Custom Art Print Shipping Boxes
A dented corner on a box is cosmetic. A dented corner on the print inside it is a refund. This is one of the few things we make where the packaging failing slightly means the product failing completely, and that changes how much protection is worth buying.
- Builds
- Book wraps, flat rigid mailers, two-piece flat boxes
- Board
- Single wall E and B flute; double wall for large formats
- Protection
- Folded reinforced edges, corner protectors, oversized stiffeners
Get a price for Art Print Shipping Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Flat or rolled, decided by the print
Rolling in a tube is cheaper to post, takes any length, and leaves the buyer with a print that has to be flattened before framing. On thin paper that is a minor inconvenience. On heavy textured cotton rag it is a real risk, because the fiber remembers the curl and cracks along it if the print is unrolled carelessly.
Above about 250gsm, and on anything with heavy ink coverage, ship flat. Below that, a tube is a legitimate choice and considerably cheaper — the construction is covered in our tube and end-cap notes.
Never roll a print with the image facing outwards. The outer surface stretches, and heavy ink cracks.
The book wrap, and why it beats a flat box
A book wrap is a single sheet of corrugated scored so it folds around the contents and locks, with reinforced edges built from the same piece. It has no separate lid, no tape seam across the face, and its folded edges are considerably stronger than a cut edge.
It also adjusts to thickness. One wrap size takes a single print or twenty, which for a print shop with variable orders means fewer box sizes to stock.
Corners take the hit, every time
The last one is the most underused. A stiffener cut 20 mm larger than the print in every direction means a corner impact damages the stiffener and stops there.
| Bare corners | Fail first; a crush here reaches the print immediately |
|---|---|
| Folded edge wrap | Doubles the board at the edge at no extra material cost |
| Corner protectors | Card angles inside the box; cheap and highly effective |
| Oversized stiffener | Board larger than the print, so the print never reaches the corner |
What goes between the print and the board
Corrugated fluting will emboss its own pattern into a soft print under pressure. A sheet of tissue between the two prevents it and costs almost nothing.
- Glassine or acid-free tissue, in direct contact — never bare corrugated against the image.
- A cello sleeve if the print is sold sleeved for retail; it also handles doorstep damp.
- Two stiffeners rather than one, sandwiching the print, on anything above A3.
- A card or foam block if the parcel has void space, so nothing slides.
Sizing to paper, and to the carrier
Prints come in a small number of standard sizes, so a range of three or four box sizes will cover almost everything a shop sells. Building around A-sizes and common inch sizes rather than bespoke dimensions keeps stock simple and cost down.
Then check the carrier bands. A large flat parcel is often just over a threshold, and losing 10 mm from the long side can move an entire product line into a cheaper rate.
Print the inside, not just the outside
This is a package opened slowly and with care by someone who has bought art. The inner face of a book wrap is fully visible during that, and it is the cheapest branded surface in the whole order — one extra print pass on board already being bought.
A do-not-bend instruction on the outside, in plain type, is worth more than a printed symbol. Couriers read words faster than icons.
Art Print Shipping Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Builds
- Book wraps, flat rigid mailers, two-piece flat boxes
- Board
- Single wall E and B flute; double wall for large formats
- Protection
- Folded reinforced edges, corner protectors, oversized stiffeners
- Interleaving
- Glassine or acid-free tissue against the print
- Outer and inner faces; digital or flexo
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build art print shipping boxes on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly greyer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: art print shipping boxes
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Art Print Shipping Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about art print shipping boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes or wraps, printed inside and out if you want.
Flat or a tube?
Flat above about 250gsm or with heavy ink. A tube is cheaper and fine for lighter papers rolled image-inwards.
Do I need two stiffeners?
Above A3, yes. A single stiffener flexes across its own middle, and that flex is where a print creases.
Can one box size cover everything?
A book wrap adjusts to thickness, so one size covers one print or twenty. It does not adjust to sheet size.
What goes between the print and the board?
Glassine or acid-free tissue. Corrugated fluting embosses its own pattern into a soft print under pressure.
Will 'do not bend' printing help?
In plain words rather than a symbol, often yes. Couriers read words faster than icons.
Flat or a tube?
Flat above about 250gsm or with heavy ink. A tube is cheaper and fine for lighter papers, as long as the print is rolled image-inwards.
Do I need two stiffeners?
Above A3, yes. A single stiffener flexes across its own middle, and that flex is where a print creases.
Can I use one box size for everything?
A book wrap adjusts to thickness, so one size covers one print or twenty. It does not adjust to sheet size — expect three or four sizes to cover a shop.
Will "do not bend" printing actually help?
In plain words rather than a symbol, often yes. It costs nothing to add and it is read faster than an icon.
Same range
