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Blog July 8, 2021

How to Pack Paintings for Moving

Posted in Moving Day Tips
Blake Shaw

Bostonian and residential moving and packing expert. Blake Shaw enjoys bar-hopping, music, and writing insightful content.

If you’re a lover of fine arts, you are probably a proud owner of quite a few artworks. Fine arts can be really demanding to package, once you’ve decided to move. And before the day of relocating arrives, these tips on how to pack paintings may come in handy. Keep reading to learn some basic artwork packaging rules.

How Do You Pack Pictures and Paintings for Moving

Whether you have oil on canvases, framed photos or glass covered aquarels, your artwork collection has monetary, as well as sentimental value. Even if you are moving to a smaller home, your collection will find its place. The basic principles you should go by when packaging fragile items, is to protect the item itself and pad the box.

How Do You Pack up Artwork Tips

If you’re wondering how do you pack oil paintings, the first step is to get packing materials for moving. Parchment paper and painter’s tape, along with cardboard packages and bubble wrap, will secure your valuable pieces, whether they have a glass surface or heavy antique frames. Even better, you can easily find cheap moving supplies.

When wondering how to pack art for moving, parchment paper is the easy answer. It will help you protect your canvas, as it won’t stick and risk damaging its surface. It also helps protect your arts from any water or oil. When it comes to the painter’s tape, it is far better to use while storing your arts, than plain tape, because it doesn’t leave any residue that is impossible to remove from a canvas.

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Choose the Surface for Packing and Bring Bubble Wrap to the Rescue

No, you can’t just lay your paintings anywhere and begin packing. You need to choose a flat surface that you can find in your home, that is wide enough to lay them facing down, such as a large table or floor. Bubble wrap is the material that will come to the rescue in this stage. Pad the surface with some bubble wrap, or a blanket. Place the parchment paper over it. It should be big enough to cover the whole painting with it, just like a birthday present. Then, use the bubble wrap and cover front and back, and seal the ends with tape. If you were worrying on how do you pack a canvas painting, this is the right way to protect its surface from scratching, as bubble wrap also protects items from shock and vibration.

painting-covered Protect your valuable arts with right supplies

How to Pack Paintings With Glass Surfaces and Frames

If your canvases are protected by glass, or you have lots of framed photos, the best thing you can do is to use the painter’s tape and make an X on the glass surface. It will give some protection from breakage, and more importantly, keep the glass from shattering if it cracks. And if you make a mistake of using sticky tape for that, you better find some tutorial on how to remove tape residue.

Know How to Pack Framed Art for Moving – Protect Those Corners

Some of the art pieces are probably framed, and you’ll need some extra protection. You shouldn’t worry about chipped corners of your framed art, if you’ve protected them by using a simple solution – cardboard and tape. It’s a necessary step if your frame is valuable and you don’t want it to get damaged.

Cardboard Boxes are a Simple Solution

After applying cardboard and tape to the corners on an art piece, let’s see how to pack framed pictures for moving. Framed canvases and those without frames should each go into separate boxes. Always choose a box that is a bit bigger than the artwork itself. After you’ve protected the piece, put it in a padded box and fill all the gaps with packing paper, bubble wrap, or foam. Before taping the box closed, you should wiggle it a bit and see if it feels like it’s shifting inside. If you feel it shifting, that also means it could damage during transport, so you should add some more cushioning to fill in the box. Remember, cross country moving is a bumpy ride and making packages secure will help you have a stress-free moving experience.

If you wish to see more on how to wrap up artworks, check out the following video.

YouTube video

Everything Is Easier With Labeling

Labeling is one of those easy tricks that help you a lot when getting organized to move. Label all the boxes with fine arts as fragile, so you or your long distance movers can take extra care when handling them. Include them also in your household inventory list. They will make sure nothing is placed upon fragile items, so they wouldn’t get crushed. One more step when it comes to labeling the boxes is to put some description of the art item inside, and the room you’ll be hanging the paintings in.

labeled boxes Labeling is essential

Things to Avoid When Packing a Picture

Moving out for the first time can also mean making some packing mistakes. Here are some things you should try to avoid when relocating artwork:

  • You should avoid packing a canvas together with other pieces. Do this only if it’s smaller art items you’re boxing up, and put some padding between each item.
  • When loading those artwork boxes into the truck, always avoid laying them flat. Try to put them somewhere where they’ll be surrounded by mattresses, or large furniture that won’t shift during the ride.
cardboard-packages Start hanging those paintings and make yourself at home

Or You Can Leave It to the Professionals – Hire Cross Country Moving Services

Perhaps you’ve already gone through and know how to package sculptures, and with this guide you’ve learned how to take good care of your artwork collection for relocation. But, if you still think you couldn’t manage packaging those valuable items on your own, you should probably call the cross country movers for those packing services you need. A reliable long distance moving company can transport everything intact. Packaging and relocation always requires great effort. So call the professionals, and the long distance moving of your collection can go smoothly.

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