Sealing Wax

[NoShadesofGrey]

I'm wondering if anyone has made it, and if so, what ingredients did you use?

 

[rupertspal42]

Sealing wax like a to seal a mason jar? Is that what your meaning? :?:

 

[carebear]

I'm guessing it's the wax you drip onto the flap seam of an envelope and then press something into.

 

[rupertspal42]

That's what I would assume to.. I've seen people on craft shows use that type of wax for things like that.. it's supposed to really lock in the food or bath product or whatever REALLY well compared to just closing it into a tin or whatever.. it creates like the ultimate heat seal lol

 

[carebear]

for my jams and jellies I use food grade paraffin. I don't know that the other type would be food safe - depending on what it's made of I guess.

"Recipes vary, but there is a major shift after European trade with the Indies opened. In the Middle Ages sealing wax was typically made of beeswax and "Venice turpentine", a greenish-yellow resinous extract of the European Larch tree. The earliest such wax was uncoloured, somewhat later the wax was coloured red with vermilion. From the 16th century it instead was compounded from a mixture of various proportions of shellac, turpentine, resin, chalk or plaster, and colouring matter (often still vermilion, or else red lead), but not necessarily beeswax." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealing_wax

A modern day company makes theirs from "pine resin, ground limestone, lacquer, and a dye made from cochineal" http://www.jherbin.com/sealing_wax_fabrication.shtml

And another: "Atelier Gargoyle Flexible Sealing Wax is composed of natural resins, beeswax, synthetic polymers, pigments for color and essential oils for scent." http://www.ateliergargoyle.com/pages/wa ... ngwax.html

So I'd not recommend this for mason jars with food inside.

 

[rupertspal42]

Yeah that's probably what my Grandpa uses then because that's what he does to seal it!!

 

[studioalamode]

I read somewhere that sealing wax can be used to seal bottles. You somehow tie a ribbon around the mouth of the bottle and then bring it up over the top of the bottle with some long tails. Then you take the sealing wax and melt it over the top of the bottle, encasing the ribbons, and leaving maybe an inch or so of the tails exposed.

Then, to open the bottle, you would just pull on the ribbons and it would break open the seal. The pictures I saw of this were intriguing, and they had made impressions in the wax with rubber stamps - quite pretty with the ribbons hanging out the bottom. Very classy. It might have been in one of Marie Browning's books come to think of it.

 

[AshleyR]

I read somewhere that sealing wax can be used to seal bottles. You somehow tie a ribbon around the mouth of the bottle and then bring it up over the top of the bottle with some long tails. Then you take the sealing wax and melt it over the top of the bottle, encasing the ribbons, and leaving maybe an inch or so of the tails exposed.

Then, to open the bottle, you would just pull on the ribbons and it would break open the seal. The pictures I saw of this were intriguing, and they had made impressions in the wax with rubber stamps - quite pretty with the ribbons hanging out the bottom. Very classy. It might have been in one of Marie Browning's books come to think of it.

I saw this in one of my aunts books a little while back too. It did look very nice and classy! Can't remember what book it was though....

 

[ChrissyB]

I've seen food grade paraffin sealing wax in the supermarket near the jelly powders and baking items.

 

[Vintageliving]

Here are some very nice sealing waxes from Herbin:

http://www.jherbin.com/sealing_waxes.shtml

I've used melted candles and a button for the seal, but that wax is brittle.

Some waxes make it through the postal system better than others.

I've heard that the red wax from cheese wrappings makes good sealing wax.

I've not yet tried making my own.

 

[AZ Soaper]

I use colored hot melt glue. They have all sorts of colors and there is even glitter. Works great!

 

[donniej]

I bet beeswax would work.

 

[Lindy]

I read somewhere that sealing wax can be used to seal bottles. You somehow tie a ribbon around the mouth of the bottle and then bring it up over the top of the bottle with some long tails. Then you take the sealing wax and melt it over the top of the bottle, encasing the ribbons, and leaving maybe an inch or so of the tails exposed.

Then, to open the bottle, you would just pull on the ribbons and it would break open the seal. The pictures I saw of this were intriguing, and they had made impressions in the wax with rubber stamps - quite pretty with the ribbons hanging out the bottom. Very classy. It might have been in one of Marie Browning's books come to think of it.

I totally love that idea! I wonder if your would hold the ribbons and then dip the top of the bottle into the wax? I bet that would work.

Carol - thanks for the info on the old style of sealing wax! I wonder if it could be made from scratch now.... I would be worried about turpentines though....

 

[pink-north]

I thought sealing wax was also used to seal some type of wine bottles. You might try looking in a DIY wine store or check out your local craft store.

 

[Muzhik]

I did a bit of research into this for a different project a while back, involving the "sealing wax" that was used to seal envelopes, documents, etc. Paraffin and beeswax are TOTALLY unsuited for use as an envelope seal. They are far too brittle to be used by themselves.

The exception might be using it to seal wine bottles. Sometimes bottles of expensive wines would be sealed with wax, ribbons, and a seal not to keep the contents fresh, but to keep the contents from being tampered with and to guarantee the wine's provenance. With the bottle being sealed with wax, it becomes MUCH more difficult to "cork the bottle", i.e., to open the bottle and either replace the contents with a cheaper product (like fortified grape juice -- don't laugh; that was a major scandal in France in the 1700's) or to introduce a poison into the wine. In that case, you WANT a brittle wax to show that the bottle has been tampered with.

The wax used for sealing wax has to meet the following requirements:

1. it must be sticky enough to stick onto the paper, vellum, lambskin, etc., that's being sealed, yet able to be released without tearing the document it's being attached to; [/*:m:knlbmp22]
2. it must be tough enough to tolerate rough handling for extended periods of time (unless you WANT your love letters and financial documents to open up in the pouch while the courier rides through forests wide and over rivers deep); [/*:m:knlbmp22]
3. it can't dry out and crack over the years, i.e., it still must keep the ribbon or paper sealed to the document 50 or more years after being applied;[/*:m:knlbmp22]
4. it must keep an impression, possibly a fairly intricate and detailed impression;[/*:m:knlbmp22]
5. it needs to be thermally stable, i.e., it won't melt or soften when it reaches 90 degrees or crack when it hits 5 degrees[/*:m:knlbmp22]

With all those characteristics, you may just want to buy one of the commercial waxes on the market. I've found some "how-to"s around the internet on making your own sealing wax. The best one I've found is an Instructable, Homemade Sealing Wax, that uses fabric hot glue as its basis. There's also a list of old-time recipes at The Shed, along with notes on modern substitutions.