A simple step by step guide to create a clean and crisp wax seal
Wax seals add a touch of elegance and an old-world charm to your product packaging, wedding stationery, corporate documents, letters, certificates and scrolls, and so much more. Apart from the spell that wax seal casts on anyone who receives it in their correspondence, making it is incredibly therapeutic, it is also a fun process.
So here’s a step by step guide and tricks to create a clean and crisp wax seal.
Step 1. Chill Your Stamp
This is integral to getting crisp seal. A cold wax seal stamp works faster and gives a better impression than a room temperature or hot seal will.
Pro Tip: Place your seal in a sandwich bag filled with ice and water and place that in a bowl. Place the stamp face down onto the ice so that the metal is able to cool.
Step 2. Melt the Wax
You could use a traditional melting spoon over a tea light or a standard glue gun. Each of our wax sticks can be used to make approximately 8 to 10 seals.
For the traditional method,
Break the wax stick into small cubes and add 2-3 cubes to the melting spoon and carefully hold it about an inch above the candle flame. Allow the wax to melt completely.
For Glue gun,
insert the first wax stick into the glue gun and allow to initially heat up. Rest the glue gun in the upright standing position over the heat safe surface.
A lazy alternative for single stamps is to melt the wicked wax sticks by holding an end of the stick directly onto the flame and heating it until it is melted but not dripping and then press it directly onto the desired surface.
Step 3. Pour the Wax
The correct amount varies from seal to seal and depends on the look that you want. For a 1 inch seal, 1 to 1.5 pumps of a standard glue gun is just about right. If you're using the wax stick cubes in a spoon, 1 cube should equal 1 seal, though start with 2-3 to get the wax flowing nicely!
Pro Tip: If you’re looking for perfectly round seals, make sure that you’re pouring the wax right into the middle of your seal—not moving it around
Step 4. Blot & Press
Now it's time for the real fun to begin! This is the most interesting step of all, and the one you’ve probably been looking forward to. Take your chilled stamp off of the ice, blot on a clean paper towel or wash cloth to remove any water that may have collected, and place the seal at the center of your wax!
Pro Tip: Get a straight stamp every time by marking the top of your seal with a small pencil line along the side of your stamp! Then use that mark to line up your stamp before you press.
Step 5. Reveal
After you wax has cooled, give it a gentle pull. If the wax seems to move at all, then let the stamp rest for a few more moments. If the wax feels stiff as you start to wiggle the handle, then it should be safe to pull the stamp off.
Now sit back and admire your beautiful work! Isn't it satisfying?
There are a variety of ways in which you can make your wax seals even more interesting and add your own twists to it. Dark soot in the wax as you heat it up can give a marbled effect to the seal, or you can play with different colors and make pretty combinations or even use glitter, strings, leaves or our favorite- flowers.