So because of my Santa Mail situation, I've gotten into Wax Seals. Does anyone else do this? Or maybe have them in your collection of mail swag and forget to use them?
I ordered one that popped up in my Etsy feed, that is the one I am using on my Santa Mail right now, it's just the letter "S" {also could use for my own name, bonus}. Link to the actual seal purchased here.
Then, like with all things, I jumped off the deep end a bit. I decided when I received the seal in the mail that it wasn't quite fancy enough to be from Santa.
While searching for wax seal supplies I came across LetterSeals.com, where I decided the most efficient way to do two different color waxes to match the envelopes. I bought the mini glue gun wax shown here because mini glue guns are cheap and I figured I could afford to buy a few and just have one gun dedicated to each color. I was right, at Joann's Fabric a low-temp mini glue gun is $2.99, so I bought two.
The second website I came across was NostalgicImpressions.com. From them I bought this pineapple seal. Because obviously. I also bought two of these metallic stamp pads because I wanted my Santa letter seals to be two colors to match the two colors on each envelope. Lastly, I bought some gold flexible sealing wax.
Finally, I went on the hunt for a fancier, inexpensive letter "S", which I found on eBay here. I have not receive this one yet.
So my first impressions {ha! pun!} are the following: I love wax seals! They are so fun! I received my Etsy, LetterSeals and NostalgicImpressions orders really quickly. The Etsy seal is smaller than what I was thinking, but I had never seen a real wax seal before so I didn't have a good concept. The fancier "S" that is on it's way from Hong Kong is 1 inch so I think that is going to be a good size.
The glue gun wax is great. Easy to use, literally just like a glue gun. It takes about 1.5 pulls on the trigger to get a pile of wax big enough for my current "S". The videos on the LetterSeals website with tips was very helpful. They suggest putting the seal on a damp towel to keep it from sticking to the wax but I didn't because I had the ink instead. The metallic ink keeps the seal from sticking, just like making the seal damp would.
The pineapple seal is great, just as I expected. I am glad I love it, but I wish I could find the same one with a wooden handle. I tried it with the gold wax with a wick. The color of this wax will make you swoon. I love it. Clearly, using wax with a wick takes practice. LetterSeals recommends newbies trace the seal so you can see how much wax you need, which I did. I lit the wick and tipped it, at which point wax started dropping on to my envelope. It was still on fire. On my thank you note. I promptly blew it out so my paper didn't catch fire, which splattered some wax on the back of the envelope. I tried again, this time making sure the wax was dripping but not on fire. I had the seal on a damp towel because I was not using any ink. It totally worked.
The glue gun wax was significantly easier, but the wick wax has a much more luxurious texture. I don't know that if I could get the same color in a gun if I would like it as much.
The pineapple seal will be placed in the hands of the USPS tomorrow, so we will see how it holds up. The other seals are being mailed in protective envelope and will not be tested by the USPS machinery.
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| Green glue gun wax with gold metallic ink. |
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| Cherry glue gun wax with silver metallic ink. |
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| Classic gold sealing wax and pineapple seal. |
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