Shipping pastels

[Katie Black]

Is there a link explaining the procedure for shipping pastels....can you roll them in a tube? for some reason I just presumed it would be difficult to ship pastels so all my originals I have marked as sold on my website, but then I thought maybe I should ask here.

[britgirl]

Katie, I usually ship mine sandwiched between 2 pieces of foam core board.

First I tape the painting to one piece of foam core, then I tape glassine over that. I take the second board, and sandwich the painting in between. I tape the foamcore sandwich all the way around the edge. That's about it. I usually pop mine in a Ziplock or Crystal Clear bag along with framing and handling instructions and a business card. As long as everything is secure on the inside and won't slip around, it should be fine.

I sell most of my pastels without frames and have shipped to the UK, and across and up and down North america without issue. Shipping is inexpensive too!

Sharon

[Katie Black]

Thanks a lot Sharon!

[BuddleiaGirl]

I was going to ask this same thing on behalf of my daughter, but she is also wondering about fixatives. Her concern is that a permanent fixative (any particular brand recommendations btw?) might not be enough, and that it will flake off during the vibration of shipping. A friend of mine very much wants to buy one of her pastels, but we were unsure how to ship to her. Sharon, I know where to get foam core. Where does one get glassine? This is a largish canvas, 22x30 inches. Is it only available online? (probably cheaper that way anyway lol)

[Colorix]

I've shipped securely within Europe and overseas. As it happens, I've written an article on how to pack an unframed painting securely, in the newsletter The Pastel Scribbler. Here's a link to the article, it is on page 8 of the pdf.

No fixative was applied, as it is not needed. Yes, a few specks of pigments will drift off, but as there are plenty of them where they came from, it is no problem at all. In my oh-so humble opinion. :-)

[BuddleiaGirl]

Thanks for that link, that was exactly what we were looking for

[Katie Black]

Thank you Charlotte I have printed that off..

[dtumacde]

BuddleiaGirl - fixative will not prevent a pastel painting from smudging with even the slightest pressure. Glassine paper is an extremely smooth surface(kind of like wax paper) that reduces friction. It can be purchased from your local art store or you can do a search on google and buy it online.

The process described by britgirl is widely accepted as the best way to ship a pastel painting, ive not heard of any bungled shipping attempts using this method but I havent been doing this very long =)

[britgirl]

BuddleiaGirl, I don't use fixative on my paintings, just a sheet of Glassine securely attached (you don't want it moving around). I purchased my Glassine online in sheets, but it does come in a roll as well. I'm sure you can pick it up from your local art store.

Sharon