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Title : Mind Your Own Beeswax!
link : Mind Your Own Beeswax!

Mind Your Own Beeswax!

This is supposedly a 1920's corruption of the original phrase 'Mind your own business'. I don't for a minute believe the theory that it was coined by American women making their candles. I did however come across this little ditty which fits well with the rest of today's post.
Mind your own beeswax, eat your own fish
And don't poke your nose into my little dish!
In my efforts to reduce waste, I have been increasingly bothered about clingfilm. It is so useful for wrapping and covering food -but it is a single use item. If I wrap sandwiches for a picnic or cover a dish of food in the fridge, I don't wash and re-use the wrap. Then I came across reusable wraps - marketed under various names [here, here and here] These are piece of 100% cotton, impregnated with beeswax [and sometimes added oils - almond, jojoba or coconut usually] 
This is a really ancient idea- the Dutch have wrapped their cheese in similar impregnated cloths for centuries. Once you wrap a sandwich or piece of produce - or cover a bowl - you simply hold it in place briefly and the warmth of your hands cause the wax to soften and cling to itself. This makes a fine, airtight wrap - and when you unwrap the cloth, you just wipe it with cool water[and a little detergent if needed] and then the cloth is ready for re-use. Here's one of the ads

The whole idea seemed excellent, and I decided it would be worth getting some. But you know me - I am a lifelong spendthrift - why should I fork out £15 for three bits of fabric, which may, or may not, be all their are cracked up to be? So I dug about on the net, and found various tutorials for making your own. I had plenty of suitable pieces of cotton [recently sorted out] So I splashed out £2.89 on 4 sticks of beeswax. 
The tutorials suggest three methods for melting the wax/impregnating the cotton
1; melt wax and oils in a pan, pour it into a shallow baking tray, immerse your cotton, let it soak, then let it drip dry [all a bit messy, and I didn't feel the need for added oils]
2; put sheet on a baking tray, grate wax over it, melt in the oven, bring out, hang up to dry.
3; put sheet of cotton on a large piece of foil or parchment paper, grate wax over it, place second piece of paper on top. Iron with cool iron to melt wax, hang to dry.
I decided #3 look simplest. 
Important tips from these tutorials - parchment beats foil, because you can see through to where the wax is melting, and nudge it with iron or add more grated was as needed, and second tip DO NOT use your ironing board - the wax is bound to seep out or splash, and you will be cursing the wax forever when it spreads to shirts etc as you do your normal ironing.

1. My wax and cotton. 
2. Grated wax [one youtube video said her husband's coffee grinder was brilliant for grating. Bob was horrified- and anyway this was easier to clean]
3. I cut my cotton with pinking shears to prevent fraying.
4. And sprinkled the gratings onto the sheets.

I made a 15" square, a 12" square, a 10" square, two dinner-plate sized circles and a 7" circle. These sizes were mentioned on various sites - and also fitted my random pieces of fabric.

If you look closely, you can see the melted wax close to the iron - but the unmelted area is still opaque.
A bit of string strung from cupboard door handles made an impromptu drying line. These are dry within a couple of minutes!

Here's a small piece of cheese, neatly wrapped for the fridge.

A tiny dish of tomatoes covered by my smallest circle. One site advocates the use of an elastic band on bowls . I folded my wraps neatly and put them in a little rack. I think I'll probably sew a fabric bag to hold them in a drawer [clean and dustfree] and pop in a few bands made of sewing elastic too. 
Btw, I ironed on an old folded bathtowel on the worktop [iron on One-Dot coolest setting] and yes, wax did seep and get onto the towel and the worktop, even though I tried hard to contain it!
I did like the ease with which I wrapped the cheese. I cannot think of a rhyme for tomato. The kitchen smelt pleasantly of warm beeswax for a while -  like the fragrance of a calm convent. I'll let you know how we get on with sandwiches and larger bowls...
Mind your own beeswax, eat your own fish
And don't poke your nose into my little dish!

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