The Letters/Invitations--Wax Seal Tutorial

There are six parts to this post, although I've split them up for ease of reading. This is the sixth (and last) post.

Table of Contents:

 

1. Acceptance letters and Equipment list

 

2. Platform 9 3/4 tickets

 

3. Inner Envelope

 

4. Outer Envelope

 

5. How to stain your paper

 

6. Wax Seal tutorial

Now, onto the wax seal tutorial!

Items needed:

-Clay (can be bakeable or not, doesn't matter. I got mine from the dollar store for about a buck and a half)

-Toothpicks, needles, any small sort of device you can use to carve a design in the clay

-A picture of what you'd like your stamp to look like (i.e. the one below)

-A hot glue gun OR wax sticks

-Paint OR wax sticks in the desired colour

-Ice pack

-Oil (like vegetable oil)

-Wax paper (or parchment paper but wax paper is recommended)

-Paper towels (optional but recommended)

-Newspaper (optional but recommended to minimize mess)



A picture of what to possibly carve on the stamp.

Curious Goods has a good tutorial that you can see by following the link. We did ours a wee bit differently but the general idea was the same.

Directions:

1.    Roll out an oblong piece of clay and flatten the bottom to be about the size you want your stamp to be. The oblong bit will be the handle

2.    Take a toothpick or a needle or whatever else and carve your design into the flat clay part. Remember that whatever is carved into the stamp will be raised on the actual seal. You should carve it in fairly deep (see ours for reference, pictured below)

It's a bit crumbly because this picture was taken
after it had stamped a fair few seals.

Side view so you can see the 'handle'.

3.    Let your stamp harden or bake it (follow the instructions that came with your clay if you must bake it. Ours we just let dry overnight)

4.    When your stamp is dry, heat up your hot glue gun. Cut some wax paper into squares that will fit your stamp onto it and get out your ice packs and vegetable oil. Place your stamp on the ice pack to harden it a bit further before stamping your seals. Put a small amount of vegetable oil into a container that you can easily dip your stamp into.

5.    When the glue gun is hot enough, squeeze out a blob of glue onto the wax paper square and let it sit for 30 seconds

6.    Dip your stamp into the oil and dab some of it off onto a paper towel, then press it into the blob of glue

7.    Move the wax paper, glue and the stamp onto the ice pack

8.    Remove the stamp by wiggling it when the glue starts to cloud up. Keep the glue seal on the ice pack to harden and cool.

9.    Repeat for as many seals as you like.

10.Wash off the seals with soap and water when they are completely hardened to get the oil off.

11.Paint the seals (or spray paint, it doesn't really make a difference). In the movies the seal is red, but in the book it is described as purple (which makes more sense because it wouldn't single out any one house). I achieved a purple colour by blending a royal blue with red together and then mixing a wee tiny bit of black in. I also used food colouring to help me with the red shade (although if you have better options to colour it that would likely be preferable).

12.Glue them to the outside of your stained envelope with a small dot of white or hot glue

Our guests were totally thrilled with the invitations and the 'wax' seals were a big hit. Here's a closeup of our finished seals:

And here it is sitting on the letter:

>>Link to Table of Contents