Earthquakes & Windstones

[Victoria]

File this under “getting paranoid in my old age”, but:

The Pacific Northwest isn’t “earthquake country” the way California is, but we do get them. I’m getting ready to strap my small curio to the wall, and started thinking about anchoring down all the GBs and other pieces that reside in there…and then came to a full stop when I started thinking about the felt pads, both signed and unsigned. Something like Museum Wax or Quakeputty would normally be my first choice for these, but either of those seem like they could really mess up the pads. Worse yet, will that stuff actually hold Windstones with pads in place at all? I wonder if there’s a way I should seal the pads. Hmm…

Then there’s the big pieces. Assuming adhering wax/putty to a pad isn’t a problem, is it going to take a container of the stuff to anchor down a lap dragon, for example? Is there even an amount that’s enough to keep those from shifting around in a decent sized quake? I’m plenty aware that I can’t protect any of these pieces completely, but want to take reasonable/sensible precautions.

Any thoughts/tips/experiences would be welcome!

~jolie

[Lupuslunae]

I am in so-called earthquake country I guess, Northern CA Bay Area, but I don’t feel most of them. I felt the Napa quake, what last year?, but all my heavy or/and tall furniture is already anchored; that’s just how we roll here. Anchoring is easy, just buy a kit or two and find a stud.

The kind of quake it would take to really strike down your Windstones would probably be pretty massive, you’d probably have other major concerns to occupy your mind. One thing I did change with quakes in mind were the doors of cabinets. I have one that locks with a magnet, fine, but the other two could swing open. The cabinet I fastened with a decorative braid around the doors that had to be untied to open and the barrister I put magnets strips to hold the doors down unless pulled really well. I was concerned with the Napa quake for pieces with small bases or more top-heavy pieces, like the unicorn colt, the male unicorn and pegasus, and young dragon. They have buddies closer to their bases, so again, it would have to be massive and insanely unlucky to move them.

[Betrluk1]

Also, look into renter’s insurance. While non of us want to think about something happening to our collections, at least this way you would have a chance to start rebuilding should the worse case scenario happen.

[Ciarnet]

I got a bit paranoid about things scooting last year and went and bought the foam like shelf liner in a roll form. I ended up cutting out the footprint of the pieces it would work with (nothing with too narrow of a base) and setting them on top of it. My husband bumped a table with an old warrior on it and set the table to wobbling but the OW stayed put. And if you trim it, you don’t really see it. Silly, but it worked for me!

[Mercury Star]

I live in Alaska, which is the most seismically active state in the union. Most of the stronger tremors we have gotten in the area lately have only caused things to shift on my shelves slightly. The only items I had fall were light, non-breakables (unfortunately, during one incident, a breakable item was smashed by a falling non-breakable).

With Windstones I am mainly afraid of my colts falling, they are not as heavy or large based as some of the other pieces. I was tempted to try museum wax or putty myself, but had the same fear about damage to the pads (especially since my colts are GBs, and have writing on the bottom). Also with some other small, light Windstones, like the tadpoads, I was thinking of putting in this shadowbox I have, which doesn’t have very deep shelves, so there is more of a risk of things sliding off completely.

I put putty underneath a lot of my other breakables, and it has worked well… aside from earthquakes, it has held them in place when I lose my balance and crash into my shelving. *is not the most stable person* But yeah, all my Windstones are “loose” since I am afraid to harm their pads.

As for amount of wax/putty, you don’t need to cover the whole base on large pieces, though I am not sure about Windstones, since they are heavy. Most of my large pieces tacked down with putty are much lighter than Windstones, (also have much smaller surface area against the shelf) but this is also what makes them less stable, and more prone to falling over and breaking. If I did put putty under my Windstones, I would probably start by putting some spots along the outer edge of the pad, and maybe one in the center, than tack it down to the shelf, rattle the shelf a bit (or push a bit on the item) and see if it resists movement. Proceed with more wax from there if it moves.

[Zelda]

Ciarnet, what you do with the cutouts in the foam shelf liner is actually similar to what is done to protect museum collections from earthquake damage 🙂 The idea is basically a more display-friendly version of how large Windstone pieces get boxed at the factory. The foam pads pieces in case they tip, and the cut-outs prevent pieces from ‘walking’ from vibration.

Using big chunks of styrofoam from appliance boxes, etc. can add additional bracing for large and tall pieces. They can be braced against the back of a shelf, and can be carved to conform to the shape of the piece. They can either go against a shelf wall or between pieces in out-of-sight places.

I haven’t taken any measures to protect my collection in this way, but I definitely should 🙁 Between earthquakes and a curious cat, I shouldn’t be taking chances!

Forever seeking: Blackwatch the raffle Old Warrior, Jennifer Miller's pieces, and GB Baby unis!

[Victoria]

Thanks, all! The foam shelf liner sounds like a brilliant idea, I’ll definitely have to give that a try. The bracing for the small cabinet is on order; if I’m happy with how that specific product works once installed, I’ll get more brackets for the bigger (non Windstone) cabinet in the dining room. I just hate how most of those really aren’t designed for antique curios…sorry, not really wanting a visible anchor on top of a short cabinet, nor am I thrilled about drilling into a vintage piece that’s older than I am! So we’ll see how that goes.

I grew up in the SF Bay Area, so I’m not unaware of precautions, I’ve just gotten lazy since being up here. LOL We do have homeowners’ insurance, but I don’t deem one-of-a-kind art objects as replaceable, so the point is to get them as protected as possible while on display, knowing that a big enough quake is going to cause bigger problems than we can guard against.

[dholtvoigt]

For everyone out there in quake zones: I myself am not in any quake zones, but I did add an article 3 personal articles policy to my car insurance monthly payment. Surprising, the cost was minimal for the amount of insurance I needed to cover all my Windstones. My insurance company added this amount to my monthly car bill so I only get the one bill instead of two per month.My advice is that everyone with a large growing collection of Windstones should at least check with your insurance company for a quote. You might be really surprised at how inexpensive it would be to cover your Windstones & have piece of mind that at least your treasures all covered.

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