How to package art prints for shipping (so they arrive perfect)

Few things sting more than a print you laboured over arriving creased, scuffed or soaked because the packaging gave way somewhere between your door and the buyer’s. The good news is that protecting a print in transit is not complicated or expensive. It comes down to a handful of decisions: flat or rolled, the right rigid materials, a moisture barrier, honest right-sizing, and a finish that feels considered rather than wasteful. This guide walks through each, with the specifics that actually matter.

Flat versus rolled: which one, and when

The first fork in the road is whether to ship the print flat or rolled in a tube. As a rough rule of thumb, small and medium prints up to roughly A2 (around 16 to 24 inches on the longest side) ship best flat, because they arrive ready to frame with no curl for the buyer to fight. Above that size, a flat package needs so much rigid reinforcement that the weight and bulk climb quickly, so a tube usually becomes more practical and often cheaper.

Size is not the only factor, though. Some media simply should not be rolled at any size. Heavy gouache, charcoal, pastel, thick or impasto acrylic, and heavily varnished giclées can crack or flake when bent, and original artwork should never take that risk. These all ship flat. Open-edition paper posters and standard photo or digital prints, by contrast, roll happily.

If you do roll, the single most important factor is the bore of the tube. A wider diameter means a looser curl, less cracking and a print the buyer can flatten more easily. Aim for an internal diameter of at least 75mm (3 inches); 100mm is better for thick or premium papers. Roll the print loosely around a kraft sheet a couple of inches larger than the artwork on every side, interleave the surface with acid-free tissue or glassine so it cannot rub against itself, never tape the print directly, pad both ends, and tape the caps and the lengthwise seam shut. There is a long-running debate about rolling image-side-out versus in; for ink-heavy work, image-out is the cautious default, but a large bore and a loose roll matter far more than direction.

The flat-packing sandwich

For flat prints, your goal is a package that physically cannot bend. The proven method is a sandwich: the print, ideally in a clear acid-free cello sleeve first, placed between two rigid boards, then slid into a stiff outer mailer. Each layer has a job, and getting them right is most of the battle.

• Rigid mailers: stiffened cardboard, chipboard or lightweight corrugated mailers built to resist bending. Self-seal versions in recycled paperboard are widely available; heavier board weights (around 28pt) give more protection than light ones.
• Backing boards: chipboard, greyboard or foamboard cut about 1 to 2cm larger than the print on every side, so the board edge takes any crushing rather than the artwork’s corners.
• Clear sleeve: an acid-free cellophane sleeve, often with a self-adhesive lip, keeps the print clean and fingerprint-free and adds a retail finish.
• Corner protection: card corner protectors or a small board wrap on each corner, since corners are the most-bumped point in transit.
• Book-wrap mailers: a corrugated sheet that folds tightly around a boarded print suits medium sizes; lighter and cheaper than a box, far stiffer than a plain envelope.

Keeping the weather out

Cardboard alone is not waterproof, and a print can sit on a wet doorstep or a damp van floor for hours. Always include a clear waterproof layer inside the outer packaging: a cello sleeve or a poly bag around the boarded print. Glassine is a lovely archival interleaving paper and resists grease and light moisture, but it is not a water barrier, so use it against the artwork and add a plastic layer outside it for genuine waterproofing. For the short duration of a shipment, the water protection comfortably outweighs any concern about trapping condensation, which only really matters in long-term storage.

Labelling: helpful, but not magic

Clear ‘DO NOT BEND’, ‘PHOTOS – DO NOT BEND’ and ‘FRAGILE’ markings are worth using. Place them prominently on both flat faces of the package, near the address label. But be honest with yourself about what they do: automated sorting machines do not read surface markings, and by the time a human sees the warning the parcel may already have passed through a sorter exerting enough pressure to crease a flimsy item. Labels prompt human handlers to set the parcel aside for gentler handling; they are a useful supplement, never a substitute for a package that simply cannot bend. Rigidity does the real work.

Right-sizing to cut cost without cutting protection

Bigger packaging costs more in two ways. Carriers bill the greater of actual weight or volumetric weight, calculated as length times width times height divided by a divisor (5000 for most express couriers), so a large light parcel is charged for the space it occupies. And in the UK, Royal Mail prices by format band, where the dimensions push you up a tier. A Large Letter allows up to 353 by 250 by 25mm and up to 750g; the 25mm thickness cap is the one most boarded prints fail. Crossing it bumps you into Small Parcel territory and a noticeably higher price.

The practical takeaway is to use the smallest rigid package that still physically prevents bending. Where the media allows, keep the sandwich thin with slimmer boards and minimal padding so you stay within Large Letter, which can save a meaningful chunk per item. Never compromise the anti-bend protection to save a few millimetres, but do not pad out a parcel beyond what it needs either.

Unboxing as quiet branding

Presentation is where a small maker can punch above their weight. A sheet of branded tissue, a sticker or wax seal to close it, branded tape, and a thank-you card that doubles as care and framing instructions all signal a real person behind the work, often for well under fifty pence per order. The card earns its place twice: it thanks the buyer and tells them how to flatten and handle the print. The balance to strike is ‘considered, not wasteful’ — over-packaging adds cost and weight, worsens your dimensional weight, and sits awkwardly with any sustainability message. Where you can, let the protective layers double as the branded experience, for instance branded glassine that both interleaves and presents.

The most reliable way never to mispack a print is not to pack it at all. With Realform, a creator uploads their finished artwork once and AI agents compose it onto made-to-order products, then route fulfilment so each order is printed on demand and packed in the correct rigid mailer or tube, sleeved, moisture-protected and labelled, under the artist’s own brand. Because items are made only when ordered, there is no inventory in a spare room and no queue at the post office. You keep the art, the copyright and the income; the agents handle the boxes.

Whether you pack by hand or let a fulfilment partner do it, the principles are the same. Match the method to the size and the media, make the package genuinely rigid, keep the weather out, right-size to control cost, and finish it in a way that feels like you. Do that and your prints will arrive looking exactly as you intended.