Going Vintage: Making Wax Seals

My very first wax seal set came through the mail last week, and I couldn’t wait to experiment with it! This will be an interesting touch to writing letters. I’m getting serious with writing calligraphy lately, why not make letter-writing look even more archaic with wax seals, right? And I mean archaic in a good way.

The materials needed are very minimal – I have some wax sticks in white, silver and gold, a wax seal, some matches, and paper. I threw in some baker’s twine as well. For this project, I’m making belly bands for some note cards that I’m planning to write.

It was a little challenging at first. My wax stick has a wick, and I was dripping wax all over the kitchen table! After a few tries, I finally got one that looked a bit promising. Encouraged, I dripped some more wax. On the paper this time, not the table.

Yay! That one above was my favorite! From my experience, it’s best to wait a few seconds before pressing the wax with the seal. When pressed too early, the impression will not be as sharp. Don’t wait too long, though, or you might end up with a hard wax that may be tricky to melt again!

To give this post a happy ending, I was able to come up with a few belly bands! I’m lovin’ that star.

This tutorial is pretty straightforward if you need instructions on making wax seals. Now you can surprise your pen pals with a vintage-looking letter the next time you write them some mail. Just in case you’re wondering where I got these awesome goodies, it’s from Katrina Alana and yes, they ship internationally!

Postal Travels Magazine – A Pen Pal’s Best Friend

I remember having a pen pal when I was about 10. Her name’s Tara and she was from the UK. That’s all I remember about her now, but I have an amusing recollection of how excited I always was whenever my Mom hands me something from the mail. Oh, I guess old habits die hard. Until now I still love to write. And still get very much thrilled when I have something waiting for me in the mail box!

With the resurgence of snail mail and pen pal writing, while doing some research, I have stumbled upon Postal Travels Magazine. Tee and Karina are the ladies behind this online publication, and I must say they are very enthusiastic about the art of snail mail. The magazine features DIY crafts, stationeries, letter-writing, pen pal ads and stories, interviews, and my favorite – giveaways!

I am still beaming (slightly on the outside, but mostly on the inside) because they featured the Happy Hands Project. Yup, I have an interview in the Postal Travels June issue, so I hope that’s another reason for you to check it out.

They currently have this Traveling Notebook project which I think is a fantastic idea. It will be passed on to different people from different places, and each person gets to write something creative on a page or two. Then the notebook will be sent to another place again. How exciting! I am definitely signing up. If you need to know more, flip to pages 18 and 19 of the June issue.

If you haven’t gotten into the pen pal writing thing yet, Postal Travels might just be the inspiration you need to get started.

Hello, Calligraphy Photoshop Brushes!

I have been practicing with my new scarlet ink a few weeks ago, and had a grand time writing a bazillion ‘hellos’. I had to figure out a different way to share them, and here they are! I came up with 3 new Photoshop brushes that you can use. You can adjust the opacity in Photoshop and use them as photo overlays, or you can make note cards for people you simply want to say hello to. Any day is a good day for sending mail, I say.

I hope I’ll get to see what you make of them! Tag me on Instagram, I’d be very much delighted to see them. Download your ‘hello’ calligraphy Photoshop brush set here.

If you need help loading these brushes, check out this video tutorial from Creature Comforts. I always link to this video – I find it way cooler than just reading step by step instructions. I have another set of brushes here, if you’re into watercolor circles. Have fun and spread the love!