Good afternoon, fellow MuseumLers - As a textile conservator in private
practice and who has had to ship samplers/textiles back to clients, I
recommend that you use a piece of cotton or silk fabric to wrap the sampler
(instead of acid-free tissue) and use acid-free 1/2" foamcore board (instead
of the acid-free mat board) sized larger than the sampler and tied together
with twill tape. I further enhance the "sandwich" with a 1/2" - 1" layer of
polyester batting placed on the front and back of the fabric-wrapped sampler
(this is the "mayonnaise"?!)before tying on the foam-core board. Then
bubble-wrap it all. I also recommend that the whole bubble-wrapped package
also be first placed in a polyethylene bag which is then completely taped
closed (you can also use polyethylene sheeting if all the seams are
completely taped closed). THEN it goes in the shipping box. The foamcore
board and the batting provide some thermal and shock protection. The
polyethylene provides protection from potential water damage (shipping box
dropped on it's corner, breaking open a corner; shipping box left on a wet
surface; shipping box left on exposed shipping dock; shipping box left where
lawn sprinklers hit it). If there is water contamination, the cotton/silk
fabric won't disintegrate in to paper pulp.

Do go with next-day shipping to minimize exposure to fluctuating
temperature/RH and handling. Therefore, depending on your shipper, don't
ship on a Friday/holiday weekend. Ideally, you should try to ship when the
weather is good (mild temperatures and no precipitation). Verify that
someone is expecting it on the receiving end and will be there to take
possession of it.

Regards,
Margaret (Meg) Geiss-Mooney
Textile/Costume Conservator
Professional Associate, AIC
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-----Original Message-----

I would first wrap the piece in acid free tissue.  Then "sandwich" (I
mean this lightly, you do not want to put too much pressure on the
piece, just enough to give it support it needs) it between two pieces of
acid fee mat board cut a little larger than the sampler.  You could tie
this off with twill tape in two directions like you are tying a ribbon
on a gift.  Then wrap this part in bubble and put in your box.  For
added protection you could even slip this into an archival box of some
sort then put that box into your FedEx box. Either way you may want to
place scraps of bubble in corners or areas you feel that you need extra
protection and to keep the artifact from shifting.  I used this method
with some historic papers that I sent FedEx and they made it there in
great condition! 

-----Original Message-----

I am looking to send an unframed Sampler either FedEx or UPS.  Does 
anyone have advice how to package it?



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