Packing it Up

Shipping art work is one of those things that you hear horror stories about but I've never had a problem (yet). I know artists who build elaborate crates with wood and foam and even paint the outsides to show how well they were handled in transit (if the paint is chipped off a lot, the works might have had a rough journey). I even know an artist who simply wraps his paintings in brown paper and puts them in the mail. My personal approach is one of a straight-edge, xacto knives and lots of foam and cardboard. For the show up currently in Dunedin, Florida here's how I packed the works -from top down:

When opening the box you would see this - the notch is there to make it easier to pull out the foam:

After one layer of foam is taken out you will see the paperwork and the first wrapped painting within several layers of foam:
After that painting is taken out you'll see the next painting - again within several layers of foam - similar to how people hide things in books by carving out the pages:

A layer of foam between each painting:

The last painting fit snug in the bottom of the box:

All together the box was about eight inches deep and contained three canvases. I'm told they looked fine upon arrival in Florida - so here's hoping they can manage to fit them all back in the box!