It is hard to drop a moving sand art picture. The combination of the frame, the glass, and the liquid cavity means these pieces are surprisingly resilient — a piece that slips off a nail and falls two feet onto a rug almost always lands unharmed. That said, nothing is indestructible, and in the life of a piece that lives in a house with children, removals companies, and the occasional excited dog, something eventually happens. This is the guide for what to do when it does.
We have split the common scenarios by severity and walked through each one: what is happening underneath, what you can fix yourself, what needs to go back to the maker, and what the warranty actually covers.
Minor: a small scratch or nick on the frame
Most of our customer calls about damaged frames are for scratches a few centimetres long on the wood or painted surface. These are nearly always cosmetic and repairable at home.
For oiled wood frames, rub a small amount of matching wood-restoring oil (tung oil, linseed oil, or a dedicated furniture oil in the appropriate tint) into the scratch with the grain using a soft cotton cloth. Let it sit for ten minutes, wipe off the excess with a clean cloth, and let it rest overnight. One to three applications, spaced a few days apart, typically make the scratch disappear or at least blend into the natural grain.
For painted wood or powder-coated metal frames, the repair depends on the finish depth. A superficial scratch that has not reached raw material is often invisible after a light rub with a suitable furniture polish and a soft cloth. A scratch that has exposed bare wood or metal is best addressed with a small touch-up pen in the matching colour, applied sparingly. Our support line can tell you the exact shade code for any frame we have shipped; a short email with a photograph is the fastest route.
Do not use abrasive touch-up kits intended for car body work on moving sand art frames. They are formulated for much harder surfaces and tend to damage the surrounding finish.
Moderate: a small chip or dent on a frame corner
Corners take the most impact. A chip where the wood has lifted a small piece, or a dent where the painted metal has bowed inward slightly, is still repairable.
For a wood chip, clean the area with a barely damp cloth. Apply a small amount of matching wood filler (available at any hardware store) with a plastic spatula, pressing it into the chip and slightly overfilling. Let it dry fully (usually 24 hours), then sand flush with very fine sandpaper (320 grit or finer). Apply matching stain or oil to blend the filler with the surrounding wood. This is a patient repair, but it produces near-invisible results.
For a dented metal frame, the repair is beyond most home tool kits and we recommend either a professional framer or sending the piece back to us. The dent is cosmetic, not structural, so there is no urgency — but hammering metal from the inside tends to transfer stress to the glass seam, which is the part you do not want to stress.
Serious: a cracked glass face
This is the most common reason a piece comes back to us for service. A crack in the glass face — from a significant impact, a heavy object falling on the piece, or a tipping accident — is a service-only repair. Do not attempt to replace the glass at home.
The reason is that the glass is held in a specific configuration with the sealing compound, and opening the cavity releases the liquid. The liquid is not dangerous (it is non-toxic and non-hazardous), but it is very difficult to replace in exact quantity at home, and re-sealing the cavity requires workshop-grade equipment to produce a leak-free result. A DIY glass replacement virtually always ends with either a slow leak over the following months or air entering the cavity and ruining the flow.
If your piece has a cracked glass face, lay it flat on a soft surface, cover the cracked face with a piece of cardboard taped to the frame (to prevent a glass shard from dislodging), and contact the maker. For pieces bought from us within warranty, we either repair or replace depending on the exact damage; outside warranty, we offer a paid repair service that returns the piece to original condition.
Serious: a leak
A visible leak — any droplet of liquid on the outside of the frame, a damp patch on the wall behind the piece, or a growing dark line along the edge of the frame — means the cavity seal has been compromised. Stop using the piece immediately. Lay it flat, away from any surface that could be damaged by the liquid (the glycerin mixture is non-staining on most surfaces but better to be careful), and contact the maker.
Leaks are almost always repairable in a workshop. The underlying cause is usually a stressed seal from an impact, a temperature extreme, or in rare cases a manufacturing defect. Within our warranty window, leaks are handled at no cost to the customer. Outside warranty, the repair typically costs a fraction of the retail price of the piece.
Serious: sudden change in flow or clarity
If the piece was working normally last week and now produces a flow that looks wrong — sand hanging in a way it never did before, the liquid suddenly much darker or cloudier, a new large bubble that was not there — something has changed in the cavity. These issues are usually the early signs of a seal problem.
Lay the piece flat, photograph it, and contact the maker. Do not continue to flip the piece; additional movement can accelerate a slow leak. In our experience, photographs from three angles (front, back, and a close-up of any visible bubble or line) are enough to diagnose the issue from the maker’s side.
What the warranty covers
Every maker’s warranty is different, but a reasonable common structure looks like this. Covered: manufacturing defects (seal issues, flow problems present from new, frame defects), damage in shipping that the maker arranged, and issues arising from normal use within a defined period. Not covered: impact damage from accidents, damage from storage outside recommended conditions, damage from cleaning with inappropriate products, and cosmetic wear from long-term display.
In our own case, the headline terms are: two-year warranty on all new pieces, covering manufacturing and flow issues; lifetime access to paid repair service for any issue outside warranty; free diagnostic consultation by email for any customer, whether or not the piece is under warranty.
The honest advice: even if you think your issue might not be covered, contact the maker. In our experience with other categories and our own support queue, many repairs that technically fall outside strict warranty terms are handled at reduced or no cost because the maker cares more about a long-term satisfied customer than about the specific line item of the repair.
Preparing a piece for return
If the piece needs to go back to the maker, the packing matters. Lay the piece flat on a soft surface. Wrap the glass faces (both if the piece has glass on both sides; most do not) with a lint-free cloth, then a single layer of bubble wrap. Pack the wrapped piece into a well-fitted carton with foam or tightly packed soft material on all six sides. Label the outside clearly and use a service with tracking and insurance.
If the original packaging is still available, use it. It was engineered specifically for the piece and is almost always the best option.
For leaks specifically, place the piece inside a sealed plastic bag before wrapping, to contain any further seepage during shipping. The liquid does not damage the surrounding packaging but it will make unpacking messy if not contained.
When to consider replacement instead of repair
Sometimes the right answer is to let a piece go. For pieces that have had multiple repairs over many years, or where the cost of repair exceeds roughly half the price of a new piece in the same format, replacement is often the better choice. A well-made moving sand art picture is designed to be a decade-long object, not a lifetime object, and accepting a graceful replacement at year seven or eight is reasonable.
If you are in that situation and the original piece is from us, we offer a small loyalty adjustment on any replacement ordered by a returning customer. Email support with the original order number and the replacement piece you are considering, and we can usually apply a meaningful discount on the new one.
The short version
Minor cosmetic damage to the frame: fix at home with matching oil, polish, or filler. Crack in the glass, visible leak, or sudden change in flow: do not attempt a DIY repair; lay the piece flat and contact the maker. A well-made piece is repairable for most realistic problems, and the warranty is usually more generous than it looks on paper. The first step in every scenario is the same — photograph the piece, email the maker, and take it slowly. Most problems are smaller than they look the afternoon they happen.