How to Melt Wax for Seals

Wax seals have been around for centuries, especially as a way to seal letters from prying eyes. Today, there’s really no need for a wax seal, as modern envelopes seal better and more efficiently than wax ever could. However, it’s still fun, and the aesthetics are undoubtedly impressive. 

Melting the wax to form a wax seal is pretty simple really. We will walk through some of the common ways to get your wax seal ready to be stamped.

You can either use wax sticks that are specifically made for creating wax seals, or wax beads.

What Do You Need for Wax Seal and Letters?

There are several tools that you should gather if you want to do things the right way

There are three types of wax that you can go with to make wax seals:

• Standard sealing wax without wicks
• Sealing wax with wicks
• Wax beads

Each one has its own uses and it really just depends on your preferred method for forming a wax seal. 

Wax Without Wicks

You can melt these in just about any way that you want to. After all, they’re just wax sticks with nothing else. They don’t have a wick that runs up the center as you would find in a traditional candle. 

However, one favorite way of melting these is to run them through a hot glue gun, just as you would a hot glue stick. Simply load up your hot glue gun, let it warm up, and pull the trigger so that the wax runs out of the point of the glue gun. 

Wax Beads

Wax beads make sense if you want to put together a bunch of different colors and melt them all together into something else. 

You can put them all in a spoon and use a lighter to heat the spoon up until all of the beads in the cup of the spoon melt. Then you simply pour it and press your wax seal into the result. 

Wicks with Sticks

The simplest option is to order sealing wax sticks in bulk, with as many colors as you choose. They are basically just short candles. You light the wick and turn the stick so that the flame burns up into the point.

Gravity will take care of the rest. Hold the stick over the envelope you want to seal, and allow it to build up a large enough puddle for you to properly press your seal down and into it. 

Wax Seal/Stamp Head

Arguably, the most important part of the entire setup is the wax seal. It can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. Of course, the more elaborate it is, the more wax you will need to properly press down and create a large enough imprint.

There are many styles of stamps, from Hogwarts seals to this great moon-themed set on Amazon. Whatever suits your fancy is, more likely than not, available on the market somewhere. 

Wax Spoon

A nice wax spoon will make your life easier. Although we don’t recommend it, you could use any old metal spoon. Just keep in mind, if the handle is made out of metal, then you run a chance of burning yourself if you heat the spoon for too long. 

Final Thoughts

Wax seals aren’t difficult to melt, whether you choose to go with a wax (hot glue) gun, heat up a spoon, or use a standard candle. It is a bit old-fashioned but will always go over well for elaborate birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. 

Read More of Our Articles about Sealing Wax

• How to Properly Do a Wax Seals
• Can You Mail Wax Seals?
• Best Stamps for Sealing Wax