Wax Tablets

From antiquity up to the 19th century wax tablets were the way to take notes quick. Infinitely reusable and easier to use than ink on papyrus or parchment. Here are two versions I made.

The first version has hinges, which is probably pretty anachronistic and not much of an improvement over just holes and thread. Both versions are about 10×7 cm, or 10×14 cm opened. You'd probably want a tablet twice as large to make any use of it.

The black wax is beeswax, wood charcoal, and a bit of oil to make it more malleable. The layer of wax is pretty thick and isn't very easy to read.

The second version tried to be a tad fancier. I sawed slots for strips of lighter wood and lacquered the whole thing. I tried first to paint the table black and use plain, yellow beeswax, but that didn't turn out very good.

White background and a thin layer of black wax works far better. Modern reproductions of wax tablets are usually the thick layer type, but this is such an obvious improvement that I suspect it was also used in the olden times.