How to Pack and Move Expensive Vases

Many times vases, besides being functional, are also very expensive art pieces and they come in all sizes – from tiny to huge. In order to avoid damaging or breaking them, they must be packed and handled with extreme care.

The idea here is to cushion the vase in every way possible to protect it.

Vases should be bubble-wrapped, foam-wrapped, shrink-wrapped, padded, wrapped in clothing or linen and enclosed in a box or some kind of cardboard or crating protection. They should be put into boxes or if they are very large, cardboarding should be built around them and they should be custom wooden-crated, which can get expensive.

For round vases without external protruding ornamentation, bubble wrap works well.

Completely shroud the vase with a double or triple layer of bubble wrap as shown in the 3 picture sequence below.

Then box it up. A vase box is an ideal place for a small cushion on the bottom under the vase.

Then put some in some foam wrap and set the bubble-wrapped vase in on top of it.

If there’s a lot of extra room in the box, fill it in with other non-fragile, light items like these well-cardboarded or foam-wrapped pictures shown in below.

Finally, add some crushed paper and cover it all with cardboard and seal up the box.

Or put in towels or newspaper (if the vase is porous, do not use newspaper because the print could bleed onto it and never come out), then box it up and label it all – Fragile!

If the vase has ornamentation sticking out of it or if it has a handle or handles, use bunched-up paper taped around them to cover and cushion them. Then bubble-wrap or towel the vase as just described above and box it up.

Other fragile vases can be bigger, heavier artistic statuary like this ceramic piece holding 3 removable italian glass flowers.

The problem here is the delicate protrusion on the top of it.

The solution is to use paper to start cushioning it so that it won’t break.

Then much more paper is wrapped all around the piece. Notice that the packer uses plenty of paper because it’s infinitely cheaper than replacing this irreplaceable art piece.

Then it’s bundled all up gently over the protrusion.

Then it’s thoroughly tape-sealed with none of the tape touching any part of the finish of this very unique piece.

Next, because it’s a heavy item, it’s even further protected by being sealed up in a solid layer of foam wrap as shown in the 2 pictures below.

Then it’s ready to be safely boxed for transport in a box of bubble wrap or whole lot more foam wrap.

The following picture sequence shows the packing of one of the Italian glass flowers that are kept in this vase. First, it is carefully loose wrapped in plenty of paper.

Then, the further strong outer protection of a triangular box for it is constructed out of a piece of cardboard. Notice in the pictures below
the packer only 1/2 cuts the cardboard to make the necessary folds on this piece’s custom-made box.

Then, it’s sealed with packers tape all around it and on its ends.

Then, it’s placed into a bigger box with the other flowers and some other well-packed light fragile items.

The following picture sequence is about another small vase containing loose dry flowers, all of which needs to be packed.

First, the flowers are removed and loosely bubble-wrapped separately from the vase.

Then, the vase is bubble-wrapped and paper-wrapped and tape-sealed.

Finally, both the vase and its dried flowers are boxed together in the same box.

Keep in mind that some vases are too expensive to risk damaging them when you choose to pack those valuables by yourself. Get a quote from a top-rated moving company to see how much it’ll cost for you to hire professional packing services for your peace of mind.