Wax Seals with Bakers Twine and Ribbon

In my gift wrapping career there is one particular trend that I have always been fond of and that is good old Brown Paper.  I love it so much that I have based my whole ribbon collection around it and find the subtle brown colour a great canvas to work from.  Brown Kraft Paper is inexpensive and can be found in your local Post Office

Here I’ve decided to wrap my gift in brown paper and mix in some old fashioned Bakers Twine as an alternative to ribbon, and love the red and white candy stripe

With the twine I have wrapped it around the box at various angles, and have tied the two ends in the centre of the box

Many years ago I bought a wax seal kit from the shop ‘Past Times’ yet never really knew what to do with it except seal envelopes the old fashioned way.

To get the effect you light the end of the wax stick and wait for the wax to melt (it’s a bit like lighting a candle and waiting for it to drip).  When the wax starts to melt you need to position the stick above where you want the wax feature

Once you’ve got a good ‘blob’ of wax, I give it around 10 seconds to mature then push a decorative stamp in it (you can also stamp it in some coloured ink before you push down to give it an extra dimension)

With my project, I’ve cut the 2 ends short after tying them and the wax seal covers them nicely.  This is a great idea if children or adults have a habit of opening their presents early!

Bakers Twine is extremely popular and if you can’t find any, use a thin garden string or twine as an alternative

Recently I wrapped this small gift in old fashioned music script for a pianist, and the red wax seal gave it an additional aged look

I also used this hand printed calligraphy paper by Polly O’Connor which I totally love with the gold features

I wanted to go for a subtle ribbon to highlight the wax feature, and chose a narrow light grey stitched ribbon from our collection

You can buy wax seals from upmarket stationery shops and from luxury department stores such as Fortnum and Mason.  As an alternative you can always add a dried rosebud on your gift with a glue gun or Copydex, and this is a great idea for wedding favours too.

Enjoy x