Posted by David Buckley on October 15, 2009 at 5:12pm
As my first festival draws nearer I am thinking of several things I had not considered before, or I have considered it but haven't yet found a solution. For anyone who does mid-size to large paintings, do you wrap them in cardboard or bubble wrap when you sell them to a customer? I would love if the customer would just carry the painting away as is, but I would think they will want it to be protected in some way. However I don't recall seeing big rolls of bubble wrap or cardboard behind artist's tents at the festivals I've been to. And bubble wrap and cardboard can be kind of pricey when buying them at Office Depot and the like. I also worry about wrapping them in any kind of plastic or putting them in a plastic bag because here in Florida it gets mighty hot and acrylic paint can get tacky in the heat and will probably stick to the plastic. For the same reason I also haven't figured out a good way to protect the work when transporting it.
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To celebrate the first year anniversary of GalleryPouch™ bubble bags, we've decided to give away 25 GalleryPouch™ Gold w/ Velcro® bags (up to 18x24 inches in size) during the month of November. For more information or to enter, visit our Facebook page here: Facebook Contest.
The official rules are here gallerypouch.com/contest01
I just had 30 Gallery Pouches from Frame Destinations delivered to my door and have begun to put my canvasses in them. I am thrilled and feel that my work is finally well protected, not to mention the ease with which I can gently slide each canvas into its own protective pouch. Thank you Mark, at Frame Destinations. Also, thank you for sending me my free sample pouch so I could check it out first and make and informed decision.
Mark Rogers > Suzy RichmanOctober 23, 2010 at 10:04pm
Thanks for the recommendation Suzy!
Hugo, in regards to GalleryPouch bubble bags we did not design them for one time use. Our goal was to meet the needs of the people that would use them over and over again between many shows a year. There are 4 grades of plastic for bubble material and the packing bubble is the lowest grade. GalleryPouch is made from the highest grade and it is a special 3rd web bubble meaning the bubble is sandwiched between extra layers of plastic so they are protected from popping. It is a high end bubble that is not stocked by the bubble manufacturers and so they do special runs for us. Of course tape is an option for making bubble bags but since we are selling them we had to have a much more professional seal. We found traditional sealers would not work well since the material is so thick so we had to have a custom industrial sealer manufactured for us. We manufacture our bubble bags by hand in custom sizes.
Suzy Richman > Mark RogersOctober 23, 2010 at 10:45pm
I bought some custom sizes of the gallery pouch. At first, I was going to make my canvasses fit into a standard size, but in doing a price comparison, the custom sizes were not that much more expensive at all. I also ordered the pouches without the velcro and then ran around today looking for velcro and spent a good part of the day cutting and attaching velcro strips to use as closures. Again, based on the time it took and the amount I spent on velcro, I might just order the bags next time with the velcro. The velcro that comes on the pouches is a long strip that goes all the way across the top for a total seal, vs. the shorter strips that I attached.
Also, just a note, I pressed my velcro strips down extremely hard to attach them I don't believe I broke even one bubble!
Mark Rogers > Suzy RichmanOctober 24, 2010 at 4:16pm
I went ahead and added standalone Velcro tape to our website. As Suzy mentioned our bubble bags that come with Velcro adhesive strip all the way across the entire opening. This can add cost to the GalleryPouch especially when you get one with the opening on the long side of the bubble bag instead of the short side. To save money you can buy our bubble bags without Velcro and then add your own but only use a few small tabs if that is all you need to hold the flap down.
Readers here are the first to know about this…we don’t even have a picture or any navigation menus for this product yet.
When we first started testing with local art show vendors here in Texas we ran into an issue with the Velcro failing when left inside a car during the summer where it can get well over 100 degrees. We also ran into issues with making sure the Velcro would stick to the smooth plastic surface of bubble material. For that reason we had to switch to a heavy duty adhesive designed for plastic and higher temps. I personally tested it up to 140 degrees and although the adhesive was starting to get weak enough to pull off the bag without tearing the bubble material it was still stronger than the Velcro fastener tape.
If you are going to use a very small amount of Velcro make sure you do not hold the bag upside down and rely on the Velcro to hold your art work inside the bag.
