This is a reproduction of a recipe for a sealing wax from 1683. The original author is unknown. The language of the original has been preserved. I have included it here because it is interesting and shows that wax has been around for a long time; but more than that, it is a good illustration of the things we can do with wax. I have added a few notes about modern ingredients and where you can find them at the end.
Modern Uses for a Sealing Wax
A 300 year old sealing wax recipe can still be used today. Two of the many possibilities are listed.
As a sealing wax
Use this wax as it was intended, as a sealing wax. Imprint the wax with
a signet ring to personalize your notes and letters. Some people will think
you are nuts. Most will think it is fun.
Sealing a funerary urn
A good use for this sealing wax is for sealing the lid on a funerary urn.
Impressing a ring that was worn by the deceased into the wax adds a nice
conclusion to the urn, especially if the ring has a lodge, school, fraternity,
military, or other emblem. I have used this on both screw-on and fitted
lids, and have found it to be very durable for keeping a fitted lid in place.
The Manufacture of a Good and Faithful Sealing Wax, c:1683
The purposes of a sealing wax are threefold; imprimus - to seal a missive so as to protect it against unwonted investigation, secundus - to seal a missive so as to invigilate against falsification, et tertius - to give witness that the missive comes from the hand from which it purports to arise, by carrying the imprint of a greater or lesser seal.
To accomplish these purposes, the wax must have certain and diverse qualities. It must adhere to the paper or parchement so tenaciously that it may not be prised off with impunity. It must be of such a nature so that when any attempt is made to prise or cut it from it's paper that it shall fly into a thousand shards. Yet it must also be so durable so that the passage of time or the thousand little insults that might ensue unto its normal life, shall not break or mar it.
A simple seal of beeswax can ne'r be pressed to serve, for that it is but childs play to cut it along the seam, whereby then to read the contents of the missive, and then to press the seal back together again with a heated spatula so as to erase any indication that one has assayed to breach the security of the seal.
On the other hand, a seal made of shellac shall also ne'r serve, for that it is too intemperate and hard and will too easily break upon the lightest blow. And belike as not, it will not adhere to a paper when attached thereto, so that oftimes it would pop loose without any encouragement, and bear false witness against the messager.
However, when two substances of opposite humours are married, then a union true unto it's purpose shall be obtained, suitable in all degrees and means. Thus shellac can be tempered with rosin, or turpentine, or beeswax, to obtain a good and true sealing wax.
To make thy wax, takest thou first 4 parts of shellac, and place it in a pan over a heat of the second degree. Once it begins to melt, then add by degrees 2 parts of good turpentine, and thereafter add 1 part of rosin. Now thou moucht cast thy colorant upon it; for red thou shouldst add 2 parts of vermillion, whereas for blue thou shouldst stir in 1 part of Prussian blue. An thou wouldst have a green seal, then thou shouldst add to a blue wax the halve of one part of yellow chrome, and 1 part of magnesia. Before thou dost cast in thy colorant stir it up first with a small measure of turpentine, so that a paste is formed. And at all stages have thy servant stir this mixture so fast is they may, so that none doth stick and burn upon the floor of thy pan. Once these matters have all been married, then thou may form it into sticks by pouring it upon a marble plate in the same fashion as a candy maker doth, and rolling it back and forth with a smoothed wooden block.
An thy wax be too hard, or not tenacious enough to thy paper, thou mayest temper it by adding up to 2 parts of goodly beeswax.
Added Notes in January, 2009:
Dry shellac may be obtained from woodworkers supply houses. Use the least expensive orange flakes.
Rosin may be obtained from music stores, or sporting goods houses. If you want to go back to nature, obtain the rosin by taking the gummy exudate from pine trees and letting it dry in the sun for a summer.
“Vermillion” as used in the recipe is Mercuric Sulfide, and you should be careful with it. Nowadays I might be tempted to substitute an inorganic pigment obtained from a paint store instead. Prussian Blue, Chrome Yellow, and White Magnesia can all be obtained from paint stores or artist's supply houses. Chromium has been implicated in cancer, so you might wish to stay away from that as well.
DON'T use an open flame for heating the wax mixture, unless you like second and third degree burns. Use an electric coffee cup warmer, or a double boiler.
The recipe uses a marble plate because it cooled the hot wax quickly and a piece of polished rock was the only smooth non-stick surface available at the time. Use the marble plate if you want to be original. Make a mold from plastic or wood if you don't.
Be careful if you take the advice of the author and substitute beeswax for shellac. If you add too much beeswax the sealing wax might stick to your seal, if you use one. But if you are only dropping wax on a seam without impressing it with a seal, then beeswax is a cheap filler compared to shellac flakes.
The recipe is not perfectly reproducible since each batch of shellac and rosin will be a little different. You might want to start with a small batch and experiment before you commit to making a large quantity.
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