Sealing Wax and Wafers

 This was quite a new concept for me as by the 1850s, we had gummed envelopes so wax and wafers were old fashioned by my usual time period.  But delving nearly 20 years prior, I've had to pick up some new skills along the way.

Back of a letter written by my living history character, Sarah Wharton
Yale University Archives

On the back of Mrs. Wharton's letter, you can see remnants of a seal.  The actual seal is missing (I believe it was on the chewed away parts) so we can't actually see what her seal was.  But I CAN tell you Sarah used red sealing wax!

The first step was to order a custom seal for Sarah.  I chose a simple SW for her initials.  Looking at original seals, initials seem to be popular for 1820-1840.  Some had the first, middle, and last initial; but I chose just first and last 1) because 2 letters fit on the seal better than 3 and 2) her initials spell SAW and I didn't want there to be any confusion that it represented initials not a word.  And since we can't see Sarah's actual seal, it could have been almost anything.

Now Sarah was wealthy and therefore probably had a fancy seal.  Possible precious metal and stone or more likely ivory or bone.  I did wood because that was what I could get.  I decided that since this isn't Sarah's 'real' seal but rather one that sits with her traveling port folio, she may not have spent the extra money on something that could have gotten misplaced on all her travels.  Therefore, I decided cheaper was okay for this project.

I ordered a seal from Etsy that works just fine.

Then I set about making some sealing wax.  I didn't necessarily have to as you can still buy sealing wax today, but I thought it would be fun making my own even though Sarah most definitely would not.

My sealing wax receipt comes from Edward Somerset's 1822 publication of "A thousand notable things, embracing a collection of scarce receipts".

I used olive oil instead of turpentine but otherwise followed the receipt as far as main ingredients.  Of course, vermillion is poisonous and otherwise unavailable should I even want to use it so I used red mica powder instead.  This first batch turned out rather transparent so next time I will add more colorant.

I also chose to make other colors, as described in "The Cyclopaedia; Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature" published in 1819 by Abraham Rees.

I did not make purple but did attempt black, green, blue, and yellow.  I used my own colorants that I already had, although I know I can get verdigrise for green next time.  This go around, I used terre verde from earthpigments.com for green, brilliant yellow of the same company for yellow, blue mica powder for the blue, and black mica powder for the black.

The blue turned out especially well.

Next up were wafers.  I used "The New Family Receipt-book" published in 1811.

I couldn't get the isinglass to dissolve so I had to forgo that.  I also took out the yeast because I had a hard time getting them thin enough without leavening.  There are other receipts that only call for flour, water, and colorant so I didn't feel bad leaving it out.

Next time, I'll try Brazilwood for read, indigo for blue (I tried but I couldn't quite figure it out yet.  I'm working on it),and probably turmeric for yellow (I didn't have any in my pantry at the time).  Food coloring will work for now.  These are still experiments.

The wafers are still quite thick as you can see.  I'm working on thinning them down as the originals that are seen are nearly paper thin.

Original wafers from Ebay

 But I'm still happy with how the whole project came out!

Writing Portfolios and Pen Wipers

 This was just supposed to be just the traveling port folio from the Workwoman's Guide but turned into quite a project!

The portfolio is made from bookboard and covered in black silk trimmed with green and brown silk ribbon.  It is filled with a turtle pen wiper, pen nibs, a bone pen, a horn pen, two pencils, tapers, a seal, sealing wax, a letter opener, and a knife.  It turned out cute!

The 1860s writing desk was put together with mostly the same items, except I added stamps and gummed envelopes for events post 1858.

For both desks, I made my own ink out of walnut shells which was a fun experience.  Then I made SEVERAL pen wipers.  I'm going to take 2 of them to sell at the Texas Living History Association's auction.

Aside from the turtle one, I made two pinwheel pen wipers, one with a crochet top and bottom with ceramic squirrels on top, and another plain with just a china button.

Then I made a strawberry pen wiper based off this original from Peterson's Magazine, 1865:

I used glass beads for the veins and crocheted the strawberries.  The actual directions I used were something of this sort:

Chain 4, then join with the 1st chain with a slip stitch

Single crochet around (4 stitches)

2 single crochet in each stitch around (8 stitches)

Single crochet around (8 stitches)

Single crochet around, but increase every other stitch (12 stitches)

Continue in that pattern (plain row, increase row, plain row) until it looks like a strawberry.  Stuff the strawberry then single crochet in every other stitch until the strawberry is closed.  Tie off.

The little green stem bit was as follows:

Chain 5, single crochet back down, slip stitch in the 1st chain, chain 5, single crochet back down, slip stitch in the 1st chain, chain 5, single crochet back down, slip stitch in the lst chain.  Then I stitched it on the strawberry and beaded the strawberry with yellow glass beads.

I also did an acorn pen wiper from an 1868 Godey's Lady's Book pattern.

I used real acorn hulls but crocheted the actual acorns using a very similar pattern to the strawberries, but smaller.

Chain 2, slip in the 1st chain.

Single crochet 4 times in 1st chain.

Do 2 single crochet in each stitch (8 stitches).

Single crochet across (8 stitches) x2

Stuff the acorn.

Single crochet, skip a stitch, single crochet until the hole is closed.

The project turned out super cute!

Enjoy!