Moving over 2,000 miles across the United States isn’t easy. Moving a bunch of glass that far is even harder. Here’s how I managed to move my stained glass studio - including dozens of stained glass panels, glass sheets, and ready-to-foil glass pieces - from Salt Lake City to New York City, without a single crack:
Step 1 > A LOT of research 📝
It helps if you have an overly analytical partner in your life to do most of this part for you. My partner spent weeks researching a somewhat affordable, and safe, option to move our stuff from SLC to NYC. If he knew how to drive, some of our problems wouldn’t exist since I’d have a driving buddy to take turns with. But since he grew up in Mumbai and hasn’t driven a car since 2014, we had to get creative.
I ended up choosing Ubox to move my glass studio. It was the cheapest, safest, and most convenient option for my move. There are so many ways you can relocate, it’s important to consider the distance, location logistics, and amount of stuff you have before you even start packing.
What are the available options for glass artists moving across the country?
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Hire a private moving truck with professional movers. While hiring a private truck might be the “best” option, it’s also the most expensive. The further you’re moving, the more it costs. After finding out how much just a shared truck was, we didn’t even bother getting a quote for a private truck. This option is definitely reserved for the one percent, or someone that recently won a powerball jackpot.
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Hire a shared moving truck. This is probably the method I would recommend the least. Not only is it expensive, easily over $10k, it comes with a few potential risks:
> Since your stuff will be sharing a truck with other people’s boxes, there is a chance something could get lost while they’re rearranging and unloading the trucks throughout the trip.
> There is a good chance your furniture will get damaged in transit. I used a shared truck to move from Arkansas to California and a lot of my furniture was scratched or missing handles and they couldn’t have cared less.
> Timing is important. I had to plan it strategically to ensure I would be there when they loaded up their truck AND when they arrived at my new house to unload. If you’re planning on traveling across the country at a leisurely pace, this might be an issue for you. It wouldn’t likely be a problem if you’re flying to your destination.
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Rent a moving truck. This is my go-to when I don’t have a car or I’m moving locally. I drove a moving truck from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and it couldn’t have gone smoother.
The main thing to keep in mind if you go this route is to pack the truck as tightly as possible and always stop in safe places if you're planning on spending the night anywhere. I've seen too many horror stories of people's rental trucks being broken into or driven off entirely.
If you REALLY have to, you can hitch your car to the back of a moving truck. But that seems tricky.
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Rent a trailer hitch. I almost did this. This is definitely one of the cheaper options out there. But after watching videos of people backing them up and “The Long, Long Trailer” with Lucille Ball, I decided against this option.
Not only does a trailer attachment seem tricky to maneuver, but I was moving during February and the weather forecast was unpredictable to say the least. I ended up missing multiple weather emergencies by just a day or two, including a blizzard in Wyoming which would’ve stranded me on the road for hours.
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Transport with a POD/UBox Storage. The overall winner and my number one recommendation for moving glass safely is the Ubox. Hands down, this has to be the most gentle moving service I’ve ever used. While the boxes are fairly small, for $2,000 and complimentary storage at a local UHAUL facility, it is worth every penny in my opinion.
I said POD above even though I don’t really know what renting one is like, but I assume it must be somewhat similar in experience and pricing. I could be totally wrong though, don’t quote me on that! I didn’t use PODS for a couple of different reasons.
Since we were moving into NYC and didn’t have a safe spot outside to have a pod delivered, the Ubox was the better option. If you’re moving to/from a suburb with plenty of parking you wouldn’t have this problem. The only negative I can think of with a pod is that you don’t want it sitting for too long or someone could show up and steal the entire thing, with everything you own inside it. Keep that in mind and definitely don’t spend multiple days loading/unloading if you can avoid it.
Step 2 > Downsizing 🗑️
You might be able to skip this step if you have money to take all of your stuff with you, whether that means a big truck or multiple Uboxes, or maybe you just don’t have much stuff already.
For me, one box would have to be enough! I started getting rid of everything I needed to get rid of anyway: clothes I never wear, toys the dogs don’t play with, old appliances. This part is easy. Next, think about what is easy to replace, maybe some stuff you’ve been wanting to replace anyway. Moving is a great excuse to update a few things and donate the usable stuff you can’t take with you.
