It's been
overcast and wet and drippy the last several days and one night it
dipped down in the 30s and there was frost on all the rooftops and
open ground the next morning. Yesterday, while it wasn't so cold
outside, the house was cold and I could not get warm, felt achey and
tired even though I slept nearly 11 hours Sunday night. Thought about
not going to yoga but I went anyway and actually felt better for it.
Spent the rest of the evening on the couch under a blanket with the
electric heater on. Last night I was out like a light from 10 PM to 1
AM at which point I tossed and turned for several hours but
eventually got back to sleep. This morning, it was 70˚ at 8:30. If
it wasn't the middle of January I'd swear it was spring. It may be
spring. The early spring weeds seem to think so, I've seen a few 10
petal anemone blooms and things are sprouting new growth that
shouldn't be coming out for at least another month.
I got the two
art pieces boxed and double boxed for shipping last weekend,
cushioned in their inside boxes on Saturday and on Sunday I ran up to
the Evil Empire to get some bigger boxes because the ones I had on
hand were not the right size and of the two I purchased, only one was
the perfect size, the other I had to cut down by 4”.
I did finally
completely unpack the magnolia leaves and it's a good thing I did
since whoever packed them at the gallery in Dallas when they were
sent back to me had the outside box filled with loose peanuts (and
there was a hole in the outside box that I hadn't noticed before), a
tall kitchen trash bag full of them.
Loose peanuts
are a nightmare for a gallery to unpack and they will shift so I
never use loose peanuts when I pack my work. I do use peanuts but
they're bagged up in the plastic sleeves that the newspaper comes in.
This is how I pack my work to withstand the gorilla...first the
pieces are wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap and surrounded by
2” of upholstery foam on all six sides in the inside box. Ideally,
the outside box is 2” larger all the way around and I nestle the
inside box on a 2” thick bed of bagged peanuts and then fill the
space between the two boxes with more bagged peanuts and then another
2” layer on top. I want to make it as easy as possible for the
gallery to return my work after an exhibition so that all they have
to do is remove the top layer of bagged peanuts, open the inside box
without removing it from the outside box, remove the top layer of
foam, and then remove the work. To repack the piece if it doesn't
sell, they just need to repeat the process in reverse.
I helped a friend close down her antique (and collectibles) gallery by selling a huge chunk of it on EBay. It involved a lot of packing and shipping. I didn't envision shipping stations as manned by gorillas, but as "manned" by men who didn't have round edges on the chutes the packages sped along. No, it was all right angles. As soon as a package got stuck at a right angle, all the other packages jammed and jammed and jammed and hey, presto, the first box exploded and the expensive, antique, Snow White cookie jar would smash into a thousand bits. It was my job to defeat the right angles with parcels that could withstand....even gorillas. I made two mistakes, and refunded all the money and ate the loss. One was a cookie jar, and a kind customer who told me about right angles, and withstanding them. (Not the Snow White jar. That made it through.) The second was a damn whisky bottle. Johnny Walker or some such, with a stopper made in the glass likeness of whoever. The bottle was in a molded styrofoam casing, in a form fitting box. I figured one more padded box would get the job done. Wrong. The stopper was broken. I see I should have packed it separately. Hindsight....
ReplyDeleteyes, all individual pieces wrapped separately. I've only had one thing arrive broken and I'm not completely sure it arrived broken.
DeleteObviously, I am convinced that your art work will sell and that there will be no returns. But sending them off after careful packaging must feel a bit like sending a kid off on her first trip alone.
ReplyDeleteWe have early spring here also. No frost at all, everything just keeps on flowering. Bees have been spotted. In January.
Okay. All I can say is- you are a PROFESSIONAL IN ALL REGARDS!
ReplyDeleteI can barely make myself put an envelope in the mail. It's one of my weird little neuroses.
Same here with the is-it-spring-already? I think we're supposed to get back down into the thirties next week. We'll see.
That is some serious packing technique! (Obviously of utmost importance in your industry.)
ReplyDeleteWe're having weirdly warm weather too. I don't like it.
Your packing technique is smart, considerate, and practical.
ReplyDeleteAwesome packing idea. Yeah, it's been some strange weather for winter. Since I've lived here (17years now) it has never gotten this warm. I have the AC on right now and it's so bloomin hot outside. The outside thermometer says 81 and that thing is in the shade. If this is what we can expect for winter then summer is going to roast us to death.
ReplyDeleteright? though we have had years with basically no winter to speak of but that was before. I fear this coming summer and every one after is going to be brutal and dry.
DeleteWhen I was buying and selling antique china on ebay, I had only a couple of items arrive broken (both for me and for my customer) but I learned one important lesson. When it's cold, DO NOT unpack china until the box and contents have warmed up to room temperature. The finials and handles will break right off if they're too cold when they meet really warm air. Who knew? I'll say this -- I'm glad to be done with all that. When I downsized for my move, I thought about selling some things, but it was just too much trouble. Way too much.
ReplyDeleteyep. thermal shock. I can't tell you how many pieces I cracked over the years from impatience.
Delete