Care & Maintenance
Resin has a strange reputation in transit. People pack it like glass — terrified of shattering — when its real vulnerabilities are entirely different. Cured resin is tough and flex-resistant; it survives knocks that would destroy ceramic. What it does not forgive is surface abrasion, point pressure, and above all, heat. A piece that rides padded but loose in a car boot through a May afternoon can arrive scratch-free and subtly warped. Pack for resin's actual enemies and it travels beautifully — across the city or across the country.
Before wrapping anything, spend a minute identifying where this particular piece is vulnerable:
Glossy flat faces — the most scratch-prone surfaces. They must never touch anything abrasive, including cardboard directly.
Edges and corners — where impact concentrates. Trays, frames and clocks take almost all transit damage at corners.
Attachments — clock mechanisms, hooks, mirror backings, stands, handles. These snap before resin ever cracks; they need individual support or removal.
Thin or projecting elements — petals on sculptural pieces, stems on drinkware, delicate geode edges. Anything that sticks out needs a cushioned void around it, not padding pressed against it.
Weight — large pieces like table tops are heavy enough to damage themselves if they can shift inside a box.
Gather soft cotton cloth or acid-free tissue, cling-free bubble wrap, good tape, and rigid cardboard. Then build the layers in this order:
Clean and fully dry the piece. Dust trapped under wrapping becomes a scouring pad in transit. Never pack a piece that is even slightly damp — sealed moisture leaves marks.
First layer: soft cloth or tissue against the resin. This is the rule people skip and regret. Bubble wrap pressed directly on a glossy surface for days — especially in heat — can leave a faint hexagonal texture on the finish. Cloth first, always.
Second layer: bubble wrap, bubbles facing outward, two to three wraps, taped to itself — never let tape touch the resin or the cloth layer where adhesive could seep through.
Corner armour. Fold extra cardboard or foam around each corner of flat pieces. Corners take the hits; give them double everything.
Rigid sandwich for flat pieces. Frames, clocks, and trays should travel between two sheets of stiff cardboard or thin plywood, taped into a rigid parcel. This spreads any pressure across the whole face. It is exactly how a wedding photo frame should travel to another city — the glass-clear face never bearing a point load.
Pack against scratches and heat, not just against drops — resin survives the bump that worries you and remembers the hot afternoon you didn't think about.
For anything precious or travelling by courier, use two boxes:
The wrapped piece goes into a snug inner box with no room to shift — fill any gaps with crumpled paper or foam until the piece cannot move when you shake the box gently.
The inner box floats inside a larger outer box with 5–7 cm of cushioning on all six sides — crumpled newspaper, foam, or air pillows.
Heavy pieces should sit on extra padding at the bottom, because couriers put boxes down hard far more often than they drop them.
Mark the box Fragile — This Side Up, but pack as though no one will read it, because usually no one does.
For multiple small pieces — coasters, jewellery, keychains, tea-light holders — wrap each individually. Resin-on-resin contact in a shared pouch is the classic way a set arrives with matching scratches.
This is the section that saves pieces. Cured resin begins to soften at temperatures a parked Indian vehicle reaches routinely between March and June:
Never leave resin in a parked car. Not during lunch, not "just an hour". Dashboard and boot temperatures can exceed 65–70°C in summer — enough for a piece under pressure from its own packing to take a permanent impression or warp.
Travelling by car? Keep pieces in the cabin with the AC, not the boot, on hot days. Lay flat pieces flat; a warped-then-cooled piece cannot be unwarped.
Courier in peak summer? Choose faster shipping over cheaper shipping. A parcel spending three extra days in metal warehouses and delivery vans in May is the real risk, not the handling. If a piece is precious and the timing flexible, ship in gentler months or choose surface-air options that minimise time in transit.
Flying with resin? Cabin baggage is ideal for anything irreplaceable — cabin pressure and temperature are controlled. Checked baggage is acceptable for well-packed sturdy pieces; the hold is cold rather than hot, which resin tolerates far better.
Cold, incidentally, is nearly harmless — resin becomes slightly more brittle when very cold, so unpack a winter-delivered parcel gently and let it reach room temperature before handling firmly.
When an entire home moves, resin pieces get swept into the general chaos. Insist on a few exceptions:
Pack resin yourself, even if movers pack everything else. Their speed-wrapping — newspaper straight onto surfaces, pieces nested together — is designed for steel and ceramic, not glossy finishes.
Label boxes for the destination room and add "DO NOT STACK" on boxes containing flat glossy pieces.
Remove clock mechanisms where possible, or immobilise the hands with a small strip of low-tack tape on the movement (never on the resin face).
Transport true heirlooms — varmala preservation blocks, memorial pieces — in your own vehicle, in the cabin, regardless of what the movers take.
Photograph each piece before packing. If anything goes wrong in a mover's care, documentation matters.
Arrive, and resist the urge to tear everything open immediately:
Let boxes acclimatise for a few hours if they have come from very hot or cold transit — sudden temperature swings plus immediate handling is when brittle mishaps happen.
Open on a cloth-covered surface, never on bare floor tiles where a slip means a corner chip.
Unwrap tape away from the piece — cutting toward wrapped resin with a blade is how unpacking scratches happen.
Inspect in daylight, then give the piece its usual gentle wash and dry before placing it. It will have earned it.
Packed with cloth against the surface, rigidity around the face, generous corners, and respect for the summer sun, a resin piece can cross the country and arrive exactly as it left. Made-to-order pieces from the studio ship with this same philosophy — you can read more about how commissions are made and dispatched on our process page.
Moving cities, or sending a resin gift somewhere far? Message us on WhatsApp at +91 70960 36250 for packing advice or to order a piece shipped safely to any doorstep in India.
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20 December 2025 · 4 min read