Shipping Help!

[Raven-Us]

Hi, there! I'm a fairly new artist and need to ship a 4'x4' canvas cross country. Can anyone give any suggestions on carriers to use that would be most cost effective and safe? You're help is much appreciated - Raven-Us

[twobluecrows]

Hi, there! I'm a fairly new artist and need to ship a 4'x4' canvas cross country. Can anyone give any suggestions on carriers to use that would be most cost effective and safe? You're help is much appreciated - Raven-Us

Hi Raven, this may not be helpful, but my friend is an established artist who sells paintings in lots of sizes, but when she had to ship a very large canvas(54" x 6') to California from CT last year, she took the canvas off the stretchers and rolled it into a large tube and shipped it that way. The recipient then took it to a frame shop and had it re-stretched. It got there save and sound by UPS.

I'd like more info about shipping large art intact, too, so I hope someone else answers this! I have a ceramic sculpture I'd like to ship someday if I can find someone good for that.

Good luck!
Cyn

[timelady]

While I've not sent cross-country in the US I have sent a 8'x5' painting from the UK to USA. I also used UPS (Expedited service) and took it off the stretcher and rolled it. While it will cost the customer to have to restretched at the other end the amount saved on shipping something 4'x4' at dimensional weight will be drastically higher than the cost of restretching. So overall the customer will be better off.

Hope that helps a bit? :)
Tina.

[kiabgoa]

You might want to look into Fed Ex Ground service. I've had very good luck with that and the cost is generally very reasonable (I haven't sent anything as large as what you are asking about though). You can get an estimate from their website as long as you know the dims and weight of the package (you can guestimate those in order to get a general idea of the price before you invest in packaging materials).

One caveat -- you can't really insure art sent this way (at least not through Fed Ex), so that is a concern. I've not had any problems, but it is something to keep in mind.

[digitalawakening]

Shipping large framed art cross country in the US is very expensive. By all means, if you can ship without a frame, rolled up as has been described, do so.

If you do have to ship a large framed piece of art that exceeds the normal "girth" requirements of FedEx Ground etc, check out FedEx Expedited Freight (http://www.fedex.com/us/expeditedfreightservices/) or UPS Supply Chain Solutions (http://www.ups-scs.com/contact/index.html). You can easily call the 800 numbers and get a quote. Ask customer service for ways to save money - for example, if you ship from a business to a business with FedEx Expedited Freight, you get a 55% discount.

If you're not on deadline you'll save money. I had to ship a large framed piece from Orlando to San Diego this week, leaving Monday to get there by Friday, and it came to around $200 with UPS Supply Chain Solutions (58"x58"x8", somewhere around 60lbs).

-Nathan

http://www.nathanselikoff.com
http://www.digitalawakeningstudios.com