrap and tissue paper are tucked inside the vessel to help support it in transit.

A cut-down cardboard mailing tube fills a void and adds structural support to one corner.

To fill a void in the other corner, I built a wedge from cardboard I found in the recycle stack.

More waste cardboard went into a hinged support that spans the width of the box above the vessel. There's a bubble wrap pad on top of the hinged cardboard, along with instructions on how to unpack and repack the piece.

In a previous life, Bill and I did our share of wrestling with packing tape and bubble wrap. Aren't you glad to know you can wind a kayak up in bubble wrap and most of the time it will ship without damage? But I always wonder what other people do to package and ship odd-shaped and fragile artwork. What tips and tricks do you have to share? I'd love to hear your comments!