Wax seals: cool looking, but a giant pain

When we were trying to figure out how to personalize our invitations (more than the organization suggested in the boxed set), Vader suggested we wax seal them closed. It sounded fun and classy, so after a long deliberation we ended up ordering a stamp with our "monogram" off Etsy and some wax. When we finally had both we enjoyed practicing by sealing random junk mail until we had it down. We then moved onto sealing our invitations, where we learned why wax sealing has become a thing of the past. It's messy, it hurts, it's temperamental, and no seal looks the same. We're choosing to see that as lending a unique, handmade touch to each invitation. Here's a visual of the process:

The process: light wick, dribble wax in approximation of a circle, stamp. It turns out targeted dribbling is hard to do well.

Vader's battle wound (the white blob is a blister) - while your thumb is burning there is nothing you can do about it, because it's covered in hot wax.

Sometimes while burning the wick catches fire, dropping bits of char into the wax.  Perhaps a wax  color other than white would be advisable for the future.

Sometimes when the wax is flaming or your finger is burning you flail wax all over the place. It is then hard to peel off.

Sometimes you're not paying perfect attention to the stamp you are working on, and  stick your fingers in the not-yet-cooled wax. Even more unique: invitations with our fingerprints!

It turns out the glue squares I was using to hold the ribbon closed melted from the heat of the wax. Oops.

After stamping a hundred invitations, I would only recommend this project to somebody with patience,  callused fingers, and plenty of extra wax paper. Or anybody who wants a fun challenge that looks so cool when done right. Like this: 

Yeah, it looks great. It's one of three in the entire bunch that look this good.