Wax Seals and Tabs

Applying the seals and tabs

Seals are common to find on indentures. I was the only one out of the two of us that actually had a formal seal already made. My seal is a non-European seal carved out of agate, and it features my persona's Chinese name on it. This seal was specially made for me by Chinese artists who specialize in this rare art form.

The ties are made out of braided trim left over from making my blue doublet. The black and white trim matched the color of his device, and the purple belongs to my personal insignia. The silver in my cord matches the personal insignias of my other mentors.

Cylinder seal and wax seal of King Darius of Babylon . Diameter: Diameter: 1.70 centimetres; Height: Height: 3.70 centimetres; Weight: Weight: 21 grammes

Located at the British Museum.

Wax Seals Are Ancient!

The ancient seals were stamps or engraving stones used to make impressions on clay or wax. Normally, the seals were attached to important documents or objects to convey authenticity, ownership, or authority.

They're so old that they were referenced in the Bible!

"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm."
- Song of Solomon 8:6

I've included a link to some ancient Babylonian seals that are currently residing at the British Museum, see here https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1835-0630-1

Close up of Cyrus' Seal and tabs

Final copy, after much trial and error

Close up of MeiLan's Seal and tabs

Final copy. I did this as a two pour. The first pour covered the back. I applied more wax to the front before pressing the seal in.

Creating Cyrus' Seal

I don't have much skill in carving, and I didn't have access to a specialty carver to create the seal for me. I opted to render his device in TinkerCad and then printed it out on the 3D printer. Many of the details didn't take well, so I had to go in and fix the wax seal with a needle that I heated over a candle. This took a lot of trial and error, and several prints to get it down to the right size. The seal itself is about 1 inch x 1 inch.

Bottom view of my seal

My seal is written in Chinese cuneform known as "seal script." It says my name "Hua MeiLan." To learn more about seal script, click here.

Side view of my seal

Agate stone and features dragons and sheep.

Attempt 1:

I was too impatient and pulled it apart too roughly. I also should have added more wax.

Attempt 2:

This time, I added more wax and tried to keep the pour more symmetrical.

More on Attempt 2:

I added a thin coating of oil to the surface of the mold, hoping it will work better. But same thing as before, I pulled it apart too roughly and it broke in half.

Attempt 3:

I added a lot more wax, almost triple of what I started off with then applied the seal. This time, I waited 5 minutes before pulling it off.

Cleaning up the Design

I didn't think to grab a needle when I first started to fix the design. Instead, I reached for the closest thing to me in the kitchen: the cooking thermometer.

Final copy

This is what I finally ended up with. I wasn't quite able to capture all the details that I would have liked, but I'm very satisfied with the results.

My Final Thoughts on the Project

Overall, this was a highly rewarding project that really pushed the edges of problem-solving. Here are a couple of things that I would have done differently:

commissioned a wax seal for his device
- Why? It was a pain in the backside trying to make a proper impression for a seal out of what I could get 3D printed. This really should have been made out of stone or some other material. I suspect that a big factor in this is that wax is made out of oil, and the print filament used to make the seal is made out of plastic. Both of them are acting in a way that made it really hard to make a good impression in the wax.
had the chance to try different kinds of wax
- Why? The wax I used was nice to use in this project in a pinch, but it didn't quite look right. It has a strange, milky appearance to it, plus particles of mica powder suspended in the wax. While it does make a 'pretty' effect, I'm not sure that I'm a fan of it for period-looking documents. Adding wax seals to important, legal documents with glitter embedded on them carries the same sentiment as signing a deed with a 90s glitter gel pen.
woven my own ties to represent me
- Why? while I'm happy with how this turned out, I don't like how the bottom fringes look on my Indenture. I wish it was more feathery

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