I don't
think it is possible to stress how important proper packing can be. Without
taking every precaution a pot can be reduced to a pile of shards in an instant
as the photo can attest. I recently had this nice Shigaraki chawan sent to me
pending identification and stressed how important diligent packing was and the
pot was basically put in its box with a ripped up piece of bubblewrap and this
is how it arrived. The bowl was basically minimally protected by the bubblewrap
but was loose inside the woodbox which allowed it to play out its own version of
pinball across the country. A few extra seconds and pieces of wrap or tissue
would have saved this bowl. It may be apparent how I feel about pottery by now
and that this happens to a piece is both disappointing and frustrating with a
slight pinch of guilt, afterall we are simply curators of this stuff holding on
to it until the next person takes over. I am hoping next time that I sound like
a broken record and ask the sender to please take every precaution to pack a
pot so that it is well packed inside the wood box without any play or movement
and the same within the shipping package that the pot will arrive just as it
left, safe and sound and in one contiguous piece.
For
anyone interested, here is a blog post that outlines how I pack pots for
travel. Though this is not a perfect method, it has served me well over more
than 25 years;
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