How to Pack Small Delicate Articles for Moving (Statues)

How to pack knick-knacks and other valuables small delicate items

Knick-knacks come in an infinite variety and shapes and they are made of all kinds of materials but they have one thing in common – they’re delicate and many of them are valuable.

So, they need to be wrapped and boxed in such a manner as to prevent any chance of damaging them.

Most knick-knacks can be wrapped and packed properly by just using plain old ordinary common sense. The first rule for this kind of packing is not to let some clutzy or uncaring person do it. You’re sure to have damages that way. Most of the times it’s better to just take your time and pack them yourself.

Don’t be parsimonious with packing materials when packing these things. Use enough paper, bubble wrap and cardboard to protect things completely. Wrap each item separately. Don’t try to save paper by wrapping delicate things together. Usually, you start out by loosely wrapping knick-knacks in tissue paper, bubble wrap and/or packing paper. Then, further wrapping with more paper, bubble wrap and/or cardboard may be required to fully protect the item.

Some extremely expensive and delicate items need to be carefully wrapped and boxed and then that box needs to be bubble-wrapped and put into a bigger box. This is called double-boxing or box-in-box and it can really do the job of protecting valuable fragiles. For small fragile items, you can wrap them in paper or bubble wrap and put them into tupperware with saleable lids. Then put them into a box of fragiles for transport.

Small artistic knick-knack statuary with wings or other fragile extrusions can be a real problem. They need to be carefully paper-protected first.

Notice the soft cushion of bathroom tissue paper gently placed around the protruding fingers of both hands and the bird’s wings. This gentle first cushioning is what has to be done with these kinds of items. So, you start off with this cushioning and build it up loosely and gently, not tightly.

After the bathrooom paper is taped, a few layers of loose bubble wrap or paper goes over it.

Next, after the whole piece is gently shrouded in these wrappings, it’s tape sealed.

Then, this very fragile loosely wrapped item is put into its own small box
and further protected with bunched up paper and bubble wrap as cushioning within the box.

Finally, this box needs to be sealed up. This piece was a bit too big for this particular box so a covering of layers of bubble wrap was applied to extend the height of the box. Cardboard could have been put over all of this also.

Then, that smaller box was put into a bigger box.

Finally, this bigger box just needs further cushioning with bunched up paper and/or big bubble wrap to center the smaller box within it and then it needs to be sealed up. It could also be filled on its sides with some cardboarded or foam-wrapped small pictures.

The following picture sequence shows the packing of a delicate imitation flower in its pot. First, the pot is wrapped up in paper.

Then the flowers and stems are gently wrapped in paper also.

Finally, the whole bundle is taped up and it’s placed into a box with other fragiles.

The following 3 picture sequence shows the packing of a very fragile cloth angel doll.

Notice how loosely it’s wrapped in the paper. This is an important element of packing delicate, light fragiles. Loose packing protects the piece without squeezing it.

Now it just has to be boxed up by itself or boxed with other loosely-wrapped fragiles that all end up cushioning one another in the box.

The following is a picture sequence showing the packing of a very small but expensive chinese character knick knack.

Here, loosely-wound bubble wrap protects it.

But in this case look closely and you will see that under the packer’s left fingers is the wooden staff that the figurine was holding.

The packer is placing it between the bubble wrap layers and covering it with the end of the bubble wrap.

Then it’s tape-sealed to hold it in place so that it’s right there when it’s unpacked.

Finally, it’s further wrapped in paper, just in case. Now it’s ready to be boxed by itself or in a box with other fragile items.

All boxes with fragiles like these should be labeled Fragile all over the box and they should be hand- and car-carried whenever possible.

Packing small and delicate items is one of the most difficult tasks when packing for a move. The fragile nature of such items requires expert packing skills and plenty of time – two prerequisites you may not have the luxury of having when you’re getting ready to move out. Get free quotes from full-service movers to see how much they will charge you for the packing job.