[Antir_scribes] Kingdom Seals - Space on scrolls - from Bronwen

[Ed and Terri Morrison]

Greetings :-)

Well...
I made Kingdom Seals for my first time today. (Yipee!)
(Thanks to Eleanor in Three Mountains for her tips!!!!!!!)

I attempted between 50 and 60 and was successful with 19.

Most of the wax got poured - pressed and reheated at least three times.  :-)

Anyway
The reason I'm writing...


Because I'm a novice seal maker, it's going to be awhile before my seals fit the approx 2.5" to 3" area most people leave room on scrolls for.

I found it difficult to gauge the size of the puddle of HOT STICKY wax - and also found it not very easy to always get a perfect circle. (I got three out of the whole bunch that compared well to Tuirrean's last batch of 180)

I think that I will get better at it with practice - this was my first time after all - but, here is a little story for you.

At September Crown, there was this incredible arabic scroll being given out and the Royal Scribe called me in to see if I had any "smaller" seals to place on it.  Every seal that she had was just a tiny bit too big and covered a wee portion of the beautiful writing.  We could not find a seal in the 100 or so that we had that would fit.

I believe that the space left for the Kingdom Seal must have been exactly 2.5 inches.

So, I went to my tent and got a candle and swipped an x-acto blade from the Royal Scribes box and set to trimming a seal down to its very bare minimum using a very hot blade.  Successful in the end (took about 45 minutes).  But what a mess (and I ruined the x-acto knife - remember STICKY?  well, burned sticky dopping wax is just stuck for good)

Anyway, the moral to this story is

Some of Bronwen's seals (that's me) are going to be a little big for awhile  - The matrix is 2 3/8" dia. and for an experienced seal maker, the seal usually comes out around 2 5/8".  You should probably be leaving about a 3" to 3 1/2" dia. space for the Kingdom seal - if you are not already.

The Heralds seal matrix is 2".  The Experienced Seal Maker can probably make a seal that will fit in a 2 3/8" circle.  My seals are likely going to be a bit bigger than that (I did not try any of them today) . Please leave between 2 5/8" to 3" diameter for the Heralds Seal when doing Achievement Scrolls (ones w/ heraldry).

The signet ring is 7/8" x 3/4"  but the puddle of wax is around 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" and for mine, you might need around a 2" diameter space.

I promise to practice practice practice  ;-)

and I thank you all for your patience and for the time it took to read this long e-mail

YIS
Bronwen