DIY Beeswax Wraps | This WONDERfilled Life
If you couldn’t tell by my last post we’re a little CRUNCHY around here. We cloth
diaper, I use a “CUP” for that time of the month, and we do not use paper products
(plates, napkins etc). We try and recycle
everything that our blue bins will allow and shy away from single serving
packaging as much as possible. Here’s
the thing, we also realize that our small contribution of trying to REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE
won’t change the world or even put a speed bump in the trajectory that the human
species is currently on BUT being thoughtful about these things helps us to
appreciate what we have, pine a little less for what we don’t and helps guide us
to better living within our means and be a little less "consumeristic". A few years ago we got rid of all the single
/ short term use plastics in our house. We
slowly recycled all our Glad containers as they wore out and cracked and eventually
replaced them with a set of glass, Pyrex, food saverware. These are awesome except that the lids are
plastic and, as we discovered, eventually crack. So we’re left with a ton of glassware and no
way to cover and save our leftovers. And
then I saw the latest thing – BeeswaxFood Wraps. I loved the idea of something so simple as cotton cloth soaked
in a mixture of beeswax, jojoba oil and pine resin and so I filed it away in the
“I can make that” area of my maker mind.
Well two weeks ago I FINALLY got to try my hand at making my
own and I am happy to report after a lot of blog perusing and tweaking the recipe
we were using I think we came up with
something that is just like the ones you would order online but for far less
money.
I looked thru so many blogs, websites and recipes my eyes
were bloodshot but I actually couldn’t find anything that said “USE THIS RECIPE”
and it will yield X many cloths…after making it ourselves I can kind of see
why. With all the possibilities in
fabric size and content (lighter cottons vs heavier weight ones - which are not recommended apparently) it’s
hard to say how many cloths you can make but what I can tell you is that I
spent about $40 on supplies (I had my fabric on hand but you could easily grab
some fat quarters at JoAnn’s when they are on sale for a few bucks, we used
about 2/3rd of the Jojoba Oil and didn’t make a dent in the beeswax
or pine resin and after a long morning had made about 8-10 beeswax wraps of
varying sizes and pre mixed and melted the mixture for future touch ups or new
cloths… From my limited research it seems the average price for about 3 wax cloths
in varying sizes, the largest being 14” square or less is about $18 so I’d say we were money
ahead for sure.
If you want to try your hand at these I’ll walk you
through what we did, step by step.
SUPPLIES:
100% Cotton Fabric, the lighter weight the better
Beeswax,
ordered from Amazon
JojobaOil also from Amazon
PineResin from…you guess it, Amazon
Paint brushes
Whisk
Double Boiler (and a pot for stirring that you won’t be able
to use for anything else but this in the future)
Tongs
Drying rack or clothesline
Aluminum foil or Parchment paper
Before we get started let me introduce one of my oldest friends, we've known each other since elementary school in Alaska, Linda! She and her family moved here last fall and she is as crafty and as interested in making all the things as I am so we had a blast trying this out together!
The first step is to prepare your fabric. You want to wash and dry your fabric to remove
any post production sizing or starch and then if needed go ahead and iron your fabric
nice and flat. Next up decide what size wraps you’d like to make and cut those
shapes and sizes. We both have the same set of Pyrex from Costco that needed new lids so we traced around the dish with an extra inch to inch and a half (for good fold over and adhesion). We used a rotary
cutter to get the initial size and shape and then came back through and used some
pinking shears to make sure our cotton wouldn’t fray.
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Once our fabric was prepared and cut we headed up stairs to
the kitchen to start experimenting and here’s where it got interesting….we
planned to use the recipe found on MountainRose Herbs. (I have actually ordered
supplies from these guys years ago when I was making bath bombs.) HOWEVER…I
realized halfway through making these that my phone was actually scrolling
between the two recipes on the page and so our recipe ended up being different
from MRH. I wanted to try their recipe to
the letter but instead of following the:
The BEST Reusable Beeswax Wrap Recipe
Makes (3 to 4) 12 x 12
inch cloths.
