Hi Everyone,
I do oil paintings (many of them large) and intend to do my first Art Fair next week. I've seen some discusions of sending purchased art home in nice professional plastic bags, but this was usually in reference to smaller items. For a large oil painting, let's say 2' x 4' would you just take it off the wall and say "here you go, enjoy!"? If I'm fortunate enough to sell some nice big expensive work, should I offer to wrap it in brown paper or something?
Any thoughts would be greatly apprciated.
Thanks!
-Ann
Replies
http://www.uline.com/BL_7602/Open-End-Bubble-Bags
These will hold a painting up to about four feet in length, and for even larger paintings you can put one on each end and tape them in the middle. They are kind of expensive at the outset since you have to buy by the carton, but the price per unit is not bad at all (a few dollars) in comparison to the price of a painting. They are much easier and quicker to use than sheets of wrap. Plus they are reusable. I have about four sizes of bags that cover my various sizes of work.
To help protect the corners of large framed pieces, I recommend using cardboard or acrylic corners, available from your frame wholesaler. They come flat and you fold them into whatever thickness you need. Then, to hold the corners in place, use the shrink wrap that comes on a wheel to wrap all sides. If the piece isn't framed with glass, you might wrap the whole piece completely with the shrink wrap. It's about $8/roll from Home Depot or Lowes and does a lot of art work.
It makes me crazy when I see artwork going out of a show, the small stuff handheld, no bag; the big stuff, exposed to potential damage. My customers really like the packaging I do on my pieces. I've even offered to bag art work from another artist - if I sold something to that customer!
Frame Destination (my company) makes a product called GalleryPouch for transporting large artwork to and from shows. It is a very sturdy high quality encapsulated bubble bag that is designed to be used over and over again due to the cost of the material. Depending on your price point, you might consider it for one time use for your customers. It would help protect the painting while they get it home.
http://www.framedestination.com/GalleryPouch_Bubble_Wrap_Bags.html
Cheers,
Mark
I assume these larger pieces are priced accordingly (i.e. "big moolah"). If so, I assume you will already have self-made or custom wrapping for each individual piece that you use to transport the artworks to the show. If one sells, why not give it to the patron along with his/her piece.
I know for my acrylics, I carry plastic drop cloth packages. When one sells, I ask the buyer if they could come back in a few minutes, I wrap & tape the piece like a gift, place a 1/2 sheet 8.5" x 5.5" label on ach side (so that people will see the name when the patron walks through the show), and I make a make-shift suitcase handle(s) on the top with duct tape.
Once you do really well, you can custom make large bags/painting transport boxes with your logo/name on them and just give it to the patron, too.
Here's a link to Uline's poly bag page page. They have sizes up to 60x60. Just click on the thickness you want. I would probably recommend 2 mil thick.
http://www.uline.com/Grp_3/Poly-Bags-Flat-Open
Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100