I finally got around to making the beeswax wraps this morning, and it went super well. It was really easy once I had everything set up, and with proper precautions, it wasn't even that messy. I did use Rusty's recipe and instructions, with a few minor changes. I was uncomfortable with the safety of a mason jar just sitting in the bottom of a pan of water, since they can crack due to the uneven heating of the jar (which Rusty does mention by the way, she was just okay with the risk and I wasn't), so I made a little trivet by setting mason jar rings in the bottom of the pot to be sure it was safe. I also pinked the edges of my fabric mostly because my mom wanted it to look nice and neat. I also took your advice, Bakersdozen, about keeping the jar warm on the stove and taking the pan out of the oven to work with it.
I made 4 different sizes to try out, all for glass dishes that we use regularly in the kitchen that don't have lids: 11x13, 9x9, 8x8, and 5x5. My mom and sister had picked out 3 different patterns of fat quarters (for those who don't know, that's precut cotton fabric that is usually 18x21 inches, it's super cheap and comes in all kinds of fun patterns and colors), and I ran them through the washer last night. They frayed pretty significantly in the washer, so I next time I would pink them before washing the sizing out. I ironed them this morning (the first time I have ever ironed anything) and cut them into the sizes I wanted while the rosin and wax was melting.
I used a big sheet pan of my mom's and covered it with heavy duty extra large aluminum foil so it wouldn't get ruined. The hardest thing was just getting a feel for how much wax to pour onto the fabric and how much it needed to be melted. The first one I did, I didn't have enough wax so I just added a little more. My mixture also wasn't quite melted when I took it out of the oven and when I picked up the fabric it just peeled up and left the wax behind, so I learned I needed to work a little quicker or heat it a little longer and peel up the fabric while the mixture was still liquid. But it's really forgiving with these sorts of problems, you just pop it back in the oven and redo it if something goes wrong. On the next one I made, I had a little too much wax, which was on the only thing I couldn't really fix, but even that isn't too big of a deal.
Here is what my workspace looked like. This was after I had already made 3, and as you can see, this process was not creating any sort of huge drippy mess, like I was worried it would.
Here's my small one in the oven.
Here they are finished.
And here's one on a bowl. This is the one that I got a little too much wax on, so you can see a buildup of it on the edge. They seem to seal really nicely. It's not instantaneous like with plastic wrap; you do have to sort of work around it with your hands to warm it up and make it stick, but it seems like it'll work. I'm curious to see if the seal will hold in the fridge.
How have you been liking yours, Bakersdozen?
