Just made a bunch of the awesome eco friendly beeswax wraps and so far they are working brilliantly.

I have used 100% cotton cloth I bought since the 100% cotton fabrics I had from old clothes and just laying around were just to thick so didn’t work so well at all. I would not suggest using shirts and bed sheets, maybe men’s white shirts of something like that. Make sure it’s thin.

Best thing to do is go to a tailor or craft shop and get some 100% cotton pieces from there or online.

To make the wraps you need the following

• Few 100% thin cotton cloths of desired size ( if you want it fully eco friendly consider cloths with natural dies for composting purposes)
• Organic beeswax or beeswax pellets
• Pine resin
• Jojoba oil
• Food grater if you buy beeswax chunks and not pellets (better not to use the same one as you use for food. I bough really cheep one for this purpose specifically since I don’t have a grater anyways)
• 2 large pieces of parchment paper
• Iron
• Old towel you don’t care to get beeswax on
• Pinking shears
• Somewhere to dry wraps on

I used the ironing method as it is super easy and quick. living on my own I just don’t have pans etc that I would be happy to melt beeswax and pine resin in.

Here are the steps to follow to achieve best result:

1. Measure out your ingredients to desired cloths size. I have roughly used the 2 in 1 ratio on picture below. Using pinking shears will reduce the risk of fabric fraying on the edges.
2. Place the towel on flat surface and parchment paper on top. Secure the bottom layer of the paper into place and place the cloth on top.
3. Sprinkle all your needed ingredients on top of the cloth evenly and place the second parchment paper layer securely on top.
4. Preferably I have used another thin cloth on top of the top layer or parchment paper before using the iron to prevent direct contact between the paper and the iron. This is not necessary at all.
5. Iron until all wax have melted and soaked into the cloth. Lift the cloth from in between the paper and gently wave it until dry and put aside to cool.

These wraps are super easy and fun to make. I definitely recommend to try and do it at home. If that’s too much effort or you don’t have the right equipment, you can buy them in zero waste shops and quiet a few health foods stores now, normally in bigger town and cities. You can also have a look online and compare the prices. Personally the best way is just making your own. They look lovely and can make a super cute present.

I have read that these should last 6 months to 1 year, and after it’s life time if over you can either recycle them, put in compost or reapply ingredients same as before and start using again.

Tips.

I tried not using the pine resin since it was leaving a small sticky trace on my fingers but without it, the wraps were not as sticky so I just kept adding it in.

I will add link to the tutorial I have found the most informative,onto the bottom of the page.

Link to the tutorial I found useful.

https://youtu.be/6_bsxrqAF-s