The Framers Forum

Has anyone ever shipped a large oil on canvas painting from the UK to the US? I need to ship a 6' width painting and my plan is to ship it rolled in a tube. But the client may be willing to pay to ship it stretched, with would be preferable. What would my options be?

It can be and has been done before.
Not knowing the medium of the painting, here are a few recommendations.

• Get a cardboard tube from a carpet merchant. Do not use a small diameter tube, under 150mm. The larger the diameter the better it will be for the painting. Cut it to the length of the rolled canvas plus an additional 100mm on each end.

• Roll the painting face out. This will give the paint layer less stress regarding the layer cracking,

• Place a layer of release paper of some sort over the surface of the paint. This will protect the layer from abrasion from the back of the fabric.

• Pad the outer surface well against the effects of abusive transport conditions.

The client may be willing to pay to ship it stretched (not rolled up), with would be preferable for the painting. I'd need to build a wooden crate. Who'd be willing to ship it? Would it be priced by weight or size? And how long does it take? Would it actually be the safer option?

Air freight would be the most common method of shipping from Europe to the USA. The cost takes into consideration both volume and weight. The shipping costs and a proper wood crate would not be inexpensive. We have no idea on the total size, only the one dimension not the value of the art.

Regarding pricing for shipping, you need to contact a professional freight forwarder for an estimate.

Thanks for the advice. I presume the freight company will organise collection from my address and also delivery to the US address?

Try

http://www.merseyforwarding.com/

Used them frequently when exporting Colourmount all over the world

I have only seen other framers successes. If shipping stretched, build a box like fort knox, with adequate padding inside. Then build a base frame (like a pallet) to ensure that it will be shipped vertical. This way nothing gets put on top of it or stacked around it. If you go onto any of the freight comparison sites, you'll see that all the major couriers will be able to give a price on it. If you look up the freight crate dimensions, you'll be able to make sure that yours is within one of the size ranges.

Make sure it's adequately insured. A chap I know had a rolled canvas that was shopped from the States. The
customs took it out to examine it and totally destroyed it trying to get it back in the tube. It was valued at
several thousand pounds which he managed to recoup.