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Working on some Dark Angels tactical squads today, and I'm thinking about doing something different with the purity seals. Right now the finished squad's seals are pretty standard, red wax with a bit of washed parchment. I've done them with purple wax on my astropath for the IG command squad, and I'm thinking about mixing some with purple on this squad too.

Any suggestions for other colors (on both the wax and the parchment) that have worked for you, or different techniques that make them more interesting?

I tried switching it up when I started my Salamanders, but nothing looked good paired with the green armour other than red. I think purple, blue, orange, or black could all look good, but only against the right backgrounds.

 Jimsolo wrote:
I tried switching it up when I started my Salamanders, but nothing looked good paired with the green armour other than red. I think purple, blue, orange, or black could all look good, but only against the right backgrounds.

Yeah, the green armor does limit what works. I'm thinking the orange would be nice, especially because it's just a brighter red and red works well. I'm going to do some purple too, maybe some lighter blue on the ravenwing because they're black.

When I tried it, the orange looked awful. (The worst by far.) At least to me.

A lighter green wasn't atrocious, and neither was purple, but purple gave it too much of a Joker-y feel to me.

Since I have Blood Ravens which are predominantly red, my purity seals are green, as are their eyes. Green and red, always works well. Wax colours are a great way to get complementary colours mixed in so it's a good idea to experiment to find something you like. The most common roughly in order I think would be "red > green > purple > black/grey > blue, anything else would be pretty rare I think... but if it looks good, go for it hehe.

Parchment should pretty much always be the standard yellowish colour imo. You can spice it up by detailing it better which is always nice.

Jimsolo wrote:When I tried it, the orange looked awful. (The worst by far.) At least to me.

A lighter green wasn't atrocious, and neither was purple, but purple gave it too much of a Joker-y feel to me.

I'm thinking if I do orange I'll actually just do it in standard red, and then do a brighter highlight.

Yonan wrote:Since I have Blood Ravens which are predominantly red, my purity seals are green, as are their eyes. Green and red, always works well. Wax colours are a great way to get complementary colours mixed in so it's a good idea to experiment to find something you like. The most common roughly in order I think would be "red > green > purple > black/grey > blue, anything else would be pretty rare I think... but if it looks good, go for it hehe.

Parchment should pretty much always be the standard yellowish colour imo. You can spice it up by detailing it better which is always nice.

Thanks! I agree about the parchment, though I guess one could add little squiggles and the like to make it look like someone wrote on it.

I think I'll do mostly red, as it does look really good. I'll probably throw a few purple in too, perhaps on sergeants or other ranking models.

I’ve been adding a layer of Blood for the Blood God to my otherwise normal red purity seals. Gives them that nice glossy/waxy look.

BftBG makes your purity seals better. Don’t tell the chaplain, he might take it the wrong way…

As an aside, shouldn’t this be in the P&M section?

 Nevelon wrote:
I’ve been adding a layer of Blood for the Blood God to my otherwise normal red purity seals. Gives them that nice glossy/waxy look.

BftBG makes your purity seals better. Don’t tell the chaplain, he might take it the wrong way…

As an aside, shouldn’t this be in the P&M section?

Oh that's a good idea, maybe I'll try that.

In hindsight, It probably should have been in the painting and modeling section. My original intention was to actually discuss the concept too, but I sort of skipped that and went straight to the hobby aspect.

I have them in range of colours from red, to metal to gold on some officers as mark of rank.

I used blue on my Space Marines. Black armored, with a pirate motif. Purity Seals are actually called Letters of Marque in my Iron Reavers army.

 frozenmilk wrote:
Working on some Dark Angels tactical squads today, and I'm thinking about doing something different with the purity seals. Right now the finished squad's seals are pretty standard, red wax with a bit of washed parchment. I've done them with purple wax on my astropath for the IG command squad, and I'm thinking about mixing some with purple on this squad too.

Any suggestions for other colors (on both the wax and the parchment) that have worked for you, or different techniques that make them more interesting?

Yellow wax and normal white/sepia wash paper looks good on both red and green models.

jhe90 wrote:I have them in range of colours from red, to metal to gold on some officers as mark of rank.

That's a good idea, I like having a few rare colors for use to mark the rank.

snooggums wrote:
Yellow wax and normal white/sepia wash paper looks good on both red and green models.

I haven't tried yellow, but I I think I will.

xraytango wrote:I used blue on my Space Marines. Black armored, with a pirate motif. Purity Seals are actually called Letters of Marque in my Iron Reavers army.

Oh that's very cool! I like the idea of changing the name. I also have thought about putting larger bits of parchment on some guys, with some "text" and perhaps a few other bits to act as an oath of moment. I know I'm planning on doing some larger parchment on my Dreadnought.

I used whatever contrasts best with armour [red for DA, green for Exorcists] for wax, white paper.

I have somewhat simple rank system, likemy more senior officers have gold shoulder plates, a seargent only one golden shoulder, in simple terms, easy for me a and anyone else to identify who is who without too much fuss.

sing your life wrote:I used whatever contrasts best with armour [red for DA, green for Exorcists] for wax, white paper.

That makes sense. They're obviously a great point of contrast on what otherwise can be a pretty static area of color.

jhe90 wrote:I have somewhat simple rank system, likemy more senior officers have gold shoulder plates, a seargent only one golden shoulder, in simple terms, easy for me a and anyone else to identify who is who without too much fuss.

Nice. Dark Angels are tricky in terms of signifying rank it seems, as they don't seem to do much besides wearing the robes - which is a pretty obvious indicator of rank. I have all of my veteran sergeants in robes, but regular sergeants are usually just in power armor. I may try painting a shoulder pad a different color or something like you have. My HQ models have/will have ornate helmets with wings on them, which are pretty cool.

I'm going to do a few purple purity seals throughout the army regardless of rank, to signify that those marines were in a hard fought campaign together. Now I just have to fill in the fluff for the campaign.

I've seen seal wax in red, dark green, dark blue, brown and yellow, so any of those wold be realistic and very different from the normal red and parchment seals everyone (and me) does.

Just my two bits, a few years ago I had a thing for the more gentlemenly things in life and did indeed check out seal kits and wax

 mad_eddy_13 wrote:
I've seen seal wax in red, dark green, dark blue, brown and yellow, so any of those wold be realistic and very different from the normal red and parchment seals everyone (and me) does.

Just my two bits, a few years ago I had a thing for the more gentlemenly things in life and did indeed check out seal kits and wax

I've always liked the idea, it seems the right thing to do whilst having a glass of good scotch and penning a letter or two.

 frozenmilk wrote:

 mad_eddy_13 wrote:
I've seen seal wax in red, dark green, dark blue, brown and yellow, so any of those wold be realistic and very different from the normal red and parchment seals everyone (and me) does.

Just my two bits, a few years ago I had a thing for the more gentlemenly things in life and did indeed check out seal kits and wax

I've always liked the idea, it seems the right thing to do whilst having a glass of good scotch and penning a letter or two.

Well if you're going to write someone I always thinks its good to go all the way with presentation. Sadly seal wax is expensive