The Story Of A Wax Seal Cat 

As anyone who has dipped into this site will know I’m a bit of a Harry Potter fan and if you read the post at the beginning of last October entitled ‘The Hogwarts School Bag” you’ll realise that things got a little out of hand resulting in me buying a bespoke wax seal. 

The seal in question is a “H” and is meant to replicate the “H” used on the Hogwarts letters sent to Harry in the original film, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, and it’s a very good replica and this got me thinking and thinking led to an “idea”; which is always a dangerous thing.

As ideas do it took hold and I decided that it would be nice to have a seal made for Charlierufus.com and words like ‘cool’ and ‘sophisticated’ and ‘traditional’ entered my thinking and before the logical side of my brain had kicked in, I was shopping for seals. 

Having created the original design meant there were no restrictions placed on what I could and could not do with it because the Copyright is mine so I would always recommend creating your own design if you can; and if you can’t make sure when you pay for it that ownership of the Copyright is transferred to you. Then you are free to do what you will with the design.

On with the story. 

There are a lot of people out there that make seals in various sizes and formats, one of which is 3D. This sounded cool  so I thought I’d go for a 3D seal and I was hoping to get something similar to one of the Noble Collection’s Hogwarts seals I own.

So, I contacted Chris at UK Wax Seals to see what could be done; Chris gave the matter some thought and came back to me with a couple of options; the seal you see or a 3D version; the latter was going to be expensive and Chris thought I would get the result I was seeking with the non 3D which option, which I ordered, and as you can see Chris was right and it does a very nice job. 

At this stage I’d just like to say a few words about Chris; Chris is a great guy to work with on a project like this, he will answer as many questions as you have, and I asked a lot, and when it’s a bespoke piece of work you are doing via the internet you are going to need to ask a lot of questions.

Design agreed and questions answered I settled my bill with Chris and about a week later the seal arrived and as it was a birthday present it was taken into protective custody, so I had to wait a few more days before melting wax and testing it out.

The day came and without setting anything on fire, always a good start, I melted some silver wax and, poured it onto the notebook cover (a B5 sized Moleskine) and pressed the seal into it. This is always the nerve-wracking bit because if you get the timing less than spot on you can end up with a duff seal; I learnt this the hard way when making the “H” seals.

One big sigh of relief as I lifted the seal and the result is as you see it, Chris’ seal created a perfect impression first time without the need to take any special steps such as cooling the seal et cetera.

I am very pleased with the seal and if you are thinking of ordering a seal, I would recommend you get in touch with Chris either through his website or via his Etsy shop.

However, you look at it, using a wax seal is something special. Whether, like me, you are sealing a Hogwarts letter, or invitations to an event or adding your personal seal to gift wrapping; whatever you do using a seal elevates what you are doing from the merely functional to something special.

Do I think you should have your own seal, yes I do, but if you just want to dabble for now then there is no shortage of very reasonably priced suppliers of seals and wax which comes in nearly every colour you could want; my only advice is shop around. That and buy a decent melting spoon, I spent £5.99GBP from Custom Wax Seals (link below) on mine, which is the 5ml version, and I plan to buy a couple more in the near future.

The one thing I haven’t said so far is that it’s fun melting and mixing waxes to see what you can create and best of all with so many suppliers out there it doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby; I’ve paid literally pennies for some of the sticks of wax I’ve bought.

Ok to finish this review here are a few places I’ve picked up seals and supplies:

Wax seals: Etsy, Amazon, eBay

Sealing wax: Etsy, Amazon, eBay, UK Wax Seals

*Brass melting spoon: Custom Wax Seals

Tea light candles: Everywhere

*As you can see my spoon has a handle, this is very important and a good investment if you don’t want burnt fingers.

Disclaimer: The wax seal was purchased at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.