Reclaimed Wrapping

My area's community college system has a great Continuing Education program. Twice a year they send out a catalog listing their professional and personal development classes. I scan through the booklet and pick out one or two to sign up for. This semester's class was Beeswax Food Wraps, held tonight at Perennial, which provides opportunities to learn creative ways to reuse materials.

In addition to me, there were three other people in the class. We sat at tables on the classroom side of the room and started the night by introducing ourselves. The instructor talked about good ways to reduce our amount of kitchen trash, then segued into the food wrap presentation.

After a short preface the group moved to the other side of the room, where two counter-height tables were covered with a old sheets and pieces of parchment paper. In the center of one of the tables there was an electric pot partially filled with water holding three wide-mouth mason jars. The instructor made up a fourth jar by measuring out beeswax, jojoba oil, and pine resin, placed it in the pot with the other jars, then asked us to return to the first side of the room.

Each person got to choose the fabric for their wraps from a variety of salvaged cotton, and used a cardboard template and pinking sheers to cut squares. When everyone was finished carried took the squares back to the craft table.

The instructor laid a demonstration square on parchment paper and demonstrated the best way to paint melted wax onto it (not too little, not too much). When the painting was complete the group moved over to irons on the second craft table. Here, the instructor placed a second piece of parchment on top of the first and ran a warm ironed over it so the wax melted through and completely saturated the fabric. The last step was to hang it on a drying rack to cool.

After the demonstration was finished it was our turn. My first piece of fabric had too much wax, which flowed out of the fabric and onto the parchment when I ironed it. The second attempt was better, and by the third try I really had the system down.

I've seen beeswax wraps in stores before, but they were pricey and I wasn't exactly sure what I would use them for. Back at home, when I opened up the refrigerator I saw a partial lemon in a plastic container. I wrapped the lemon up neatly in a beeswax cover, and I'm excited to see how well it lasts there.

What will they wrap next?

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