I’m a big fan of the crafternoon. When I heard about beeswax wraps as a way to replace plastic wrap to cover up leftovers in the fridge – I was all in.
I could not only spend the afternoon making something new, but I’d be taking steps towards my goal of cutting my plastic use. Suh-weet.
What are beeswax wraps?
Beeswax wraps are a piece a cloth, covered in beeswax, which is malleable. Instead of using cling wrap to wrap up leftovers, you use a beeswax wrap.
You cover a bowl with it and mould it around the bowl, and press it firmly in place. It becomes airtight, just like cling wrap.
After each use, wash it in cold water and it’s ready to use again.
It’s a green alternative to your food storage and super fun to make.
How To Make Beeswax Wraps
Materials Needed
- Beeswax: use beeswax beads, or grate some beeswax. Or, if you’d like a vegan option, use soy-based wax instead.
- Fabric
- Scissors
- An oven
- Baking paper
- Baking sheet
- Paintbrush or separate cloth to spread the melted wax over the cloth
- String or coat hanger and pegs for drying
A note on materials:
Sure, you could go out and buy new fabric. But I 100% guarantee you, that you have fabric at home already, so why not reuse some that you won’t use again? I was given a shirt at a conference, that I would never wear. It was clean, never worn, perfectly good fabric. So I cut it up and used it for my wraps!
Also, the beeswax naturally has a little bit of a honey-brown tint. Any fabric will have it’s colour changed to be a shade or two darker, so if you’re using white fabric, it will come out with a bit of a parchmenty look (which I personally love, but it was a surprise!).
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to it’s lowest setting (like 90 C ).
2. Cut your fabric to the size you want to wrap food in. Cut it about 5 cm larger than what you want to wrap so there is room for it to fold over itself. Consider wrapping a sandwich or plate and measure it.
You could try a 30cm x 30 cm square if you’re looking to give something a go!
(Make sure it will fit within your baking tray!)
3. On your baking tray, lay out your baking paper. Then, put your fabric on to.
4. Grate up the beeswax if you’re using a beeswax bar, or open up your packet of wax beads.
(Pro tip – it’s really hard to get wax off a grater. So, er, maybe don’t use the same one that you will be cooking your dinner with, so use something you won’t be cooking with! Otherwise, have some olive oil handy for the cleanup!)
5. Sprinkle the wax across the fabric. It will melt into the fabric, so try to cover as much as you can.
6. Pop that baby into the oven for five to ten minutes, until the wax has melted into the fabric.
7. Pull out the tray from the oven. Some of your wax will be melted into the fabric, some will be globules sitting on the fabric and you’ll have patches where there is none there.
Get a paintbrush, bit of fabric or parchment paper and spread the wax across the entire fabric.
(I found that I actually needed to add more wax at this point, so you may need to repeat steps 5 – 7 a couple of times.)
8. Now, your fabric should be covered in wax evenly, so carefully pick it up – it’s hot! – and hang it over some string for it to harden and dry.
9. Once it’s dry – it’s ready to use!
The result
They actually work. I know. I was amazed, too.
While I do find they do seem to stick a little more effectively to some things like glass rather than porcelain mugs, they are pretty good.
They can be reused for up to a year, but also don’t see any reason why I couldn’t refresh them adding new wax in a few months.
Alternative uses
I actually found I was using them for a lot more than just wrapping food!
- I use them in the bathroom to prevent steam from getting into my DIY dry shampoo.
- A few times when I’ve been to the health food store and didn’t want my glasses to clink together, wrapping one or two in a beeswax wrap has been a great solution to separate them.
- They are great for wrapping apples when I want to throw one in my backpack to reduce the wear and tear it might experience in the bottom of my bag.
- When I went camping, found them a handy little DIY pouch for my toothbrush and nicknacks.
I’m really happy with my beeswax wraps. I really don’t see any reason to use cling film in my kitchen any more when I’ve got a trifecta of beeswax wraps, glass jars and tupperware.
Are you going to DIY some beeswax wraps?
Tag us on Insta at @happymessmag and show us your creations!
DIY inspo
Have a crafternoon and make some beeswax wraps!
