How Do You Melt Your Wax For Wax Seals?

[LostArk]

Alcohol lamp & specialty spouted spoon. I use denatured alcohol so no soot is deposited on the spoon.

[lapis]

I use my creme brulee torch. It works great for me and is super fast. And it's a nice use for the torch that doesn't end in me consuming 1200 calories.

+1 on that!

[highlander1307]

Triple burner cigar lighter. Never heard of boiling water and been using wax seals for 37 years.

[wikeh2004]

I understand that one current method is to use sealing wax sticks that are melted in a hot glue gun. The wax stamper has to be chilled to work right and prevent sticking.

 

Here's a how-to: http://www.ateliergargoyle.com/pages/waxes/howto.html

[bogiesan]

Is a lighter the only way, or will simply dipping the end of the wax into boiling water suffice?

212F isn't enough to melt wax quickly. But let us know how that works for your experiments.

 

http://touch.artofmanliness.com/all/2013-02-13-wax-seals-a-history-and-how-to#12

 

He likes Herbin's flexible wax products above all others.

 

when I have used sealing waxes for formal documents or for effect, I've used the cheapest wicked product I could find at a local craft store. The wick produced a good deal of soot in the drops but these enhanced the image. With some practice, you can get the soot to kind of go where you want it to and, depending on the image in your seal, you can get a cool shadow effect.

 

The new crop of hot glue gun sealing waxes are fun and easy but the product does not offer the traditional tamper-evident protection of hard wax.

 

Google the topic, it's got a fascinating history and there are many products available.

[AndrewC]

Regarding soot; Trimming the wick shorter can help keep soot down, and holding the stick so the wick is higher than the stick can also help. IIRC. I remember experimenting with this a million years ago.

[Chris]

AndrewC - thank you.

Farewell oh sooty swirls...

[Moshe ben David]

An egg poacher (such as this). Keep a good quantity of wax in one of the cups and, when needed, soften it over smmering water in the pan beneath. Use a spoon or tiny ladle to dispense melted wax onto the documents to be sealed.

Unused wax can stay in the cup for the next time.

We chill the (brass) seals in the refrigerator before sealing, to ensure a clean impresion.

 

even signet rings?

[kiavonne]

With my signet jewelry, I just create a quick moisture barrier, I wouldn't put it in the fridge or freezer; then again, I would only be making one impression at the time. Gold gets quite warm when making a seal. I haven't tried my titanium ring yet, though. For my desk seals, I wouldn't feel comfortable putting my good seals in the fridge; however if I was making several impressions, I might use an ice pack or a moist towel to set the seal on in between each impression for creating the moisture barrier.

[ysgrifbin]

 

even signet rings?

No, I do not recommend keeping jewellery in a refrigerator. I would second Kiavonne's suggestion above, though, to put the seal on something cool between applications if you are doing several documents - an ice pack works very well in my experience.

[ravantra]

High powered laser. Best of old and new.

[sumidero11]

I use this method

Edited April 19, 2014 by sumidero11

[ravantra]

Thanks for posting the video sumidero11. Very instructive.