Hi, I have been getting further into Ars Magica recently picking it back up now that I got my Definitive Edition books finally in the mail.
I have been wanting to get a wax seal made to the same kind of design that was used for the medallions in the backer kit, I have made a rough sketch based on pictures from my Medallion. This post is kind of a cross post from the discord so I hope that is ok, I just have two questions mainly for John I guess as it is his artwork.
-
Would it be ok for me to order a seal with the design, It is not for commercial use or distribution so my understanding is it is legal for me to do so but I do not wish to miss use any of your artwork if you do not wish it to be used in such a way. So if any staff would prefer I would not have a wax seal made please let me know and I will think of something else.
-
a much longer shot but I am wondering if I would be able to get someone to look over my attempt at copying the design. Don't know if I should post the actual image here as I don't want to post others work and as the only picture posted was of a sand cast I don't want to release something to the public that was not meant to be. I in no way expect to get an actual digital image (even though it would make thing easier) because it feels kind of wrong but I am unsure of a specific character between the two words on the outside as it is kind of blurry in both my copy and the image of the sand cast on the backer kit. I can not tell if it is intentional or a byproduct of sand casting being painful.
Either way even if this does not work out I really appreciate all the work you guys have done and hope you will forgive me for already doing something with the artwork. I had engraved the logo already into some 'Norse gold' a brass alloy that is kind of gold color I cast & mixed myself using a rotatory tool but I am not the best at either engraving or casting so it ended up pretty jank.
This is awesome! At some point I did a wax seal imprint with the Hermetic sigil, but looking around my workshop just now I couldn't find it. Making a proper wax seal with a metal head and wooden handle would be a fun project.
The Sigil is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 (you can grab it from Ars-Magica-Open-License/released-images/arm5sigil.png at main · OriginalMadman/Ars-Magica-Open-License · GitHub ). Use, adapt, modify, go to town.
For the medallion, I hand-drew the sigil with a black sharpie, scanned it, and then added the lettering using the the AMAZING font Numismatica Medievalis ( https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n22a09.html ). I then used this to generate gcode for a CNC router to carve a mold out of aluminum, and I then used that to mold plastic for masters that I then used to make impressions in casting sand. Which was all too much, probably. (For the Bonisagus medallions, I sculpted a master by hand out of a disk of plaster.) But it does mean that I could make a lot of plastic versions of the medallion with our little benchtop injection molder -- though I then got all distracted into the fun of casting nonferrous metals. The character between the words is three vertical dots, by the way.
ANYHOW... My recommendation is that you adapt the sigil yourself, digitally or by hand. You're welcome to work from my medallion if you like. As you notice, each hand-cast medallion has unique characteristics/flaws. I think it would be cooler for your wax seal to be even slightly different, whether by choosing different variant letters or having a very slightly different rendering of the simplified sigil.
In any case, this is great! Personal use of course is no problem, and even commercial use is fine as long as it complies with the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.
Sigh. Now I'm thinking about wanting to go cast metal again...
Do you have a favorite source for custom wax seals? Might be fun to set them up with the symbols of each House or something. Great for game props!
Thanks for the reply! Great to hear I'll plan on making the pattern myself give it a bit of character like you recommended. When I had previously tried to make the pattern myself the character that is three vertical dots got transcribed as a ! because two of the dots had kind of flown together in mine, so thanks for the correction.
I do not know a tun about wax sealing but there are two main places I know about that will laser etch a seal for you into a stamp. (letterseals.com) Is one, they are significantly more expensive and have fewer options, the other I know of is (nostalgicimpressions.com) who I am planning on using they are less expensive and even have services to help you make something like a coat of arms edit into something that would work for a seal. But fair warning I do not have any idea of quality difference, it looks like they both use the same stock and I can't imagine they are using laser etchers that are that different but who knows.
Pardon my rambling but I am just want to mention that there are two very different kinds of the actual wax you use for sealing. What is in movies is usually referred to as 'tradition wax' or 'bankers wax' it will actually snap and is quite hard. The main wax people use now which is what is on amazon mostly and is significantly cheaper is just called 'sealing wax' or something to that affect, it is much more flexible and usually made of paraffin or such. Basically difference is the traditional stuff is expensive and satisfying but can't be actually sent though the mail (too brittle will break in transit) the new stuff is less cool, cheaper, and postage safe.
Well anyway thank you for replying so quickly! It's really great how open all of you guys have been with all of this stuff, I kind of expected it to take longer to hear back so thanks!
Ooh, neat details about wax that I did not know! We have some wax stamp sets and have used the wax that came with them as well as regular candles, beeswax, and even the wax used to seal cheese wheels.
