How do you go about shipping your work? Do you mat and frame it, or do you ship unframed? If unframed, how do you package it, especially larger pieces- do you roll them, or ship them flat? Have you had any problems with the process that you use? This is becoming quite a problem and I've been unable to come up with a good plan. Thanks in advance for any suggetions.

I sent a large piece to be matted and framed, and on the way it sustained a large crease. This of course changed the color of the pencil and make it a huge eyesore. I took it home and gently pressed the crease out with my finger and then reapplied pencil over the affected color. It has to be done gently as the original pencil will flake off after it's been sprayed with a fixative. It took over an hour, but after the new pencil had been sprayed and dried, the crease and discoloration was no longer visable. Hope this helps someone in the same situation.

I've been playing with manga markers in my pencil work for a month or so now. I've used them primarily to lay down the shadows before laying down any pencil. I like the way the marker covers the paper evenly yet still takes color well. I can get richer shadows because the color of the paper isn't showing through. After the pencil is down I can go back with a darker grey, or even black, and use it as a blender. On the thinner paper, it's allowing me to get better coverage without getting so much wax that the paper won't take more.

My OCD prevents me from throwing any broken tips away. I tried 'melting' them in solvent, which didn't work. I could grate them into powder I suppose. Has anyone found a good use for the tips, or should I just throw them out? Thanks!

I've been donating quite a bit of my work for good causes and they've brought good money for them. The last two have been disasters. The first, a large painting(I pd for matting/framing) was dropped in the dirt so hard it came out. It was put back with sand and dirt on the painting/mat. The second I mailed without mat/frame as they said they'd do it. The lady sent me a photo today with the painting CUT down to fit, unmatted, in a frame, with the name of the painting WRITTEN across the bottom of the paper. Lesson learned. Please be careful when donating your work so that you don't end up looking as silly as I have.

I've been asked to hang some work in a gallery and was told I'd need to use white matts and black frames. I seldom use 'white' paper, going instead with the colored papers, and I"m finding the 'white' matts aren't very complimentary to my pieces. So, how do you all matt and frame up your work? What works well for you? I've also been told works under glass do not do well at galleries and have noticed a bias against anything that is not an 'oil painting'. Is this the norm? I do seem to notice people's eyes glaze over a bit when I say I work with pencils, but with all the fabulous art on this site, I can't imagine such a bias exsists to a large degree~ Comments?

When I was working on the sky in by latest 'bull' peice, I had layered many colors for the sky, but it just wasn't looking a smooth as I wanted. I tend to get in a hurry and it shows. So, remembering someone had suggested using a tissue, I went with a rough paper towel. I polished on the sky for about 5 minutes, which gave it a very smooth, even texture that I was seeking. If you do this, realize it won't accept more color, so it's sort of a finishing technique.