I am rediscovering the the fun of sealing wax and wax stampers. I used it when I was in my early teens and wrote letters quite often. I thought it was a fun way to spruce up an envelope. Boy, if I knew then what I know now about sprucing up an envelope, my life might have turned out to be a different story. LoL
BUT!...I do remember it being a bit challenging. This may have been because of my young inexperienced age, but I see it as just as challenging today. So I instructed Amazon to send me some new wax and a stamper and set about to find an easier way to get better results than just "do I feel lucky today". And here's my technique to get a wax seal that I like every single time.
The whole secret is to make them separately and glue them to my envelopes or projects.
Yeah, it's cheating, but I'm never disappointed sending off my mail. The secret ingredient is parchment paper. The wax does not stick to it.
I like the sticks that don't have a wick. I light a tea light candle to melt the wax in a long handled tea spoon. Then push it off the spoon onto the parchment paper, use the wax stick to spread the puddle to fit the stamper. Let it settle for a few seconds, then push the stamper into the wax puddle.
I clean off my spoon with Flushable Wipes while the stamper and wax are doing their thing. Then I life the stamper and the wax is still stuck to it.
But they separate so easily and perfectly.
The stringys just snap off or you can cut them off. I love how imperfect my puddle sizes sometimes are. I've been using these as a signature on the back of cards I've made, so in that case, I don't want globby edges.
Those globby edges trim off so nicely with scissors.
And the extra was will be kept to be remelted for another seal. It's now ready to be glued to the back of my card. Or glued as a faux seal on my envelope. I'm loving this centruries old craft.
There aren't many colors available in the wick-free wax sticks. So I experimented with a stick with a wick with the spoon melting technique. (Normally you would light the wick like a candle then wait for enough wax to melt and drip into a puddle). It works just as well. I keep the wick trimmed down to the wax vbetween uses. The wax takes a bit longer to melt enough for a puddle and is thinner and takes a tad bit longer to set. But I'm glad to know I am not limited by wick or no wick. And colors will only be limited by the companies making the wax sticks.
So many things from my youth are coming back into style again. YIKES!
Having fun with the old being new again.
xxx
Annie
cards
