In movies about the Tudors or other upper class/official types of the 18th century and before when they seal a letter with wax they usually use something that looks something like a gravy boat to melt it and pour it onto the paper. Is there a name for these things other than wax melter?
Also, was there a way to apply just the right amount of wax to a letter or a roughly round shape so that you didn’t just have a big blob somewhere on the sheet?
It was usually called a wax pot or wax bowl. And application was pretty much a matter of practice and skill. Much like writing with a quill and not having your parchment covered with too many blotches.
The more usual method of application was to heat the wax stick over an open flame like a candle and then apply the melted end to the paper and pressing the seal into the soft wax where it cooled it enough to set it.
ETA: Yes, I’ve probably spent too much time at Ren Faires… 
Thanks. I’m wanting to find one for my sister for Christmas and wasn’t sure what to search for.
Ah. Then you might want to looks at melting spoons as well. I forgot to mention that in the first post.
In general, you can get sticks of sealing wax in gift stores. You burn them like candles and let the wax drip onto the envelope. They also include seals.
The candle version of sealing wax is convenient; it’s self-contained and readily found in stores. However, the spoon version allows for better control of how much wax gets where on the envelope. You’ll need sealing wax beads for that. Hard to find outside of the internet.
Two notes about sealing wax: a tiny little bit of vegetable oil rubbed on the seal helps the wax release cleanly; a must if the seal is rubber. Also, wax-sealed envelopes sent by mail have to be hand-canceled and require extra postage.
My 12yo daughter wanted to give her cousin a unique gift for his birthday; she created a Hogwarts acceptance letter for him, and wanted to seal it with a wax seal. Well, the last time I saw one of those sets, it was my sister’s in about 1978.
We experimented with candles and did ok, but she wanted an “H” as the seal. We had nothing that would work, until I remembered something. I went to the bathroom came back with small package. I had gotten new knobs for the bathroom sink, but not installed them yet.
And so I had a chrome-plated metal sealwe could heat and press into the wax to make an “H”!
Says which postal service? I’ve never had to pay extra postage for wax-sealed letters sent via the Royal Mail, Deutsche Post, Canada Post, or Australia Post.
Very creative on your part. I bet she remembers this forever.
I haven’t had much luck with the candle type waxes. Yes, they’re more convenient than a melting pot or spoon; however, I seem to get black soot throughout the wax. I want my wax pristine, dammit. 
You have to practice to get a feel for how hot the wax stick gets, how quickly it will melt when held at different angles and how much is appropriate for the stamp you will use.
I have a signet ring with the family coat of arms that my dad got in France after WWII. It has 2 or 3 levels of engraving and requires about 3 or 4 drops of wax to get a good imprint. I find that waiting about 8-12 seconds for the wax to start cooling helps give you a sharper impression. That’s particularly important if the signet you’ll use has fine detail.
I didn’t know you had the option to send a sealed letter so that it would be hand canceled. Thank you to whoever shared that tip. I don’t get to use my sealing wax nearly as often as I would like. I tried sending one inside another envelope once and the seal disintegrated.
Another nice touch is to use some ribbon wrapped around the letter and secured with wax. It’s a bit tricky to do but looks quite nice.
Not all sealing wax sticks are created equally. I would go with the harder type that tends to shatter if dropped. This will give you the nicest impression if you do everything else correctly. If you shop on line, it will probably be the kind that is very glossy. A matte finish probably means a softer wax.
So who else spent their entire childhood thinking that the Walrus & Mick Jagger were talking about “ceiling wax”, as in a parallel to floor wax, except you use it on your ceiling?
There’s your answer. Hand-canceled letters in the USA require extra postage.
Linky no worky?
Speaking.
Fuck yeah. “Why would anyone want to wax the ceiling?” I used to think to myself.
(I don’t get the Walrus reference though?)
“The time has come to talk of other things
Like shoes and ships and ceiling wax
and cabbages and kings.”
Of course, if you actually read the book instead of the movie, you find out it’s sealing wax.
This is a common complaint about the candle-type waxes. Some people rather enjoy swirling the carbon to get a marbled effect on the wax.
I use a (metal) coffee measuring spoon as a wax melting spoon. I can judge pretty well how much wax to put in it, and I have a tiny alcohol lamp that I use to melt the wax. A few years back, there was a fad for little wax discs, which the user melted with a heat gun and then stamped with a seal. I’ve also seen hot glue sticks in various colors, which were used in glue guns and then stamped with a seal, but I’ve never used them.
Excellent solution.
I’ve heard that melted Crayola crayons make fairly good sealing wax, or at least better than candle wax.
Am I missing something? I didn’t have to use extra postage when I sent my wax sealed letter in the mail a few months ago. It got there on $0.44.