What is Shading in Wax Seals?

If you have been making wax seals for a while, you know what we're talking about. Especially if you have been using shimmery or metallic sealing wax. But if you don't have a clue, watch the following video and see if you can see a difference between the two wax seals. 

If you take a closer look, you will see that one wax seal has some (darker) swirls in the seal, while the other does not. Depending on your aesthetics, you would like to go for more swirls or shading, while others would like to go without. In case you have a detailed stamp design made with fine lines, it would be best to avoid shading altogether to make it stand out better. 

Change the Way You Dispense the Sealing Wax

So how do you achieve either look? If you replay the video, you can see we used two different methods to dispense the sealing wax, which achieves two different looks of the wax seal. 

In the first method, there is a distance between the surface and the glue gun, allowing the wax to swirl around, which results in shading. In the second method, we hold our glue gun at one place, touching the surface and the resulting wax seal. This way, the wax won't move around to allow shading. 

Bonus Tip

When you try to prevent shading, and want to lift up your glue gun while wax is still dripping out? Try to pour the remaining bits of wax seal around the wax seal instead of on top of it. If you pour it onto the side, it won't sit on top of the seal which still results in some shading. If it is sitting around the border of the seal, you won't see it as much and you will minimize the chance of shading! 

Did you spot the difference? And which one do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below!