How to use your sealing wax stamps with ease

Types of seals and how to seal them

Over the years since antiquity, the seal was used to seal letters and packages that emissaries sent to their recipients. They served as the sender’s signature, as they usually featured the family’s coat of arms, initials… And, in addition, they ensured the confidentiality of the contents for the recipient or addressee, as to be able to read the letter or open the package, one had first to break the seal of the seal. Currently, it is mainly used for decorative purposes, especially in wedding envelopes or any other invitation that we want to give an original and elegant touch.

Seal stamps have always given me a pleasant feeling because of the special charm they bring… something old, from the past that is fashionable today more than ever and that also adds a unique value… Don’t you agree?

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The seal is a type of wax used since ancient times to seal envelopes and letters, documents and packages. Nowadays, the seal is used only for aesthetic and decorative purposes, since the flaps of current envelopes are covered with water-soluble adhesive or with a self-adhesive silicone strip. The emergence of this type of envelopes It made the seal obsolete.

In the Middle Ages, lacquers were made with a yellowish resin derived from turpentine from Venice. This resin was mixed with wax produced by the bees themselves. Later on, the lacquers were applied to the wooden surfaces using a brush. sealing wax stamps they were added a red dye, the, the cinabrio, This improved their visibility.

 What types of seals can we find in DigiSellos?

• Traditional lace: It is the typical dark and shiny red seal. This seal is hard and fragile; it breaks when trying to open the sealed container, thus certifying that no one has tampered with it. It is the same seal as always, but it is the one that presents the most difficulty when applying it.
• Synthetic Lacquer: It is a softer and more flexible seal. It is made from silicone-based materials and does not break. It is often used to seal wine bottles, so when they are opened, it does not dissolve or break like the traditional seal; instead, it tears and does not stain the table.

Bars, pills, mini pills… How difficult is that? Here I tell you about the different formats that we can find:

• Normal bars: They are rectangular bars that we can break down into smaller pieces and gradually melt in the spoon to seal them. We can also melt the sealing bar directly by heating one of the ends of the bar with a lighter. This is the most economical method for using sealing stamps because no additional accessories are needed.
• Barrels with wick: They are bars with a wick inside, just like traditional candles, which allows us to have one hand free without having to hold the lighter.
• Gun bars: They are synthetic, acrylic-based sealing strips with a cylindrical shape and are very flexible. They are an ideal option for sealing many things because they are very comfortable to use and their application is super quick. But to do this, we need a Special pistol for sealing, With the same diameter as the bars. There are many colors available and it is the easiest and fastest way to apply the glue. Ideally, use a gun for each color to avoid the glues mixing together if you use different colors of glue. You can also clean the gun when changing the color of the glue (although some glue is wasted). These glue gun bars can also be cut into pieces with a knife or cutter to apply glue with a spoon.
• Mini pills: There are packs or pouches containing mini pills with normal colored seals. If you want to try your seal in different colors, or even mix them, this is a good option. You will need a spoon to seal the pills (where you will place the mini pills), and a candle to heat the spoon underneath. Usually 2-3 pills per seal are used (check the manufacturer’s instructions).

There are other different uses or accessories that you can use with your seal stamps…

• Pillows or bricksThere are also traditional and synthetic lock-off tablets or blocks. They are usually used to melt the lock-off in large quantities (as in the case of industrial bottle sealing). But some prefer to buy it this way and cut it into small pieces to melt it gradually, as it is cheaper that way.
• Tints for seal stampsWe can apply a layer of ink to the sealing stamp itself in two different ways. The first is to ink the stamp before sealing it, so the ink is transferred directly to the sealing process in one step. The other option is to highlight the surface of the embossed engraving on another tone once the seal has cooled down (gold, silver… there are many combinations). We must apply the ink very lightly to the surface of the seal. We can always test it before printing the final seal. 

What we usually find in stores These are the normal locking bars with or without a wick, although it is not exactly the traditional and fragile lock of the past; there are also synthetic pistol locks and mini pills ideal for experimenting with color combinations. But Before buying the seal, always consider the size of your seal, the number of seals you need, and the instructions and measurements provided by each manufacturer.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog and that the information has been useful to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. info@digisellos.es