And that's a wrap!

This weekend I turned my attention to cling film, or plastic wrap, as it's called in the USA. This pure plastic goes straight in the bin, which is bad enough, but when I looked online for some fun facts about cling film, it turns out it that could be bad for our heath, too. If it heats up and touches our food in the microwave, some of the plastic can transfer onto the food. There aren't any rules in the UK against doing this, but in the USA and Ireland, people are officially advised against it.

So that's another reason to ditch the stuff and use beeswax wraps instead. A quick online search will lead you to loads of shops selling these, but I had a go at making my own.

This is what I used:

Wax pellets 
I ordered 1kg for £16 from eBay, which is enough to make hundreds of wraps. The pellets can also be used to make soap, lip balm and candles, so you all know what to expect for Christmas this year.

Equipment
I used pinking shears (aka crinkly fabric scissors), baking paper, a baking tray, a paintbrush, a pencil, a ruler and a metal hanger at the end.























Fabric
I have lots of fabric hanging around from craftier times, and most of it came from barrington-patchwork.co.uk. It's 100% cotton, which is what you need for wax wraps. The fabric comes in squares of around 110x110 cm in patterns to suit every possible taste.



















Here's how to do it...

Step one: heat your oven to just 100˚C/200˚F.










Step two: measure and draw a square on the back of the fabric in pencil or chalk. My first wrap was 20x20 cm, which is big enough for half a smelly onion or to cover a bowl.

I then made two wraps that were 30x30 cm. These should be big enough to wrap up my daily lunch, which, incidentally, is often a wrap (of the tortilla variety).



Step three: cut out your fabric, then cut out a sheet of baking paper larger than the fabric. Place both items on the baking tray. Make sure the fabric is pattern-side down.







Step four: sprinkle on your wax pellets. I had a bit of a Goldilocks experience with mine...

This was too much wax (20 x 20 cm).

This wasn't enough wax (30 x 30cm).

This was about right (30 x 30 cm).

Step five: put the wax wrap in the oven for no time at all! My first one was in there for four and a half minutes, and it came out very waxy indeed. The second one was in there for just two minutes, but as it didn't have enough wax on it, I had to go back and fill in the gaps. My third attempt was in there for just one minute and that seemed to do the trick. 

My second wrap needed patching up. Use a paintbrush
to distribute the wax more evenly than you can see here.

My conclusion is that the melting time depends on how many wax pellets you have sprinkled on your wrap, so you just have to stand there and watch it melt before your very eyes.

  

Step six: once your wrap is out of the oven, a nifty trick is to lift a corner and slide the metal hanger underneath to lift it off the baking paper. Then hang it up and it will quickly cool down.

And that's a wrap! (Or three.)

You can also add buttons, or turn these into food storage bags, but for now I'll see how I get on with these.

To wash them, I will just wipe them with cool water and soap. If they come into contact with hot things, like dishwashers or microwaves, the wax will melt away.

When the wax wraps start to lose their stickiness, I'll refresh them either by putting them back in the oven, or by ironing them between two sheets of baking paper. Hopefully this means I can phase out cling film from my life!