Decadent Envelope with Faux Wax Seal

'Faux Wax Seal' by Neil Burley

I, to be honest, was struggling a little with this month's theme of 'Decadence' - and then my thoughts some how turned to writing letters. The oft ignored envelope then became my focus of attention and what's more decadent than a wax seal on a hand-written missive?

I've used the WOW! Vintage Wallpaper clear stamp with Versamark clear embossing ink and WOW! White Pearl to put the  border on the side of the envelope front and across the flap on the back. The clear stamp allows you to more or less exactly line up the pattern on the back, so don't be afraid to stamp each half and then powder over both sides at the same time. I've handwritten the wording with the WOW! Embossing Pen (tracing from a printout I popped into the envelope) before embossing with WOW! Metallic Gold Rich.

For the seal, I've done a few steps for your info:

Firstly, I took a ball of self-hardening air dry clay and pressed the end of a wide-barrel marker pen into the end to create the dip. It pressed into a disc roughly the size of a 10 pence piece. To add the monogram, I rolled out the clay to make a very thin sausage which I then pressed onto the centre of the seal. Moisten your finger as you smooth over the clay, but keep any large cracks as this adds texture to your final seal. What you create here will be exactly reproduced when you're moulding the embossing powder. Now set it aside to completely dry (at least 24 hours). Once dry, it needs to be sealed and allowed to dry completely - I used spray fixative, but a wash of diluted PVA or multi-medium will do the same thing (I discovered the moulding paste doesn't set properly on porous surfaces). Get equal quantities of  the two Mold-n-Pour putty colours (Ranger) and mix together thoroughly before pressing the clay seal into it and allow it to set.

Melt a tablespoon of WOW! Primary Apple Red Ultra High in a foil pie dish (using heat tool from beneath) and carefully pour into the mould, continuing to heat the molten powder from above with the heat tool to maintain its flow.

Quickly take a section of ribbon, and put a loop into it at the top. Press the cross-over into the molten powder and allow it to soak through both sides so that it will hold when set. Take care to use a heat-proof tool to do the prodding, not your finger!

When completely cool, demould the moulded seal. The mould leaves an authentic matt finish to your faux wax seal. If you want it glossy, then waft it with the heat tool until the surface only just melts. Take care not to melt the ribbon!

For that extra bit of decadence, and to help highlight the raised areas, press your finger into a gold pigment ink pad and smear it over the seal.

To stick your seal down to the envelope, I recommend Pinflair Glue Gel - it's one of the few adhesives I've found that keeps a grip on the waxy surface of the embossing powder.




WOW! Shopping List
    WOW! Vintage Wallpaper clear stamp
    WOW! White Pearl
    WOW! Metallic Gold Rich
    WOW! Primary Apple Red Ultra High
    WOW! Embossing Pen
    Versamark clear embossing ink
    WOW! Heat tool