Your Wax Seal Questions, Answered!
Hi friend,
I recently had a few people pick up supplies at our studio and they had a lot of questions about our wax seals because frankly, not everybody is familiar with them these days. While they've made a comeback in the past few years, it still feels a bit scary to use, and I get that! Here are some questions almost everyone asks before they make their first seal, so I thought I'd answer a few of the most common ones today.
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Why do we even have wax seals in the shop!?
Before I even sold calligraphy supplies in the shop, we had wax seals. It was because I started my career as a calligrapher mostly doing wedding invitations, and I thought it would be very lovely to offer a "semi-custom" version of my wax seal designs to customers. Our very first wax seals had a darker, old-world vibe!
Will a wax seal break in the mail?
In the olden days, a wax seal was used like a legally binding signature, and a physical security for the letter so that if the seal was broken, they would know that it was tampered. Recently, I was watching the House of Dragon series (it's finally back!!) and Alicent used a Targaryen wax seal on one of her letters. So cool. But nowadays, the wax seal no longer "breaks" so that it can pass through mail safely, and it used more as a decorative element.
A note on mailing with wax seals
Every post office handles them quite differently, but it may cost slightly more to send a letter with a wax seal if you want them to go through by hand instead of through the machine. It's best to bring them to the post office so they can advise on the correct postage. I've sent a lot of wedding invitations with wax seals on the outside and haven't had issues, but if you want to be absolutely safe, you can always put the wax seals on an inside envelope instead.
Should I use a glue gun or a wax stove?
Honestly, both of them have their own place. A dual-heat glue gun is my go-to if I'm making a larger batch of the same color. I also get to pick the best ones and add double sided adhesive to them instead.
A wax stove and spoon is slower and more intentional. You can also switch or even mix colors!
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A note on our Wax Stove
The new wax stove will be on its way soon. I know it's been out of stock for a while, and we're really going to miss its all-brass look. But, we've also made some tweaks and improvements to this one. We hope you'll love it!
What are some of your best tips for wax sealing?
Honestly, I'm so overdue for a long-form tutorial! I'll definitely work on one soon. But here are some of mine:
- Glue gun - toggle between high and low heat, and even unplug the glue guns at times!
- The glue gun can only make 5-6 wax seals in a "row", because it needs time to heat up the wax
- It's a good idea ot chill your stamp in between
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Best Surfaces to Make Wax Seals
Also, I don't want you to miss this!
Our Summer Sale is still going strong! Save 15% off this collection with the code SUMMER26
