Reusable beeswax wraps are super appealing to me, mainly because they are super cute, but the price is not-so-appealing at 20-something dollars for 3 wraps that would last 8-12 months. Luckily, they're pretty easy to make: get some fabric, grate some beeswax, and then melt it over the fabric with an iron (and parchment paper). After 8-12 months, simply apply more wax.
Lessons learned:
- Fabric will get a slightly yellowish tinge from the beeswax, which isn't necessarily appealing. Choose your fabric designs carefully, especially white fabrics.
- Let the grater soak in hot water to help get the wax off.
- You'll have to gain some judgement about how much wax is necessary: too much makes the entire fabric feel very waxy but too little means it won't be as moldable.
- I didn't have fabric scissors so I decided to take my chances with straight edges because I figured the wax would help keep it from fraying. We're good so far.
- Make sure you have enough parchment paper if you're ironing it because if the wax accidentally spills over you've ruined your ironing board cover thus eliminating any savings from making it yourself. :( No one wants waxy clothes.
While saving the environment is nice and all, the main reason I wanted to make some beeswax wraps was because I had some really beautiful fabric I wanted to immortalize. However, the wraps have actually turned out to be surprisingly handy because you can mold them to any shape you want by using your hands to warm up the wax. I've been using it a lot, for simple things such as covering open drinks in the fridge or closing the opened ends of packages for cheeses and deli meat. I like that they also give more structure than plastic wrap.
This was a relatively simple DIY project - there are several steps, but nothing particularly difficult. However, I might just get beeswax beads next time, to skip the step of having to actually clean the grater.
