Packing a Mosaic for shipment

Mosaics are heavy and must ship in sturdy boxes. I build mine from wood, and encase the mosaic inside with insulation foam. 

I shipped last week "Mary's Cheeks" a glass only piece measuring 18 x 30", 1.5 thick, and weighing 25 lb. 

This is how I built its crate :

I used :

Materials :

• Luan plywood,
• 1 x 3 whitewood boards
• 1/2" insulation foam
• wood glue
• 3/4" wood screws - or 1 1/2" nails

Tools :

• Miter Saw - or hand saw.
• Cordless drill with screwdriver bit - or simple screwdriver
• Measuring tape.
• Box cutter.
• Hammer

The first thing to do is determine the size of the crate.

As I used 1/2" insulation material, I added 1" on each dimension to find the inside dimensions of the crate.

The mosaic being   : 30 x 18 x 1.5"
It came up to          : 31 x 19 x 2.5"

To figure out the outside dimensions of the crate, you have to add the thickness of the boards you are using.

I used 1 x 3 boards for the sides. Now, as (only in America)  a 1 x 3 board measures 3/4 x 2.5", I added twice the thickness of my boards (2 x 3/4" = 1.5") to get the outside dimensions of my box.

Which were now        : 32.5 x 20.5 "

This was also the size of the Luan panels for the bottom and cover of the box.

So I cut :

• 2 boards 31" long
• 2 boards 20.5" long
• 2 luan panels of 32.5 x 20.5"

I built the frame from the boards, and used one of the luan panel as its bottom.

The box and its cover.

I secured the bottom to the frame with wood glue and 3/4" screws.

Detail of the assembly of the bottom to the frame.

Laid one sheet of insulation at the bottom of the box, 

The came mosaic on top of it and I protected its sides with strips of insulation material.

I covered it with a last sheet of insulation foam.

And finally screwed the cover onto the frame with 3/4" screws. 

Et voila...

The whole package weighted 35 lb, meaning the crate itself was 10 lb. It shipped by UPS to New York State and arrived in perfect shape to its recipient, who had no problem opening it. 

I am a modern mosaic artist with a deep admiration for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Arts. You can see some of my own mosaics on my site mosaicblues.

 

If you are interested by my work in general  or if you would simply like to drop me a line, please 

contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com   

or by phone at (334) 798 1639.  You can also

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

Flying with Mosaics

Although my last mosaics are lighter than they were 5 years ago, they still are 5 to 10 times heavier than a painting of the same dimension. 

This may be why galleries do not like mosaics very much: they find them harder to hang on a wall. Actually, there are now easy ways to hand heavy loads on any kind of walls, at a reasonable cost. I'll review these methods in a next post.

An other negative aspect of a mosaic's weight is  Shipping...

Over the past 2 years, I have sold 4 mosaics in France. Shipping them would have been very expensive, so I simply travelled with them. I carried an extra piece of luggage with my mosaics in it.

As long as you keep the total of added dimensions under 64" (160 cm) and the weight under 50 lb (23 kg, it costs $100.00 for one additional suitcase on a transatlantic flight. 

I have reduced the weight by 70 % by building my mosaics on fiberglass mesh. All that travels with me are the Tesserae glued on a very light mesh. No concrete, no backing board. I now have in France a small studio where I mount my mosaics on their final support and frame them.

Mosaicblues French Studio, Dec 2014

The important point is to pack them very carefully. 

Here are the 4 pieces flying to France with me mid-July 2015.

From top to bottom and left to right : 2 Green Eyes Girls, Carlotta, and the Pomegranate Tree. These 4 pieces are reverse method, so what you are now seeing are their backs. 

I built a wooden crate / suitcase for them. The contour of the crate was made of 3/4 " (19mm) yellow pine wood, the sides of 1/4" (6 mm) plywood, reinforced with fiberglass mesh. 

I placed a sheet of 1/2" (12 mm) insulation foam at the bottom and placed "Carlotta", sandwiched inside an envelope of tar paper on top of the foam.

I slightly sprayed the mosaic with water to increase its flexibility and I placed an other layer of 1/2" foam on top of Carlotta.

I then installed "Pomegranate Tree" on top, also wrapped in tar paper.

Covered it with more insulation...

I placed the 2 Green eyes Girls over this. 

And covered them with another foam sheet. 

I have some space left, which I'll use for various goodies to bring back home (Mexican Chorizzo among other things...)

Next Month I'll tell you more about each one of these pieces coming with me to France...
 

I am a modern mosaic artist with a deep admiration for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Arts. You can see my own mosaics on my site at mosaicblues. 

If you are interested by my work or would like to drop me a line please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639. 

You can also

(and I recommend it !)

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

Packing a mosaic for shipment.

Last December I shipped Green Eyes to Dubai. 

As I wanted to make sure it would arrive intact I decided to handle the crating myself...

The material I used was : 

• 2" x 4" x 8' yellow pine.
• 1/2" pine plywood.
• Light blue foam insulation (4 x 8' sheet).
• Grey Foam Pipe Insulation.
• Painter's tap.
• 3" nails (to assemble the 2 x 4 frame).
• 1 1/2" screws.

Tools : 

• Electric Circular saw
• Hammer.
• Electric screwdriver
• Carpet knife (to cut the foam)

I built a wooden crate 5" wider and longer and 2" higher (inside) than the mosaic. For the sides I used 2" x 4" pine lumber, for the top and bottom I used 1/2" plywood. 

At the bottom of the crate I placed a piece of 1/2" insulation foam - purchased from Lowes or Home depot.

I placed 3/4" pipe insulation foam around the mosaic frame.

Then added more blue insulation on top of the piece and on its bottom. I held everything together with painter's tape.

Placed the piece inside the crate, and inserted additional blue foam shims between the crate walls and the piece itself.

I added one layer of blue foam on top of the piece.

Then I screwed the plywood on top of the crate.

Screws are safer than nails. They hold things together much more securely. They are also much easier to remove with a screwdriver than nails would be with a pry bar, and this allows for the crate to be recycled for further transportation.

Green Eyes arrived  in perfect shape.

The cost of materials for this crate was $ 67.00, and I had some material leftover.