We've pressed flowers beforehand. We used a utility lighter to slightly melt the surface of the wax candle, then pressed the flowers onto the surface. However, it is difficult to fully adhere the flowers onto the surface. As we intended for the candles to be wedding favours for guests, we wanted a faster method that would give us better looking results.
We dripped red sealing wax onto a candle lying horizontally. As seen on the right, letting the sealing wax fall along the curve of the candle created an interesting ribbon look. However, the sealing wax cooled before it made a full circle around the candle.
We tried using candle wax, which is cheaper than sealing wax, but found that its low viscosity made it difficult to control how it goes around the candle. It also sets slower than sealing wax, so it takes longer to take the shape of the seal. Pigment of candle wax is less intense than sealing wax, which makes the candle look cheaper.