Guide To Storing Oil Paintings
Storing oil paintings is not easy, but you should prepare for it properly. It could be expensive, especially if you want to use special equipment for that purpose. Luckily, you can rely on overseas shipping companies that have the proper equipment and useful tools. However, if you are not sure how to protect your pieces of art, ask professionals.
No matter how many paintings you have, you should know that protecting them is not that easy nor cheap. There are many situations where you will be able to pack them for less money, though. It would help if you learned that even stuff you have in your home could help. It is not hard or dangerous. However, the most important is to determine which things to pay attention to. You will understand the crucial elements and act by them.
Prepare for storing oil paintings
It is not a job that you should do without preparation. The first you should do is to learn as much as you can about oil paintings. The materials that artists use for the pictures are different. However, they are made of sensitive materials, so you should be careful with them.
- Temperature is very important for storing oil paintings – high temperature (but also very low) could seriously damage your pieces of art;
- As people know that sun could damage everything if exposed too long, they forget on artificial light and inadequate bubble lights;
- Humidity is very dangerous for your pieces of art, and you should not allow it in your storage – as well as dehydrated air;
- You can damage your paintings physically on so many ways – companies usually organize cargo export involving professionals with experience in these types of jobs;
- It is essential to protect your pieces of art from stealing – no matter how valuable they are.
Avoid damages
Since paintings are made of thick paint, it is possible to damage it during transportation or packaging. Some artists use color to make crumbs, and those are parts of their paintings, the kind of style they practice. You can easily take off those crumbs, so be careful. If you choose a professional company, they will organize air freight accurately and protect it.
Materials could damage, too
There are materials and liquid that could damage your paintings. Artists and people who work in galleries will never put paint close to acid. It especially is dangerous to put paint thinner close to the paint. If you have questions about the storage and proper transportation, choose professionals in Kokusai Express Moving.
Packing and transport also matter before storing oil paintings
It is pointless if you store painting that you have already damaged during transportation. There are a lot of ways to protect paints, even in extended traveling. The key is in the right preparation and protection. Although there are a lot of professional packages and materials, you can protect them easily alone. However, you should know when to invest in right and professional protection.
Stains
No matter how professional and careful people in moving companies are, bad things happen. The worst that worker or packer could make is to leave stains on the paints. However, the same things could happen in galleries when visitors have no respect for precious items. Even more carefully, you must be with food and sweat on the palms.
Wrap in plastic
Although not every worker in the gallery will recommend it, the plastic wrap could be an excellent way to protect your paints. However, make sure that plastic is dry, and you will leave the paint in a room without humidity. Besides the plastic, you can use a particular acid-free paper for paints.
Styrofoam
Styrofoam is an excellent material for protection. It would be best if you can make a unique shape and protect corners at the same time. If you do not have something like that, you can use packing peanuts, too. They will prevent tumbling during transportation.
Blankets and pillows are good, too
If you organize the oil paintings’ transportation alone, you should not spend too much money on packing material. You can easily use the things you have at home. One of the most useful is blankets and pillows. Put them on the bottom and sides of the box. Just make sure that they are spotless.
Storing oil paintings
Putting paintings in storage is more than classic, packing them in a hall. It would help if you put them in the right position, wrap in professional paper, or plastic. Also, it is essential to provide the right temperature and airflow. On the other hand, you should check your paintings often. In some cases, humidity or dry air could damage them. If that happens, you should remove them in another storage.
Fingerprints
Even in the best galleries in the world, visitors leave marks on the pieces of art. It is hard to say why they do that. Are they negligent or clumsy? Nobody can say. However, you should pay particular attention to this when storing oil paintings. Not only that, but those marks are also ugly; they could damage the paint.
Minimize contacts
Paintings are usually not too large. You will need no more than three people to transport it, or even less. It is crucial to minimize the number of people that come in contact with the paint. It is hard to control the crowd.
Use a special box
Galleries make individually crafted boxes for paintings and mirrors. They have pockets for paints, and you can put them separately and take less space. It is costly to use them for your home usage. You can put paintings in small boxes, well protected from the bottom and sides. Do not worry about protection. If wrap paintings, they will not damage each other.
Watch the temperature
Storages usually have a standard temperature, but if they are not climatized, you cannot control it. However, for paintings, you should provide optimal temperature, between 22 and 26 degrees. It should be the ideal temperature for art storage. Also, pay attention to humidity. It would help if you did not organize storing oil paintings in humid.