Recently some friends and I got together to make some beeswax wraps. Making things with friends is quite literally the best thing. Plus there were cookies involved and delicious rose tea!

This is the recipe that I learned this past summer at Crosshatch’s Skill Swap. While the materials are somewhat pricey, it does make lots of wraps and they make fun presents!

Materials Needed

• Light to mid-weight cotton fabric
• Cheap paint/craft brush
• Pinking Shears (optional)
• Double boiler (never to be used for food again!)
• Cookie Sheet (again, not for food use again)
• Oven set to 200 degrees
• Beeswax
• Pine Resin
• Jojoba Oil

Prep

Choose a lightweight, fairly tightly woven cotton fabric. We found that a loose weave cotton (like a muslin) soaked up tons of the wax mix and became stiff. Decide what size wraps you want. I like having some that one or two that are 6-inch square, several that are 11-inch square and one that is 11×15 inches or so for big things and my cake pan.

I pink the edges of my fabric with pinking shears to finish the edges, and while I can’t speak to this from experience, I imagine you can get away with cutting your fabric with a straight edge and the wax will keep it from fraying too much.

Hang a simple line or find a cooling rack that you don’t care too much about so that you have a place to hang or lay the wraps to harden.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Recipe

2 parts Beeswax (2/3 cup)
2 parts Pine Resin (2/3 cup)
1 part Jojoba Oil (1/3 cup)
(amounts in the parenthesis should be enough wax mix for 7-8 wraps)

Directions

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler, once melted add in the powdered pine resin and the jojoba oil. (I recently used sweet almond oil as I did not have jojoba oil and as sweet almond oil will go rancid more quickly, I added in some tea tree essential oil – a few drops.). Stir with a wooden skewer or your paintbrush.

Once the mixture is smooth and fully incorporated. Place your fabric in a single layer on the cookie sheet and brush the wax over the fabric, covering it completely, but lightly. You can add two or three more layers of fabric, brushing the wax mix on each layer.

Place the cookie sheet in a warm oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove and brush the fabric again. Pull off each wrap and hang or layout to solidify. This doesn’t take long at all.

Using the Wraps

When you wrap your food or cover your jar/bowl with the wrap, spend a few extra seconds pressing the wrap into place. The warmth from your hand will hold it more firmly into place. To clean them, rinse them off with warm, but not hot, water and wipe them clean. You can use a small amount of soap if needed, but remember that heat melt the mixture off of the wrap.