I have a friend (in fact, several) who is big into Pokémon. So much so that when we’re away with friends, we’ll often pause on walks for some sort of game interaction. There have also been trips abroad for various Pokémon events. So when it came time to wrap a birthday present, I raided my ‘to be altered’ stash, selected a papier-mâché suitcase and customised it:
If you’ve ever wanted to create your own authentic wax seal, I’ve finally cracked it using a laser-engraved brass stamp — and I’ll show you how.
They come and go out of fashion, but wax seals still evoke a sense of quality and authenticity that has survived for hundreds of years. Over a lesser number of years, I have attempted various ways of making my own version, from a faux wax seal using embossing powder, to another made from pewter and latterly engraving acrylic with the laser and painting over with a soft-touch varnish. None of those were authentic though
With the arrival of my xTool F1 Ultra fiber laser, the opportunity was there to finally create my own proper, customised, brass wax seal stamp and apply an authentic wax seal to my work.
For those not in the know, Gaslands is a table-top game based in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Players control small fleets of armed vehicles in battles for resources, dominance and survival. Handily, the game uses Matchbox size cars and vehicles as ‘pieces’. I was introduced to the game for the opportunity to customise these cars – I’ve yet to actually play it! Here’s a makeover you may be interested in…
These are solid beech tags, 12 x 2.5 cm in size and about 1 cm thick. I’m calling them chunky gift tags and spent a day getting the settings right on the laser cutter. Variations included cutting from both sides (involving lining up the mirror image, not easy), lots of repeat cuts, and lots of sanding. Every block had to be covered with masking tape front and back prior to cutting. I have a sum total of 30 tags that passed quality control, 4 that are seconds and another 6 or 7 consigned to the bin straight away.
One of the trickiest things for an artist/maker to get right is pricing. Following guidelines from college, each of these tags should be sold for £7.50 each. I certainly wouldn’t pay that much for them. I’ve settled on £3 each with two for £5 as an offer, and even that seems a little too much. What is often overlooked when considering the price of artwork/made items are the costs involved in prototyping, learning from mistakes, the odd block that is inexplicably more dense and harder to cut than the others, and the wear and tear on equipment.
May I encourage you to ask artisans ‘what has this really cost to make?’ You may not be willing to pay that price, but at least you will know why the moniker of ‘penniless artist’ is all too real.