Ingredients
·
100 percent cotton fabric, organic if possible
·
0.5 oz. copal resin
·
1.25 oz. beeswax pastilles or grated beeswax
·
1 Tbsp. organic jojoba oil
·
Large popsicle stick or other compostable stirrer
·
Parchment paper
·
Dedicated paint brush
Beeless Vegan Food Wrap
Makes (3 to 4) 12 x 12
inch cloths.
Ingredients
·
100 percent cotton fabric, organic if possible
·
0.5 oz. copalresin
·
0.25 oz. organiccarnauba wax
·
2 Tbsp. organicjojoba oil
·
Large popsicle stick or other compostable stirrer
·
Parchment paper
·
Dedicated paint brush
Total face palm moment… so…. Our
first batch we had a 2:1 ratio of resin to wax and 2 TBSP of oil…what we ended
up with was something that wouldn’t stick to itself…so we figured it was too
much oil…so when we tried a second batch we used HALF the amount of oil and had
a much better product but still had a 2:1 ratio of resin to wax. In reading through the links on my computer
to put this blog post together it makes sense that the second recipe uses less
wax and twice as much oil since the carnauba wax is supposed to be a very hard
wax, much more so than the beeswax. At
any rate, our second attempt produced something that totally works (though since
it has a high resin to wax ratio might be stickier than needed). So…I am
interested in trying the ACTUAL recipe which uses beeswax at some point but
what we made works. I’ve used them for
many things (nothing with meat though since you cannot wash in hot water) and
it’s been great. Maybe it’s because we used so much resin, but my wraps have a
total “Glad Press N Seal” characteristic when using them on my glass Pyrex, and
there have been no issues with the wraps coming off or not sticking once cold
in the refrigerator.
We used an old metal bowl over a steamer and pot full of water on the stove top to make a double boiler. The recipe indicated that it might take 45 minutes for the resin to melt but it only took ours about 10-20 minutes. So definitely keep your eyes on it!
Once you add the beeswax and oil avoid the urge to stir right away.
It will be REALLY obvious that everything has melted down.
While everything is melting down pre heat your
oven to 300° F and line a cookie
sheet with foil (this worked but I also read to use parchment paper and I think that wouldn’t stick to the wraps as badly so I will be
trying that on my next batch). Then lay your fabric down and start “painting”
the mixture onto the wrap with a clean paint brush. I used my favorite flat brushes from the Ikeakit. We learned that you can stack
up to three layers of fabric and still have a successful wrap in the end…you basically
need to paint on as much mixture as you can, working quickly because it does start
to harden fairly quickly and then put in the oven for a few minutes, five
minutes should do it. After five minutes
you can use tongs to flip your wraps over and use your paint brush to make sure
that the entire wrap(s) is thoroughly soaked in the beeswax mixture. Once you’re convinced it’s all coated you can
drape over a drying rack or hang on a clothes line to “dry”. We found that our wraps really stuck and left
a residue on the drying rack…but now that I’m looking at the “correct” recipe I
am sure that’s because we used so much resin.
An awesome tip I read, on one of the many blogs I was researching, was to go ahead and melt extra
mixture and save in silicon molds. That
way when you need a re-coat or want to make a new wrap you don’t have to go through
the entire process of melting the resin again.
Since it’s already been melted and mixed it will melt down much
quicker. I used these molds from IKEA,
which say for water only…I didn’t have any problems with using or cleaning them
afterward but be warned that you may not be able to use your molds for
something else after doing this project.
Once cooled I popped them out and wrapped them in parchment paper and
stored in a cool, dark place.
So that’s it! We had a great morning of
testing out if these would work and found that they will…even if you don’t
follow the exact recipe – HA! I do want to try the REAL beeswax recipe as
indicated above…and if/when I do I will update everyone on how it goes. In the end I am happy with the wraps I made
and am looking forward to making some more!
Are these reusable wraps something you’d use?
Would you make your own? If you do take some pictures and share what recipe
worked for you!
I've tried bought wraps before and used them for sandwiches, but it made my food taste funny. Thoughts? I love the wrap idea but don't want it to affect the food...
ReplyDeleteI don't, though I did read that on some of the blogs when I was doing my research. I haven't wrapped my food directly in this yet, just as a replacement for the Pyrex lids. I DO plan on making some sandwich bags so I will update on how that process is and if there is any taste. Out of curiosity what was the taste you were getting?
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