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Making stunning lampshades that are carefully crafted is only one part of being a lampshade maker and retailer and packaging your beautiful lampshades, so that your customer receives them in pristine condition is equally important.
In today’s post, we'll share ideas for wrapping and protecting your shades including tips from our Lampshade Makers Facebook Group, clever eco packing inspiration and Dannells products to help you reach the packing pinnacle!
1. Under Wraps
Protecting your shade from dust and dirt as soon as it’s made, and when it’s in transit, is vital and to give your lampshade a professional finish use our cellophane wrap to keep it clean both in and out of the box.
Easy to use our cellophane wrap cobs come in a variety of shapes and sizes and each hand cob is approximately 10cm wide and weighs around 250 grams. For ease, we sell by weight rather than length and when you order a kilo you’ll receive approximately 4 hand cobs.
Take a look at our two and half a minute YouTube tutorial below to see easy it is!
For greener credentials why not wrap your shade in Kraft wrapping paper, tissue paper or newspaper sheet offcuts (think chip shop wrapping paper!) which can be cut into strips and used in a similar method to our cellophane wrap above. To make it completely green, use small strips of our 100% Recyclable Reinforced Paper Tape to hold the paper in place.
2. Bulk out the box
One of the keys to making sure that your lampshade doesn’t get dented in transit is to ‘bulk out the box’, around the lampshade. By turning to the font of all lampshade making knowledge – our Facebook Lampshade Makers group – we discovered some brilliant ways of minimising any damage!
Elizabeth Pegg – Silkworms and Cottontails
‘I sometimes reinforce the box on the outside walls if the space inside is tight. This adds extra strength’.
Taysha - Maiketti creations
‘Sometimes I cut up another box along its seams and put it inside to keep the structure sturdier while in transit. And lots of bubble wrap and padding too.’
Lucy Lo-Vel (@the_lightpunk) of LightPunk wraps her shades in bubble wrap then uses paper to bulk out around the shade as pictured below. Our Kraft Paper would be perfect for this.
3. Top Tapes
Reinforcing the outside of your box is just as important as packaging the lampshade on the inside and our range of tapes will provide the strength you need. From our super strong e-tapes™ to our eco paper tape, take your pick from our packing aids.
A reinforced self-adhesive paper tape that is 100% recyclable, which has a high tack and a strong tamper-evident seal. 50mm wide, 25m length per roll.
E-tape™ 2" Brown Packing Tape 150 metre roll
High-performance packaging tape for any operation. e-tape™ has 150 metres of quality tape per roll offering increased packaging speed, reduced packaging waste and enhanced package quality. WIDTH 66mtrs on roll
A 48mm wide super strong reinforced tape with glass fibres running along the length and the width of the roll. Perfect for sealing cardboard boxes it can only be cut with a knife and is pretty much unbreakable.
White paper masking tape in a 50-meter roll, that’s perfect for packing both inside and outside of your lampshade box.
Don’t forget to mark ‘This way up‘ and ‘Fragile’ on the outside of your box and be sure to include a return address, in case of any problems.
4. Eco options
With the current emphasis on reusing and recycling materials, many of our makers aim to be as environmentally friendly as possible, not only when making their shades, but packing them too. Reusing packaging is more and more acceptable and we think that these ingenious ideas from our professional lampshade makers are a great way to make your business greener!
Louise – Louise Watney Soft Furnishing
‘I have so many fabric roll tubes, using them in the corners of the box [to secure the lampshade] is a great way to get rid of them.’
Kirsten - Suffolk Lux
I use double-walled boxes and when I buy packaging I use non-plastic options - scrunched paper or tissue paper but sometimes reuse bubble wrap etc. I make it clear in my Etsy policies that I may re-use plastic packaging, but never buy it.
Jan Broadley of Illuminara Lampshades
‘I reinforce the corners of the box with kitchen worktop edge protectors given to me by a couple of kitchen fitters!!’
Join our Lampshade Makers Facebook Group, to ask a question or share your own lampshade making knowledge.
5. Packing hack
We loved this helpful packing video from Tamil Nadu based WooDooz Home Décor, who make a fantastic range of drum, table and wall lamps in natural, screen printed and traditional fabrics that are sent to customers all over India. The use of a piece of wood to prevent the box from being crushed from the top is a super smart idea!
Take a look at their instagram @woodooz for more creative ideas and give them a friendly follow.
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