Why Bubblewrap is Unsuitable for Packaging Paintings

Back in April we produced a blog post which advised you not to wrap your pieces of fine art in bubblewrap when transporting or putting it into storage. On the back of this post, we had lots of enquiries from customers asking us why bubblewrap is so bad when it comes to wrapping paintings so we thought we’re share the information with everyone. Bubble wrap is made from low density polyethylene plastic which is manufactured using oil and chemicals. One sheet of plastic is wrapped around a drum with holes in it. A vacuum is then applied to the plastic which sucks the plastic into the holes in the drum. Once this has happened, a second layer of polyethylene plastic is laminated over the top of the first to trap in the air which results in small, uniform bubbles - hence the appearance of bubblewrap. When bubblewrap is used on delicate materials such as canvas or porous wood, the oil and other chemicals in the plastic can begin to leach, putting them into contact with your fine artwork which may begin to absorb it. This is the main reason that we don’t recommend using bubblewrap.

The second reason is that due to the plastic construction of bubblewrap, it doesn’t allow your artwork to ‘breathe’ so can also end up trapping tiny droplets of moisture against your item. This results in water damage. We recommend using types of breathable fabric when wrapping your fine art. To find out more about how to protect your items for transit or storage, feel free to contact us.