How to ship artwork in a crate

I sold a fairly large oil painting recently and had to ship it half-way across the country. While I had shipped smaller pieces, I was pretty clueless with how I should ship a cradled, larger painting. I got most of my instructions from this website, but it was pretty easy once you know how!

materials:
-Styrofoam pipe insulator
-masonite
-2x2" or 1x3" (I used 2x4" and could easily have gotten away with something smaller)
-bubble wrap and paper to protect the painting's surface
-screws

1. Cut a slit all the way down the pipe insulator. Fit the edge of the painting into it and cut off the extra, making sure to sufficiently cover the corners . You don't want any crushed corners!

2. Protect the surface of the painting with bubble wrap and I put an extra paper on top, just to make sure.

 3. Put the foam insulator over the bubble-wrap, and make sure to get all around the painting, overlapping on the corners. Tape the corners so they stay put.

 4. Next, we're building the crate.  Cut your 2x2" or 1x3" to fit around your insulated painting. The foam will add about 1-2 inches on each side so take that into consideration when you're planning and cutting.  Put screws into the corners, at least 2, 3+ is better for larger pieces, depending on your wood size/thickness.

 Look! All snug! You won't want your painting wiggling around while it's getting jostled in the mail.

5. Once the frame of the crate is done, screw your mastonite right onto the wooden frame. I made a mistake on mine, forgetting to take into consideration the extra height of the pipe insulation (but I did it on the width!). You should screw the masonite down securely every several inches ALL THE WAY AROUND, not just on the top and bottom like mine. Oops. I know better for next time!

 6. The customer bought a few smaller pieces as well, so I included the smaller pieces on paper in the back of the crate, in an envelope.

7. Then I screwed the top of the masonite on and wrote "To open: unscrew all the screws from this side" on the top of the crate, just to make it easier when they get the painting.

 8. All done!

For those of you unfamiliar with shipping this big, my piece was 1'x3', and the crate ended up being (let's hope I can remember...) about 18"x42" and it cost a little more than $50 to ship, including the $1 per $100 insurance.  I shipped through UPS.

Tip: Plan all the extra shipping and packaging costs into your artwork from the beginning so you don't see that big chunk come out of your profit. Good luck!

Simple Painted Vase (a mother's day gift)

materials:
-glass vase
-glass sealer
-acrylic paint
-brush
-acrylic sealant
-tape (I used masking, but I'd recommend painter's tape)

1. place the tape around the glass vase.

2. Paint a layer of your glass sealer where you are going to be painting.

3. Paint your lovely paint color. Twice.

 After one layer, you can see it too easily. Two coats is much better, as you can see.

4. After it dries, spray a layer of acrylic sealant on the paint to make it shine and give it some more protection.

5. Peel the tape off. If you had some paint bleeding under the tape, as I did (painter's tape will make this less likely), go around the edge with a blade to scrape away the unwanted tape.

6. put in some flowers and ta-daa!

New Paintings and New Starts

I have so many things going on right now in my shop:

5 new Farmland Paintings are up in my shop. They're mostly small and would be great gifts. Inspired by the lovely mid-west farmlands all around me.

Everything in my shop is 20% off! ($10 minimum purchase). Use "SP20NR" to activate it at checkout.

Share a link to my shop or website (let me know how and where) and get a FREE set of 6 random cards, hand-printed by me, with any purchase.

And here's another extra:  If you're local, not only can you come over to my place and look at all the little pieces that I have not put up online, but if you do choose to buy online, you can choose to pick up your artwork from me (sorry, I can't deliver).  Use "LOCALPICKUP" when you checkout to take the shipping costs off.  It won't let me test it, but I'm assuming you'll only be able to use one coupon code per transaction.

And last but not least, my website is brand new! Take a look around and feel free to share (remember the free hand-printed cards!)

I have even more, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Little Slippers DIY

My three-year-old loves slippers. He'll even wear them to bed.  But last month when we couldn't find one of his slippers, I decided to make him a pair. After all, they didn't look too hard.  I don't have an official pattern made up, but I traced his feet to get the right size.  I've made two so far, one for my 3 year old and one for my baby (1 year), and they both turned out great!  Want to make your own? They're pretty easy!

Materials:
  - material for the outside of slipper (checker fabric)
  - fuzzy warm material for inside of slipper (yellow faux fur, but minky would be awesome)
  - non-slip material (I used shelf liners, but I'm not sure if they'll hold up very well)

 1. Cut out the following: (all shown in the picture except the fuzzy material in the long strip)
  -2 fuzzy soles
  -2 fabric soles
  -2 non-slip soles
  -2 long strips, the circumference of the sole + a few inches clearance, and a little wider in the middle
  -2 fuzzy strips, same size as above
  -2 fuzzy toe pieces
  -2 material toe pieces

I'm guessing that everything together is a quarter of a yard, so you could try making these out of some scraps. I did.

2. Sew the non-slip sole, fabric sole, and the fuzzy sole together.  Because my non-slip was see-through, I placed a fabric sole underneath it to show through, but if you're non-slip is a fabric and non-see through, you don't need the extra fabric. You may want to add batting in between for extra comfort.  The non-slip will be hard to sew on because it will stick to the sewing feet.  Sew zig zag across the sole just to keep the pieces together.

Then trim it down to the smallest layer. This is important and makes it easier when you're dealing with 5 layers of fabric at once.

3. Sew the long strips together, right sides together, then flip, sew another seam on the inside of the fold for strength. Then trim the extra.  You can see how the strips taper a bit to be wider (taller) in the middle.  That will go on the back of the heel and having it be taller will keep the slippers on better.

4. Take the long strip, and sew wrong-sides together, around the sole. To get it to line up correctly, I found it easiest to start in the middle of the strip, right at the back of the heel. 

Don't go quite to the toe, but almost.

Then do the other side.

 5. You'll end up with a gap at the toe. Sew the two ends of the strips together.  Start generously. It's always easier to make it smaller than bigger.  You can see in this picture that the gap is still too big.  I sewed a seam, making the gap smaller until it fit around the sole perfectly without puckering.

6. Sew the fuzzy toe and the fabric toe pieces together, wrong-sides together, then flip and sew again.

7. Sew the toe piece to the front of the strip (it should be the narrowist part), wrong-sides together, so the fuzzy parts are all on the outside and the non-slip is on the inside.

8. Flip!  Ta-Daa!

Tips:
  -I think it's always easier to make these assembly line style, instead of one shoe and then the other.  It also gets the seam allowances more similar so the shoes are closer to the same size.
  - Make the strips longer than you think.
  - Trace your baby's foot, and then add quite a bit to make your patterns. The fuzzy fabric and the trimming make the piece quite a bit smaller than anticipated.

Making your own? Send me photos! I'd love to see them!