Wax Letter Seals
“Harry, you’re a wizard…”
We have a few older children in our Learning Community who’re just discovering the wizarding world of Harry Potter. It’s been so lovely to see it all over again through the eyes of these young people. I loved Harry Potter (HP) as a kid so I’m all too happy to cast spells and recite passages with them, I’m still waiting for my letter too…
As February 14th rolled round this year I combined this HP love and a little treat for the group making them all a little crochet heart and putting it into an origami envelop complete with a wax seal. Sadly not the Hogwarts logo but instead flower inspired to keep in the Kith theme.
Handing them out this week gave them all a lovely surprise but mostly inspired them to create their own messages complete with wax seals.
For the older children it was the perfect balance of risk and creativity. Holding a little metal spoon over a tealight was exciting, thrilling to see the wax beads melting right before their eyes. They carefully poured the hot wax just where they wanted it then quickly took the metal stamp to press down before the wax hardened. An exercise in motor planning and coordination for sure!
Try it at home…
Find an envelope origami tutorial online, we used a simple one even young fingers could figure out. There are tonnes of different styles so have a play with something which works best for your young people. Pinterest is of course a great place to get distrac… I mean start.
Make a little something to go in your envelope. A little letter, a craft or something special. Don’t forget to put it in… once the wax is on you’ll have to tear the envelope to get to the thing inside.
Take your wax beads, 3 worked well for the size of our little spoon. Put them in to the spoon then hold over the flame. Not directly onto it but just hovering above. It should take 1-2 minutes for the wax to fully melt.
Pour the liquid wax over the join of the envelope, put the spoon down then take the stamp. Carefully pressing it down slowly then let go for 30 seconds to allow the wax to harden slightly. We found in the cold yurt this method worked best for us. It might take some experimenting to get right in your house.
Take the stamp off and wait for the wax to fully harden before giving it to your special person.
