How to Use Sealing Wax &
Other Sealing Wax Information
How to melt the wax and make an impression.
Why we like torch lighters for melting sealing wax.
Regarding the use of matches to melt sealing wax.
Regarding sealing wax sticks with wicks.
The differences between flexible sealing wax and traditional sealing wax.
Dealing with the postal service.
A special note to brides and their fiancés.
Why use sealing wax? A little philosophic meandering…
Historic trivia about sealing wax.
The scents used in Atelier Gargoyle Flexible Sealing Wax.
Why we like torch lighters for melting
sealing wax.
It's the quickest & most easily controlled method.
After decades of having melted sealing wax with ordinary matches, a friend gave Ward a torch lighter, suggesting that he try it instead of matches. Being an atavistic fellow, Ward was skeptical at first, but we quickly learned that a torch lighter is a marvelous tool. We’ve found the torch lighter to be the quickest and most easily controlled method of melting sealing wax.
You can aim the flame exactly where you want it.
Torch lighters are fueled by butane, but they differ in several important ways from regular lighters or common disposable butane lighters such as BIC® and Zippo®. Because the fuel is under compression in a torch lighter, the flame it produces sounds like a mini-jet engine and shoots out in any direction that the user chooses to aim it. If the flame melting the wax stick is aimed from the side, the wax drips down onto your paper where you want it, not into the source of the flame.
If you observe the flame of a candle, alcohol lamp, or most regular lighters, you will note the flame flickers in an upward direction only. If you use one of the these heat sources to melt your sealing wax, you will learn quickly that the flame flickers UP, causing the melting wax to drip DOWN, right into the source of the flame, thus clogging it, perhaps even extinguishing the flame, but at the very least creating a foul and nasty mess, and making it difficult or impossible to maintain control.
With a torch lighter and a little experience, you will find it very easy to control the amount of wax you melt, so that it is the exact amount needed for the size of the seal you intend to impress upon it. Also, you can decide exactly where on the paper or card you want the puddle to drip.
The torch lighter flame is hotter than other sources of heat.
The torch lighter flame is hotter than the flame produced by a match, so it will melt sealing wax much more quickly. If you have a large seal and you are using matches to melt your wax, it is very hard to get a big enough puddle of wax made with one match. You have to put down the wax stick and the burned-out match so you can light another match. Meanwhile, the puddle you started to make is already cooling and you’re beginning to panic about it getting too cool before you can get another match lit. As you light the new match and pick up the wax stick, you suddenly realize you put the wax stick down on a piece of important stationery and it stuck! EEKS! Your hands need to go in five directions, but you’ve got a lit match in one hand that’s going to burn your fingers in a few seconds! You don’t need this kind of stress during a process that’s supposed to be fun. Try a torch lighter, it’s much easier. By the way, also try having a few accessories around like an elegant glass or ceramic ashtray to prop your hot wax stick against to cool. A jar lid will also work fine but doesn’t give as much aesthetic pleasure to your process.
The flame burns cleanly and is absent of carbon soot.
Yet another advantage of using a torch lighter is that the flame is adjustable in intensity and absent of carbon soot. Note that the flame is “blue” rather than “orange.” A blue flame burns much more hotly and cleanly than an orange flame. Carbon soot is the by-product of the flame produced by a match, candle, or regular lighter. It can discolor sealing wax, making it darker, or leaving black spots in your puddle of hot wax. A match produces a small amount of carbon soot, a wick produces a larger amount, and a regular lighter produces copious amounts.
Torch lighters are refillable.
Finally, torch lighters are refillable from common butane cylindrical canisters available at most grocery or drug stores (common brands of butane fuel are Zippo®, Ronson®, Colibri®).
• Lighters
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