Beeswax wraps – the bee’s knees! These little pieces of cotton covered in beeswax are just another awesome old thing that has become “fashionable” again. I was introduced to them a couple of years ago when visiting friends, and of course I embraced the idea of a substitute for cling wrap. However, it wasn’t until my son started Kindy that I had a go at making some myself.
One of many things I love about my son’s Kindergarten is that it is an “Enviro” Kindergarten. As such it promotes litter free lunch boxes – which gave me the perfect excuse to experiment with beeswax wraps! The easiest option – obviously – would have been to buy one or two. But as I am not currently earning an income, I take it as one of my jobs to save money by making things myself. So I jumped online and found a great tutorial (check out www.myhealthygreenfamily.com) that sounded simple and straightforward. I have been making these wraps for a good year and a half now and use them to wrap up my son’s sandwiches – rubbish free lunchbox, tick! (Alas while I proudly announce that I have successfully managed to keep my son’s lunch litter free I realize that driving him to and from Kindy has very much undone any good the beeswax wraps have done).
The first wraps I made did not last as long as I hoped, but I can put that down to little mistakes I made:
- Mistake 1: The fabric I used was too thick. You want to use tightly woven, thin cotton fabric. Hemp could possibly be an even “greener” alternative – but I haven’t tried it out yet.
- Mistake 2: I cleaned the wraps using a kitchen brush. Very silly as I scratched the wax on the cotton. These wraps should be washed using cold water (NOT hot water as that could melt the wax), a mild dish washing liquid and a soft cloth.
- Which brings me to another important point: Don’t use them to wrap up meat, as you can’t “sterilize” the wraps with hot water. I am lucky that my son loves bread. Just bread. To turn his sandwiches into actual “sandwiches” (well I believe they qualify…) I just smear a bit of butter between the bread. While “a meal without meat is incomplete” – according to my husband – I refrain from putting meat in my son’s lunchbox and that saves me the worry about bacteria. (Obviously if the meat is wrapped in bread snug as a bug in a rug without touching the beeswax wrap it should be fine).
Another thing that I very much love about my son’s Kindergarten is that parents are encouraged to get involved, help out and share talents. I don’t have any talents. But I am a maker of things and so I decided to pop in one morning and make beeswax wraps with all the fabulous little people. Frankly, there is not much they can actually help with in the making of the wrap. But I have brought some beautiful plain and natural cotton fabric that the children can turn into masterpieces using fabric markers and then melt beeswax onto. Also, because they deserve it, I decided to snoop around the Internet a bit more to find out why a lot of people add jojoba oil and tree resin to their wax. I had to do a lot of snooping as it seemed impossible to find straight-forward answers as to why and how. I read that apparently the resin helps the fabric cover bowls better and actually stay in place. Also, according to one source it has an antibacterial effect. Some people think that the resin makes all the difference and love it while others didn’t like the smell (I believe that also comes down to the exact type of resin used). As to the jojoba oil – well I still don’t really know the reason why it is used for the wraps. If you can add information about the resin and/ or jojoba oil please post a comment.
So eager to give this “fancy” beeswax wrap with the resin and jojoba oil a try I started looking for the ingredients. While I had no trouble finding jojoba oil I could not find the resin anywhere. I ended up contacting a company selling beeswax wraps hoping to be able to buy some resin… But as that is exactly their point of difference – understandably- they refrained from sharing their source with me. If you are really keen to have a beeswax wrap made with resin you can buy these at
www.honeywrap.co.nz or
www.beewrapt.co.nz (just to name a couple)
Alternatively the resin can be importet from the U.S.
If you are keen to make some for yourself (or someone else), here a few tips:
Materials needed:
- Thin, tightly woven cotton fabric. Cutting the fabric with zigzag scissors makes the end product look nicer. You can make them any size you find useful.
- Beeswax. I buy mine from Arataki honey. Apparently it is a slightly seasonal product so beware that they run out of stock occasionally. You will need to grate the wax. If you drop some on the floor be sure to clean it up straight away as it’s a big job once you’ve stood on the little flakes and they are properly smooshed in!
- Jojoba oil – optional. I find it a little bit costly. Available from Health 2000, Chantal.
- Tree resin – optional.
- Baking sheet. Once you use it for this purpose you will not be able to use it for anything else. I suggest that you get a cheap one from an op shop.
- Grater. Same as above, support the Salvation Army!
- Brush. Again same as above.
Be prepared to have your mind blown – this is all I do:
Preheat oven to 90oc. Cut fabric to the desired size, place it on the baking sheet and sprinkle it with the grated beeswax. (If you are using it, mix the wax with the oil and resin then sprinkle the mixture over the cotton). Place the sheet in the preheated oven. When the wax has melted (takes about 5-10 minutes), remove the baking sheet from the oven. If necessary, brush the wax with a clean brush and hang the wrap up immediately. If it goes cold while still on the baking sheet the wax dries in clumps – not what you want. Just pop it back in the oven if that happens and melt the wax again.
The quantity of wax needed depends on the size of cotton piece – you might have to experiment.
And as a bonus tip, should you stumble upon wax sheets for candle making when out shopping… get some! Make candles with the kids – they’ll love it plus this year’s Grandparent Christmas shopping will be all sorted!!!
And of course if you’d like to check out my creations have a look at https://www.facebook.com/saladin.shop/
A bientot
Andrea