The Gallery Pouch idea is nice but really quite unecessary for the price. Just go to www.Uline.com for all your packing needs (I do). My metal wall art frames are considerably heavier than standard canvas and paint frames. So, I take about 50 feet of a 36" wide roll of corrugated board ( http://www.uline.com/BL_1902/Corrugated-Wrap?keywords=corrugated%25... ), packing tape and gun and duct tape with me every day ... perhaps more if I anticipate a good show. I wrap the art piece with the board, seal it / close it off with clear packing tape, and create a make-shift "suitcase handle" with the duct tape. Customers just walk away happily. Very professional looking with little practice. You can also design 1/2 page stickers on your inkjet with your logo/name that you can stick onto the outside for show (you can also get those 1/2 page mailing pouches and insert the customer receipt, your card, promotional material and artist name/logo on the outside. This is the cheapest and best way of doing it in my opinion.
Hi David, You are a brave soul entering the shows now, so don't get discouraged. Even in good times it takes awhile to get the feel of things. I wish you the best. I use ULINE for custom size bags etc. Very large paintings I would try and deliver. If they want to take it with, I wrap bubble wrap on the wire, put in a large plastic bag. Packing for art shows, I don't wrap the large paintings, slide in upright(on carpet) and separate with cardboard or foamboard.
Yes, Pam, it probably isn't the best time to start, but I figure the good thing about never having done it before is that I don't have any expectations. :) I have a couple questions about your comments if you don't mind. When you say "try and deliver" do you mean hand deliver or mail deliver? I can see potential logistical issues with hand delivering and price issues with mail delivering so I am curious which you mean. Also, the wrapping bubble wrap on the wire thing is throwing me. Why do you do that? Thanks for the great advice!
pam neil > David BuckleyOctober 16, 2009 at 5:48pm
I don't know what size your largest paintings are, mine were 48"x60". Customers many times could not get them in their car. I would arrange to deliver them after the show either Sat or Sun, sometimes driving an hour. I never sold a painting without a return option if it didn't work. I just found it best to go to the clients home, (for the larger pieces)if something didn't work where they thought, many times another piece or different placement was the answer. The bubble wrap around the wire is just a courtesy on the big pieces , gives them something to hold on to without slicing their hands.
Replies
Facebook Contest.
The official rules are here gallerypouch.com/contest01
Cheers,
Mark
Picture Frame Destination, Inc.
Hugo, in regards to GalleryPouch bubble bags we did not design them for one time use. Our goal was to meet the needs of the people that would use them over and over again between many shows a year. There are 4 grades of plastic for bubble material and the packing bubble is the lowest grade. GalleryPouch is made from the highest grade and it is a special 3rd web bubble meaning the bubble is sandwiched between extra layers of plastic so they are protected from popping. It is a high end bubble that is not stocked by the bubble manufacturers and so they do special runs for us. Of course tape is an option for making bubble bags but since we are selling them we had to have a much more professional seal. We found traditional sealers would not work well since the material is so thick so we had to have a custom industrial sealer manufactured for us. We manufacture our bubble bags by hand in custom sizes.
Cheers,
Mark
GalleryPouch Bubble Bags
Also, just a note, I pressed my velcro strips down extremely hard to attach them I don't believe I broke even one bubble!
If you want to use our heavy duty Velcro you can buy it here:
Velcro Hook & Loop Fastener Tape
Readers here are the first to know about this…we don’t even have a picture or any navigation menus for this product yet.
When we first started testing with local art show vendors here in Texas we ran into an issue with the Velcro failing when left inside a car during the summer where it can get well over 100 degrees. We also ran into issues with making sure the Velcro would stick to the smooth plastic surface of bubble material. For that reason we had to switch to a heavy duty adhesive designed for plastic and higher temps. I personally tested it up to 140 degrees and although the adhesive was starting to get weak enough to pull off the bag without tearing the bubble material it was still stronger than the Velcro fastener tape.
If you are going to use a very small amount of Velcro make sure you do not hold the bag upside down and rely on the Velcro to hold your art work inside the bag.
Cheers,
Mark
Frame Destination, Inc.
Hugo Cruz
www.HugoCruzGallery.com
Yes, Pam, it probably isn't the best time to start, but I figure the good thing about never having done it before is that I don't have any expectations. :) I have a couple questions about your comments if you don't mind. When you say "try and deliver" do you mean hand deliver or mail deliver? I can see potential logistical issues with hand delivering and price issues with mail delivering so I am curious which you mean. Also, the wrapping bubble wrap on the wire thing is throwing me. Why do you do that? Thanks for the great advice!
1 9367K66 FOIL-FACED BUBBLE WRAP INSULATION, 36" WIDE, 50 FT ROLL LENGTH
2 7631A32 MULTIPURPOSE ALUMINUM FOIL TAPE, 2" WIDE X 60 YARDS LONG, .003" THICK
They also sell Velcro to make the closures.
I'm very happy with the ones I made and this is a much less expensive solution.
Best regards to all,
Leo
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