3 Gifts of Christmas: Custom Wax Seals

In this third installment of the 3 Gifts of Christmas we're going to see how insanely fast and easy it is to make your own custom wax seals just using the lids from soda bottles (or anything else you might have on hand) some glue and charms or a toothpick for carving in polymer clay!

Wax seals have become all the rage and everyone from expectant brides and mothers to your favorite pen-pal are using them. They're fun embellishments for scrapbooking, wonderful additions to your snail mail even between friends and even kinda fun just to play with. There's a lovely seller on Etsy who is making faux wax seal jewelry that makes my heart sing! So you COULD make jewelry or bookmark and journal charms from the seals we're making today. 

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What you'll need:

• Polymer clay (Baking instructions vary, as a general rule it's 30 minutes at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for each 1/4" thickness... for these gems I don't think you'll need more than 30 minutes even if you have a whole tray full to bake, more likely only about 15-20 minutes) 
• Parchment paper - a non-stick silicone mat will also work, though I don't like to put food on things that non-food were baked on, so it's a thought to just use the parchment paper that can be thrown away.
• Waterproof sealer (if you're picky) - this only makes the polymer clay less rough in places where you used your charm or toothpick to make the pattern
• Bottle caps preferably at least 1/2 an inch tall (I saved the ones from my boyfriend's two liter bottles of diet coke for a few weeks)
• Charms or other shaped objects to use to make your "stamp" impression in the clay
• A toothpick or two or ten
• Rubbing Alcohol only if you are particular about removing finger prints or marks on the clay
• Cotton buds/swabs - translate Q-tips - again, only if you're using rubbing alcohol to remove marks
• A good industrial grade glue. I use the super stinky E6000 glue that California warns us about all over the packaging. It is waterproof and holds like CRAZY when it's dry. Better even than super glue or gorilla glue. Just make sure you can open a window or put on your COVID mask for a couple of minutes if you're making a bunch at once.
• You might want to practice writing or drawing any letters backwards before you carve them into your stamp, as this is required if you want the letters/numbers to appear the right direction.
• I will mention this here just so that it has been said... polymer clay is not a forever art medium and will eventually begin to degrade with use as a stamp, so this is not a forever gift, just a sweet little thing to share between yourself and the recipient. The higher the wax content of the sealing medium they use the longer the stamp will last, and the more glue or glue stick that is in their sealing medium the less time they'll get overall because the glue will slowly bond and pull apart the seal.

So... here's where I feel like it gets obvious and... we're going to gather our parts and have a seat at a clean counter or table. Work on a clean counter or parchment paper. I am a little weird about non-food touching places that food will touch, so I work on, bake on and glue and cure on paper.

Kneed the polymer clay until you can work it smoothly then make a little ball and flatten it until it's about the size around of a quarter and about 1/4" thick. You CAN use something to roll it out and a slightly larger bottle cap or a knife to cut around the shape, I just find that I like smooshing the ball of clay with my hands more.

I smooth mine out a little to get rid of fingerprints, and they really don't matter if there are still a few. ("Pro Tip" a small dab of rubbing alcohol on a cotton bud/swab - translate q-tip - will remove finger prints if you gently swab the surface. I mention it, but you'll see I didn't use any.)

Now press the charm or whatever you're using to make the impression you want to use as a seal deeply into the clay without pushing it all the way out to the table. I use the toothpicks to help with this to avoid fingernail or fingerprint marks.

Carefully smooth or correct any strange places where the charm or object or toothpick left rough spots. (again, that cotton bud/swab with some rubbing alcohol can work here and I usually just use my fingertips.)

Gently remove your clay from the table or parchment paper and mark the back right in the center with the open side of the bottle cap. I sort of move mine around gently a little bit to make the marked space just a little bigger than the cap. It doesn't need to be deep, we're marking the clay so that the glue has something to stick to later. The clay will shrink slightly during the baking process, and so by making it a little bigger I feel like I have better luck gluing after.

Now bake according to directions on your polymer clay.

Allow to cool completely and then seal if you feel like you need to. I don't. I feel like the sealer can actually cause sticking to the sealing medium while the plastic nature of the polymer clay releases the medium better.

Glue the open end of your bottle cap to the ring you made on the back. It might be a little smaller than the opening of the cap, and that's ok. You did this so that the glue has something rough to hold on to. ALLOW THE GLUE TO COMPLETELY CURE

Now, if you're particular you can paint the soda cap with acrylic paint, or you can use marker on it. I leave them alone because I kind of like the way they look. I do kind of like the look of gluing a little bit of ribbon around it, so do what you want to with yours!

Custom fun and totally unique, these home made seals are absolutely fabulous for gifts because they're really truly handmade from you to the recipient! I love that I can tuck them into a little bag that I have crocheted or one left over from something I ordered or even a little snack bag with a wax stick and make them into a perfect extra gift for anyone on my list with just a little twine and a tag!

This idea isn't owned by me or anyone else and so I only ask that you share pics on social media because I really can't wait to see what you do with these! Please tag me at #12SquaredCreations on Instagram and show me what you've made!