Sending off the Bride

Two nights ago I finished the Bride of Frankenstein portrait for my client who also bought the Frankenstein's Monster portrait about two months ago. It's so great to have a returning customer who is so happy with the work. Now that it's done, I'm pretty excited to ship it. It almost feels slightly romantic, having drawn Frankie, and now finishing his Bride like the good doctor, and now mailing her off to join her husband at last. I'm a sap, I know. Here's the final piece:

18"x24" acrylic on canvas

As always, I added a little touch to the packaging. I drew a big Sharpie sketch of the Bride:

The box is pretty huge, so it's nice to have drawn so large. The last piece of packaging art I did was on an envelope when I sent off a sketch card based on the 1958 film, The Fly.


Now that this commission is complete, I have two more commissions for friends that I need to wrap up. They are more traditional style paintings, one of Bob Marley, and another of a beloved dog. When they are out of the way, I will be starting a couple new portraits. I currently have Vincent Price, Edgar Allan Poe, Tor Johnson, Bruce Lee, and Zorro in mind. Besides "fine" art, I am also finishing up a storybook, and I need to work on an eight page comic book for the upcoming convention in May. Speaking of conventions, today I am going to RadCon as a visitor. I've never been to it, and I am very curious to see if it's the type of con for me and my art. I hope so, it's only a stone's throw from where I live. I'll be attending a panel discussion on the Pros and Cons of Etsy and E-bay for artists. Hopefully it will be a good discussion. I plan on taking photos, jotting down notes and relaying them in the blog, and maybe even pass out a few business cards.

Packing and Shipping Art

Alright. I'm fed up. It's been a year, and about a dozen paintings later, that I feel like I'm getting overcharged every time I send off a large painting. I have been going through Postal Annex the last two times I have mailed an 18"x24" painting. The first time, I stepped in with the painting, and said I needed a box to ship that would fit this painting. The woman stepped in the back with the painting, and came back with an ultra packaged, bubble wrapped, package peanuted, super protected box. I wasnt expecting all that, I just wanted a box that would fit it, and I'd do the dirty labor. They charged me nearly $20 for all that madness, and I swear that on the itemized receipt, it stated "SMALL ART BOX $2.99." So today, now that I'm shipping off another painting, I prepared myself. I didn't bring the painting, I just stepped in and rattled off the dimensions. She said the art box would be $12.00 this time... Whaaaat? I even said, "I would never have imagined a hunk of cardboard could cost so much." This is definitely the final time I will ever step into a Postal Annex.
You know, it would be one thing if I were charging five times the price I do for my paintings, but I'm not. I'm trying to be as fair as I can to my clients, without seriously cheap-skating myself. Currently I charge $25 an hour, plus price of canvas and a new tube of paint or two for paintings. Then I add a $25 shipping fee, which covers about $20 from the Post Office including shipping confirmation. I think it would look very suspicious if I bumped the shipping fee any higher than $25, just because places like Postal Annex are charging me an arm and a leg for corrugated cardboard.

So now, I am asking all you great artists and creative thinkers, what do you do when you ship a piece of art of this size? Where do you get the box? I've once made my own box by cutting down a giant tv box to fit. But it looks a little Frankenstein-ish. I don't want to give the visual impression that "I'm going to send you a work of art in a very scary box that could fall apart at any given moment in route." Where else does this leave me? Should I check Office Depot, or Staples for a more fair price point on boxes? Or should I just charge $37 for shipping? That makes my stomach sink, just typing that large of a number.