Well, I've only been talking about doing this since I started this website. Nice to see it took almost three years, eh? As always, you can click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized pictures.

Sealing envelopes with wax is a beautiful (if terribly impractical) way to finish off that perfect letter. Just like thick creamy stationery or the way the back of an engraved invitation feels, it's one of those little touches that are a throwback to more genteel times. Getting the hang of it will take a few tries, but it's worth it -- a wax seal never fails to impress.

Materials You'll Need:

• Sealing wax sticks
  These are usually available, along with a variety of sealers, at any stationers' shop or fine paper store, and also online. They are available in colors like red, green, gold and silver, and are about the size and shape of a piece of sidewalk chalk. A great resource if you're just starting out -- I regularly see paper shops offering the sealing wax stick equivalent of a remnants bin: several smaller chunks or partial sticks of wax in a sandwich baggie, often in different colors and offered at a discount. These are bits that got broken during shipping.

  There is also a new variety of wax stick available with wicks. This tutorial does not cover wicked wax sticks; I don't use them because the soot from the flame seems to always get into the seal, and blowing the flame out and not getting the wax everywhere is a PITA.

• a sealer
  These are actually called "seals", but since the imprinted wax coin on your envelope is also called a "seal", I'm using "sealer" in this tutorial to refer to the actual metal tool to prevent confusion.


• a pillar candle that you don't care about
  Since beads of wax might drop into the candle, and are difficult to remove, you might not want to use the lovely $25 Yankee Candle that sits on your coffee table for company.


• a paper towel


• vegetable oil


• envelopes


• some paper on which to practice

Before You Get Started:

• One would think this would be self-explanatory, but the envelopes you want to seal need to already contain your note/letter. Also, it helps if they are already addressed, in order to avoid having to write on the front after they have been sealed.
• Be sure to write "PLEASE HAND-CANCEL" somewhere on the front of the envelope. Wax-sealed envelopes cannot go through the automated processing machines at the post office, lest the seals pop off before the envelope ever even leaves your town; the postage must be cancelled by hand at the counter. Yes, this means you'll have to take them to the post office and hand them to the person there (I warned you: this isn't the most convenient process).
• I always seal my envelopes with the lick-em-adhesive as well. Having the envelope hand-cancelled is a good safeguard, but there is still the chance that your wax seal might come off somewhere along its journey, and you don't want your letter available to the world.
• Make sure you are working in a draft-free area. You want your candle to burn evenly and not flicker around.
• Fold the paper towel into quarters. Hold it over the opening of a bottle of vegetable oil and tip the bottle for a couple of seconds. You want a nice oiled paper towel pad, but not so much that it soaks through to the fourth layer.

	Got all your supplies together? Let's seal some stuff!
	One of my favorite sealers is a pineapple, of course. You can also find monograms, fleur-de-lis, Celtic symbols, hearts. If I remember correctly, the one pictured here cost about $8. Be sure you are always holding your sealer right side up when it comes time to press the wax (Learned that the hard way. Upside-down pineapples look pretty strange.).
	Wipe your sealer well over the oiled paper towel, including around the outer edges. If the design is intricate, be sure to rub the paper towel up into the sealer to get into all the crevices. This will keep your sealer from sticking to the hot wax and ruining the design. One good wipe in the beginning will suffice through five or six seals; in between, I'll rest the sealer on the paper towel to keep it moist. (wow, I just said "moist" and "rub your crevices" in the same paragraph). (An alternative to the oiling: you can also buy a colored ink pad, and press the sealer on it, then it lubricates the sealer as well as adding another layer of color to your seal. I usually see these done in a metallic ink over the colored wax. I don't do those, so you'll want to investigate whether a certain kind of ink pad is needed or what.) At this point, make sure you have everything in place; once the next step starts, everything moves fast and you'll want to be ready.
	Hold the tip of your wax stick about two inches over the flame. It will take a couple of seconds for the wax to start to soften and melt.
	As the wax stick starts to melt, rotate it slowly over the candle so that the entire end becomes melty and globby. At some point, hold it straight up and down while rotating so that the middle of the stick gets melty too, otherwise only the edges will come off on the paper, making an ugly wax donut. As it melts further, you'll have to rotate faster to keep the melted glob from dripping off the stick and falling into your candle. (Yep, learned that one the hard way too.) It takes a few tries to perfect how long to melt the wax -- too big a glob results in a big, thick seal that will come off more easily in the mailing. Too small a glob results in a seal that doesn't cover your whole sealer design, or is so thin it cracks.
	When it appears globby enough at the end (You'll know it's right when the melted part looks like a shiny ball. It's sort of phallic, really.), quickly take the stick and press it down on the paper or envelope to deposit all the melted wax, and then twist the stick up and away. It won't look pretty yet but that's okay. This is the other part that really requires practice: learning how hard to press the melty stick down to get a good thick circumference of wax.
	When you go to press the wax glob on your envelope, be sure to center it over the point of the flap.
	Now! Quick quick while it's hot! (The wax sticks are a plasticky sort of resin, and the glob is beginning to cool and harden the instant you remove it from the flame.) Grab your sealer and press it down onto the warm wax glob. You want it to squoosh out around the edges, so it makes that nice round edge; you can't really press "too hard".
	Then, let it cool completely, and there you go! As you can see, it doesn't need to be exactly round -- the seals look much more charming when the shape isn't perfect. After the seal is cool, you might want to gently wipe it in case any excess oil remains.
	This is what the wax looks like if it cools with no seal, and it will peel easily off a thin piece of paper like that little post-it. Pressing it with the sealer helps it bond with the paper fibers; this is also why thicker envelopes with more texture lead to more successful seals.
	Here, you can see what the wax does to the paper: leaves some pigment and bits behind. And, very occasionally, the wax might tear it if you pull the seal off. That's pretty rare, though -- so, if you do mess up, there are a couple of options: Carefully pop off the bad seal, and try again. Be sure to use a bigger wax glob in order to cover the marks on the envelope, if any were left. I've never tried this, but I would if I messed up on an envelope that I couldn't waste: you could make a nice, clean seal on a hard smooth surface (like a plate or the mirror of a compact), wait for it to cool, pop it off and hot-glue it over the spot on the original envelope. It's the same principle as these self-adhesive Faux Wax Seals.