Foam board and bubble
Rigid on the faces, resilient at the perimeter. This is the combination FedEx's own framed-art page leans on, because a framed piece fails at the face and at the corners, and each material is doing one of those two jobs.
Fragile packing
How to ship a framed piece with glass
Tape the glass in a criss-cross pattern so a break holds together. Sandwich the frame between two sheets of foam board slightly larger than the piece. Wrap the sandwich in bubble, box it in a snug inner carton, then place that carton inside a full-overlap outer with three inches of void fill on every side. Mark the outer as fragile and orient it flat. Wording and dimensions drawn from FedEx's How To Pack guidance and framed-art page, read 2026-08-11.
FedEx wording quotedSix-side cushioning ruleDouble-box, full-overlap outer
Foam board is the load-spreader
Rigid sheets on both faces stop the frame from twisting inside the box and share any impact across the whole face.
The seven steps a framed piece actually needs
Each step below closes a specific failure mode. Skip one and you replace an insurance claim exclusion with a real damaged parcel.
| Step | What you are doing | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. X-tape the glass | Apply strips of low-tack masking or painter's tape from corner to corner in an X across the glass face | FedEx's How To Pack advises “apply masking tape in a criss-cross pattern on the glass surface to prevent glass from splintering.” It holds the fragments together if the pane breaks. |
| 2. Cover the face with glassine or plain paper | Place a sheet of glassine or acid-free paper over the taped glass | The paper keeps tape residue off the frame face and stops any glass shards from marking a mat or a print if the pane fails. |
| 3. Fit corner protectors | Cardboard or foam corners on all four frame corners | Corners take almost every drop hit. Corner protection turns a drop into a scuff instead of a split-open miter joint. |
| 4. Sandwich between two foam boards | Cut two sheets of 3/16-inch foam board slightly larger than the frame; tape them around the frame | Foam board spreads any impact across the whole face and prevents the frame from twisting inside the box, which is what pops mitres in transit. |
| 5. Bubble-wrap the sandwich | Two full turns of medium bubble around the foam-board sandwich, taped closed | Absorbs the smaller repeated impacts of the sort loop and belt handoffs. |
| 6. Inner picture box | Slide the sandwich into a rigid inner carton sized to the sandwich | A snug inner carton stops the sandwich from moving inside the outer box during handling. |
| 7. Double-box in a full overlap outer | Place the inner box inside a double-walled full-overlap outer carton with 2 to 3 inches of cushioning on every side; mark fragile and orient flat | FedEx's guidance is a box “large enough to hold your item and allow for 2″ to 3″ of cushioning on all six sides.” The full-overlap outer is the format art shippers recommend for framed glass. |
Two-inch pressure-sensitive polypropylene tape or three-inch water-activated tape on every outer flap and seam. Fragile arrows and orientation markings go on both large faces of the outer, not the edges.
Cushioning that actually works, and cushioning that does not
Not all void fill is the same. On a glazed frame the choice of fill is what turns three inches of clearance into real protection.
Expanded foam-in-place
Custom moulded around the piece and unbeatable for a one-off high-value shipment. Overkill for a typical residential photo frame, and the equipment is not something most senders carry.
Loose fill on its own
Peanuts and shredded paper let a heavy frame settle to the bottom of the box in transit, and once it settles the corners hit the outer carton directly. Use loose fill only as a supplement to rigid protection, never as the primary cushion.
Never ship a framed piece on edge. A flat-oriented package spreads any impact across the whole face; a vertically oriented one concentrates every impact on a corner, which is the failure that no amount of void fill contains.
Where declared value stops helping
A framed piece with glass sits on the shortlist of categories every carrier has capped. FedEx holds artwork, glassware and framed glass at $1,000 of declared value per package regardless of the amount paid to declare, per our FedEx declared value page, and UPS classes similar goods at the same level. Above that ceiling, buying more declared value adds a line to the receipt and nothing to the coverage. Third-party art coverage bought at label creation is usually what actually pays on a valuable piece; a shipper who is asked to move a $6,000 print should be looking there rather than at the carrier's own declaration.
USPS's DMM 609 section 4.3 excludes claims where the fragile nature of an article prevented safe carriage. That clause is why the packing on this page is not just recommended; it is what stands between a claim that pays and a claim that reads as a packing failure.
What SMKlog quotes for a framed parcel
The calculator handles most residential frames at ordinary parcel dimensions. Our framed picture cost page priced a live 16x20 print with glass in an 18x22x2 in packed box at 6.6 lb; the same lane runs on Ground Advantage, Ground Saver, UPS Ground and FedEx Ground with prices that flex on distance and service. Once a piece grows past 24 inches on a long side, oversize charges enter and the calculator surfaces them at checkout; anything beyond 108 inches of length plus girth is a Freight Review conversation, not a parcel.
Where these rules come from
- FedEx, FedEx packing tips — six-side cushioning rule. Read 2026-08-11.
- FedEx, How to ship artwork — framed-art declared-value ceiling and packing recommendation. Read 2026-08-11.
- FedEx, FedEx How To Pack (PDF) — X-taping guidance and cushioning specifications. Read 2026-08-11.
- USPS, DMM 609 section 4.3 — exclusion for damage where fragility prevented safe carriage. Read 2026-08-11.
Carrier packing guidance and declared-value ceilings are revised without notice. The figures above reflect what each source published on the date read; confirm the current tariff before quoting a coverage number to a customer.
Common questions
Should I tape the glass?
Yes. FedEx's How To Pack advises applying tape in a criss-cross pattern on the glass surface to prevent splintering. Painter's tape or low-tack masking works well; the tape holds shards together if the pane breaks.
How much padding does a framed piece need?
FedEx's How To Pack calls for 2 to 3 inches of cushioning on all six sides. On glass, treat that as a minimum and use rigid foam-board sandwiching rather than loose fill.
Do I need to double-box a framed piece with glass?
For anything above a small 8x10 frame, yes. Framed art with glass belongs in a full-overlap corrugated outer with a foam-board and bubble-wrapped inner and 3 inches of void fill between the two.
Does declared value help on a framed piece?
It is capped. FedEx caps artwork, glassware and framed glass at $1,000 of declared value per package regardless of the amount paid to declare; UPS names a similar category set at the same level. On a valuable piece, third-party art coverage bought at label creation is usually what actually pays.