Monday, June 11, 2012

We’ve had some great advice on how to pack and ship art glass. Quite a few comments yet to come. Here are a few for today.

First, from Scott Hansen of Briarcliff Manor, New York on what to do with all that accumulated popcorn.

Packing Material Recycling – You don’t have to add too many pieces to your collection before the packing material begins to accumulate. If you sell as well as buy then it is easy to reuse the material, but, if not, then you need another solution. Recycling cardboard and newspaper is pretty simple in most communities as are plastic bags (although why shippers think plastic bags stuffed in a box provide sufficient protection for glass is beyond me). Last week I received a piece of glass wrapped in old socks – unclear if they were laundered or not, but, since they obviously wouldn’t fit, they ended up in the trash.

That leaves the ubiquitous Styrofoam peanuts. I have discovered that the local UPS Store is happy to take my accumulated Styrofoam peanuts. They don’t even care if I mix the colors. I put them in a 39 gallon lawn and leaf bag and take it in when it is full. It’s a win, win solution – I recycle the peanuts (and hopefully so does the next recipient) and the UPS Store gets to lower their cost of business just a bit.

Scott

Then Beth Shaut of the Carder Steuben Glass Shop in Corning suggests from experience

When shipping, I use a sturdy packing tape to hold the bubble wrap closed and never cover with continuous tape. I also wrap in tissue being sure to stabilize any stems, handles, ring and so on. Which is then packed in a box inside a box with 2-3″ wider dimension with peanuts. Double boxing is recommended by most shipping companies.

Vance White from Southern California, a cut glass collector suggests

Alan some of us in the ACGA have found that wrapping the glass in pampers works great but since they do not make diapers without the elastic and forming them we have found the adult diapers work just fine. The come in two sizes. Also One of our dealers showed us to use two boxes. Pack the inside box with your glass and put plenty of packing material around it. Then put it in another box also with plenty of packing material around it. Make sure your packing material is tight. You do not want the inside box or your glass to shift around.

Vance White, Eldorado Emmerson Chapter of American Cut Glass Association.

www.cardersteubenclub.org

2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.

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