Once you’re past the easy parts, it starts getting a little harder. Think about what you can afford to replace, especially if they are cheap AND bulky. Save space for the stuff that matters the most to you. For me, that meant glass, books, art, and sentimental items mostly. For my husband, it was his computer stuff.
I kept as many pieces of furniture as I could, but those boxes are pretty small so I had to choose wisely. My mattress was pretty old so I tossed it along with any damaged or worn-down furniture that I could replace easily.
Step 3 > Packing 📦
I saved up all my packing materials for a few months leading up to the move so I wouldn’t have to buy it all new. If you have time and space to stockpile before your move, do this! This was my first move that I didn’t have to buy boxes for and it felt amazing.
If you need more boxes, my favorite place to snag high-quality second-hand supplies is usedcardboardboxes.com. I’ve ordered from them a few times and all of the boxes have been industrial-grade, sturdy cardboard that holds up under a lot of weight.
How to Pack Different Stages of Stained Glass Art:
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Finished Pieces - The most valuable items in any studio are the finished panels that you haven’t sold or just want to keep for yourself. More valuable = more time to pack.
I wrapped each panel in bubble wrap before sandwiching them between two sturdy pieces of cardboard. Once I had 4-5 wrapped pieces, I would fill a box that was just big enough for the panels with packing peanuts, stacked the art inside, and then filled the box to the top with more peanuts.
Once I had several smaller boxes wrapped up, I found a much larger box to use as cushioning. I filled the bottom again with packing peanuts, stacked 4 boxes in 2 rows, and filled the remaining space around them with more styrofoam. This outer boxes acts as an insulating barrier and absorbs any impact that the box might encounter.
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Glass Sheets - Depending on how expensive your glass is, this might be a big deal for you. For me, I barely had 2 full sheets of glass and about 30 partial sheets, all worth under $15 easily. So I wasn’t super concerned about getting my glass sheets to my new studio, but not seeing a single crack gave me a much-needed dopamine boost while unpacking.
I took flat, sturdy cardboard squares and taped the glass sheets down with painters tape. I stacked all of my glass sheets vertically in one box, with all of the cardboard holding the glass taped together and surrounded in packing peanuts.
I meant to ensure that this box was standing up when it got packed into the Ubox, but I didn’t. When I started unloading I realized my glass sheets were sideways AND slightly crushed under a much heavier box. Despite all the odds stacked against them, the Ubox was so gentle that NOTHING was broken. Seriously, I’ve had glass mailed to me that was packed safer and it was still broken. Ubox is awesome.
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Ground Glass - These are the pieces of glass that you’ve already cut, and shaped, and are ready to foil. Or maybe they’ve already been foiled and are just waiting to be soldered. Basically this is the glass you’ve put some work into already and definitely want to save if you can!
I wasn’t expecting any of these to survive the trip, I almost didn’t bother packing them because I was so sure I’d be unboxing shards of glass when I got to NY. Now, I am so glad I didn’t toss them!
There are probably better ways to pack these, but here is how I did it:
- Fill up a small container with packing foam/ ripped paper.
- Place the glass pieces inside the container with as much packing material fluffed up around them as possible (imagine putting an egg inside a bird nest).
- Once it is filled up, finish it off with even more packing material until the pieces are unable to move around. The goal is to pack these mini boxes tightly so that the small pieces can’t break by banging into each other.
Step 4 > Living on a Prayer 🙏
Once everything is boxed up and headed to it is destination, your job is done and it’s time to cross your fingers and summon up a few demons to get your glass there in one piece. I recommend throwing an Apple Air Tag into your favorite box for a little added peace of mind.
TL,DR:
Want less broken glass when moving your stained glass studio? Move your glass sheets and panels with a UBox from UHaul. Pack your glass as carefully as possible, wrap panels in bubble wrap and double box them, and tape down glass sheets to a sturdy piece of cardboard. Always pack glass so that it doesn’t have any space to move around. Good luck, glass friends!
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the sites or companies I linked above and I am not being paid for my recommendations. These are all my own experiences. I had so many glass artists reach out to me to say they were worried about moving their studios that I felt it might be helpful to compile my research. Let me know if this article helped you!