Flying with your bells Cardboard - Extra protection Packing your foam pads How Concordia packs bells for flying

Flying with your bells

     > I need to get some info from all you seasoned vets
     > of over seas bell tours (or cross country).  Our
     > church is thinking about taking some of our bells
     > with us on a missions trip to Australia next year.
     > We do not have experience with flying with our bells
     > and need some advice from all you pros out there!
     > We have 4 octaves of Malmarks in regular cases.  I
     > would appreciate some input...

Here are some answers to your question that were posted eons ago (old-timers might recognize the mail headers):

Q: How to pack bells for extended travel

In hb-l0495.069, Gailjberg writes to the list on 95/04/14:

You've asked at least one well seasoned traveler! You ought to be introduced to the Hawaiian Foam-Sucking Bird, and I'll tell you a few other hints as well.

Figure out how many boxes (music, covers, stands, percussion), "containers" of foam (see foam sucking bird below) and bell cases you need to take. Figure out how many people (including significant others and family) are traveling with you. Each person will be responsible for at least one "bell" box/bag as part of their luggage. (The smaller 6/7 cases can be carryon luggage - you will have some explainging to do at the x-ray machine.)

First, if you have foam attached to tables (e.g., Perry), leave them at home and borrow (or buy) some foam for the trip. If you can avoid it, do not travel with your tables!! Try to arrange with all of your hosts on your trip to provide 30" wide banquet tables. Almost all organizations have them available. (Attempt to ensure that your there is enough length to accomodate your group and that the tables are near to the same height; otherwise you'll be using hymnals to balance the tables.)

If you do have loose foam, you might want to consider having them covered in cotton or cordoroy - with a handle - for durability (that won't affect what I'll say later) and at home, it will protect the foam. (You can put velcro along two sides to attach a skirt.)

Now, the foam sucking bird!! (Rudy, you did this so well in Hawaii!!) Area XII had it's 1992 (my, it seems almost yesterday!) conference in Hawaii. The majority of the travelers were coming from California. I think we had only two or three choirs from Hawaii join us during the conference. Just before we left, our choir learned the greatest "reducing" technique!! (Borrowed from the model airplane hobby) Take your foam, fold it in thirds both ways, place it in a heavy large-mil garbage bag. Wrap the end of the garbage bag around the end of the hose of a vaccuum cleaner and start it up. Watch the air come out of the foam!!! Tape shut this new reduced foam. Place reduced foam in another bag and repeat the process. Now place these much smaller pieces of foam in a suitcase - you might be able to get four 3x3 pieces in a "large" suitcase. (Cardboard boxes reinforced with tape with also secure the foam.) This process is good for about 24-48 hours (the bag and tape seals eventually start leaking, but the container "contains" the expansion further). When you get to your destination, unwrap the foam and in about 15 minutes it's up to full "fluff" again. It does not hurt the foam.

If you're really tight for space, you can nest your bells. Yep - take them apart and nest the casings - with a small layer of padding between. One choir in Hawaii had their lower fifth octave in pieces and it fit into about three carry on bags. (Don't attempt this unless you are comfortable with taking apart and putting your bells back together.)

I hope I answered some of your questions.

Gail Berg
Bay Bells Handbell Choir
Bay Bells Ensemble
Mountain View, California
Secretary, Area XII

In hb-l0495.084, Buschwaker writes to the list on 95/04/17:

I had the rather enlightening experience of taking my bells to Australia this past summer. Reflecting on this experience, my advice would include:

• Pack the clappers of your bells with newspaper crumpled so they cannot move--we actually had a bent shaft on one bell.
• Put a layer of bubble wrap inside the cases to minimize extra movement of the bells in the cases--if your cases are older and there is a chance that bells will shift in their space, add a wrap of tissue paper to prevent this movement. ALL my new collars cracked slightly (wondered if the temp changes could have affected them--the old collars survived, quite well) On your way home--it was suggested that we could use underwear to stabilize clappers--(in our case, this gave us the trip saying "home from down undy"
• Buy WIDE luggage straps and put 2-3 on each case to add stability. This prevents popping open when being tenderly handled by the airlines.
• We lost corner pieces and feet off our cases. With this in mind, I would suggest wrapping the cases in something you don't want to use again. I've seen cardboard boxes used with shipping tape.
• Label the cases "breakable" "fragile" (there is some thought that someone might read this notation!)
• There was a group from Colorado that packed their bells in suitcases and the suitcases were much better suited for travel than the bell cases--future growth industry for traveling choirs...
• If you want to get some additional expertise on this topic, check with Bill Griffin who oversaw all the bells we took to Japan with nary a scratch.
• Packing the rest of your equipment should give consideration to shifting and breaking--but should be less of an ordeal than protecting your bells--and it can easily be done well.

best of luck!
Terry B.

Written by:

Jerry Olson
olson@ra.cgd.ucar.edu
CU Alumni Handbell Conclave
13 Aug 1997

Archived original can be found at: Re: Flying bells

Cardboard - Extra protection

In response to Missy's questions regarding to traveling with bells, someone mentioned packing the bells and cases in cardboard....that worked really well for us on our England trip. I called Malmark and ordered shipping boxes for our bells and then cut slits on the open ends for the handles to fit through. We used duct tape to tape and re-tape the boxes as we made our way across southern England on concert tour. Just remember to always CUT the tape each time you open the boxes to remove the bell cases. Pulling the tape off each time would massacre the boxes. Our bells and cases came back from a 10 day tour virtually unscathed. Also, the advise to leave your tables at home was excellent. They are a pain in the butt to cart around. We had no trouble asking people to provide tables for us. Finally, we also visited our local U-Haul dealer and got the boxes we needed for our other equipment, including a wardrobe box for robes we took along. Good luck and have fun!

Written by:

Jeris Waldvogel
jeris@pitnet.net
16 Aug 1997

Archived original can be found at: Flying bells

Packing your foam pads

     > "I've heard of doing this and would be interested in
     > trying it.  My question is: What do you do on the
     > return trip? Do you borrow a vacuum cleaner from the
     > hotel so that you can repackage your foam?  Do you
     > pack a vacuum cleaner in the space saved by having
     > compressed your foam? Please share the details."

So, anyway, we were prepared to just leave it, if worse came to worse. Next time, I will probably contact the hotel at our last stop and make sure that they know of this bizarre request in advance. It was rather entertaining though, I must admit.

Written by:

Dean Wagner
hdeanwagner@juno.com
5 Jun 1998

Archived original can be found at: Re:Vacuum packed foam

How Concordia packs bells for flying

Our honorable alumna and former student director Liz Cottrell reported about our packing bells. I'd like to add:

Our quilted wrappers worked well, but wore out after many years of use and needed some design improvements.

We designed our own new covers made from almost bulletproof parachute material with heavy-duty zippers, then lined them with foam. We also stuff the big bells with diaper cloth (also used for buffing) and lay even more diapers around the bells to nestle the clappers and handguards.

We have had no travel problems with these procedures. They have taken us all over the US and to Japan and Hong Kong with hardly a sign of snags.

Find a seamster who's well-equipped, though. The kind lady who did the covers vowed never to do it again because the material was so tough to design and work with. It takes heavy machinery to do it efficiently. She did a great job, but is NOT looking for new customers.

Written by:

Herb Geisler
HGeisler@concentric.net
Concordia University at Irvine, CA
6 Aug 1998

Archived original can be found at: Taking bells on planes