Shipping a 16x20 inch print

[david b]

I have to ship an unmounted, unframed print and I am wondering if I can roll it up and send it in a tube?

The print is a double weight fiber print.

 

[Ian Grant]

I've done this, and received prints this way but a big issue is getting the print flat again.

It really also depends on the diameters of the tube, I used to use the large diameter tubes carpets are rolled on using a saw to cut the length I needed, these were about 4" diameter. The tighter you need to roll them the worse the final problem.

Ian

 

[marcmarc]

I recently wrestled with the same issue only I had 7 16x20 fiber prints to mail out. I bought a tube mailer in the only size available at the store I was in. It turned out that the tube might hold one but that was about it. You should be fine but I must caution you that i read someplace that rolling a print can stress the emultion of the paper.

 

[Travis Nunn]

I received a 16x20 print in a print exchange about a year ago. It was mailed to me in a 16x20 photo paper box. It was taped closed and then wrapped in brown paper, made it here just fine, no dings or anything.

 

[mgb74]

Another option, if the print is valuable, is plastic plumbing tube. Shipping cost with obviously be higher. But some types of the plumbing tube are much lighter than others, so perhaps not too bad. You could glue a cap at one end and tape the cap at the other. Or use a screw cap (with tape) at one end. Though the carpet tube that Ian suggested tends to be very strong.

Also, the triangular "tubes" that FedEx and the USPS offer would have an effective diameter of about 3 to 4 inches.

 

[fdi]

My company ships 99% of our frame orders and I can say for sure that a tube is the safest. The shipping companies do not like large flat items. If not reinforced it is easy to have flat cardboard bent or the corners damaged. Although de-rolling a print it is an issue, Bienfang makes a de-roller that makes it very easy. If the print is flat before shipment, opened immediately after, and allowed to sit for a day or two the curl is not usually too much of an issue.

Cheers,
Mark