Beeswax Wraps

We're all trying to do our part to re-use, recycle, and not create so much waste. A few years ago I purchased a set of wax wraps by Meli Wraps. They're a nifty way to cover leftovers without using plastic wrap. They're not leak-proof or completely air tight, but in most cases they work very well and are environmentally friendly. Using the warmth of your hands, as you press the wrap onto your container, it will cling and mold to its shape. I've tried a couple different brands and found Meli Wraps far superior to the others. All the wax wraps I've used leave a slight waxy residue on my container that is easily washed off with soap and hot water. To wash the wraps, use cool water and soap and rub with your hands. Do not put them in the dishwasher, microwave, or use hot water. They are not recommended to use with raw meat. They should last about a year. 

I like to tinker and make. Since I enjoy encaustic wax painting, I had all the tools and ingredients on hand to make wax wraps myself. There are quite a few blog posts and Youtube videos explaining different methods of how to make wax wraps that are worth checking out. Some people used a foil lined pan in an oven. Some people used a double boiler to melt their wax. Some people did not use an iron, which might be a good method to try if you do not have a dedicated wax iron. There are also a variety of recipes for the wax mixture. My friend was ahead of the game and had already experimented with ratios and ingredients, so I was happy to use what worked best for her instead of reinventing the wheel. 

Wax recipe:

100 g beeswax

68 g damar resin

2T jojoba oil

She first tried pine resin, but found it was very pungent smelling and did not stick as well as the damar. I did not have jojoba oil and substituted coconut oil. The results seem very similar.

Tools I used:

electric griddle

oven thermometer

glass jar or metal container

foil

rags

meat tenderizer or hammer

clothes pins

small clothes line (I just used string)

stirring stick

paint brush (natural bristles so they won't melt)

wax iron (an iron without holes)

apron

thinner woven cotton fabric

Use pre-washed and ironed, thin woven cotton fabric for your wraps. If the fabric is too thick it will not be pliable and will be too cumbersome to meld onto your bowl or cup. I made an assortment of sizes: 4x4, 5x5, 8x10, 10x12. Use pinking shears to cut your pieces. The wax will seal the edges so they shouldn't fray. 

I have an electric griddle that I covered with foil. The wax/resin gets extremely sticky, so the foil is essential for cleanup. To clean my hands when I was done I put a little oil and rubbed it around then some soap. I use an oven thermometer on my griddle to maintain a temperature of about 200 degrees. You don't want it much hotter or you'll get smoke which means toxic fumes. I was in a cold garage, so my temperature while melting the mixture sometimes went up to 220.

Put the wax and oil in a metal container or glass jar, place it on the hot foil-lined griddle, and let that melt. If your resin is not in powdered form, crush it. Put the resin bag inside some rags and a paper bag and gently pound it with a hammer or the smooth side of a meat tenderizer.

You'll want to lightly add a tiny (about 1/4 teaspoon) sprinkling (not one big blob) of damar powder, then completely mix that into the melted wax/oil mixture. If the resin is in chunks it will be too difficult to dissolve. Don't rush it; keep adding a tiny bit of damar sprinkled on top, and stir, stir, stir to mix it in. It took me about 40 minutes and my friend almost an hour to completely mix the resin into the wax with no remaining lumps or gelatinous clumps. 

Once your wax/resin mixture is completely melted and incorporated, put a piece of fabric onto the heated foil to heat the fabric. Paint a thin layer of hot wax onto the fabric. I used wooden clothes pins to maneuver and flip the fabric. Paint a thin layer of wax onto the other side. You want the fabric completely saturated but not dripping.

I then placed a clean piece of fabric on top of the waxy fabric and lightly ironed to soak up excess wax. My first go around I ironed too much of the wax off and the fabric didn't quite stick enough so I had to go back and apply an additional layer of wax. It works just fine with the additional wax. I would suggest making one or two, then trying them out to make sure you've got the correct amount of wax. 

After you iron, use your clothes pins to peel the two pieces of fabric apart. Place the cleaner fabric back onto the foil and drape the saturated fabric over the clothesline (ie piece of string). The finished wrap will cool quickly, in less than a minute. While it's cooling, go back to your griddle and add your thin layer of wax to the fabric, flip over, and add a thin layer of wax. Top with another clean piece of fabric, iron, etc. and repeat. 

You can save any leftover wax in case you need to re-apply more wax later on to keep your wraps well primed and extend their longevity. I made about 25 pieces of assorted sizes with this recipe. 

I love the smell of the beeswax! These wraps smell lightly of honey, especially if they're sitting in sunshine or a warm room. I put together an assortment of sizes, wrapped in parchment paper, and popped them into my family's gift bags. 

I hope you enjoy this fun project.

Build a Bench

Benches can be quite versatile: Put one in front of the wood stove for cozy comfort; barricade a staircase to corral the dogs downstairs; slide one over to the dinner table to accommodate extra friends; keep one at the entryway so family can easily remove their shoes; place one near the windows for star gazing at night. Right now as I type my new bench is blocking the kitchen while we're training the dogs it's a no-go zone.

 

Staying home during Covid has given me time to research and complete projects that have been percolating over the years. A few Christmases ago I was gifted a bundle of the most beautiful fabric from a dear friend. It was woven at a women's cooperative in Antigua where she purchased it on her travels through Guatemala. My friend knew I would love it and find the perfect project to showcase it. 

We had a sturdy, solid wood board left over from another project that was just begging to be made into a bench. With a little research I found that most benches measure anywhere from 12-24" deep and 24-48" and longer. My board was 16" wide, and my husband cut it to 42" for me. I ordered sturdy wrought iron legs online, and wood screws since it did not come with any. 

There are many very good upholstering videos on youtube with all the details and tips from seasoned professionals in the upholstering business. After watching a few I got the gist of how it is done. I opted for a good quality 3" foam and quilt batting for my padding. I used spray adhesive, a staple gun, cordless drill, hammer, and that's about it. 

For this style of bench I preferred insetting the legs a little instead of placing them flush with the edge. I asked for opinions on Instagram about a couple details, and received some great feedback and ideas. Thank you, friends! My scraps of leather were too thin on their own. Luckily I had an old suede skirt that I bought at a thrift shop for a Halloween costume eons ago.  I cut wide strips of suede to use as the base and placed the thin leather strips on top. Just the look I was after, and I was able to use what I had on hand and avoid any shopping.

It feels good to finish a project that I've been thinking about for years, and finally utilize that gorgeous fabric so I can see and admire it every day. 

Copper Alembic Still

 

Just look at this beauty. My heart stopped the first time I saw one, and I knew I must add it to my home crafting supplies. Lest you think I'm ALL about the superficial eye candy, rest assured that it was the combination of usefulness and aesthetics that spurred me to covet and acquire this piece of functional art from Copper Brothers in Portugal.

There is a distinct aroma that says Home here in Central Oregon. Over the years I've identified different factions of this smell. While nordic skiing the sun comes out and warms the pine trees, sap, and Manzanita bushes. There's one. While hiking, my foot would crush a bit of pinecone and juniper berries, stirring up smooth yet sharp notes. That's another piece. More recently I discovered the extremely heady, perfumey fragrance of Ceanothus Velutinus or snowbrush. There's that sweet part of the Home scent. We have acres of natural sage, pine and juniper trees on our property, and planted lavender to add to the mix. I wanted to distill these and other native flora into a scent to share with others who may never make it to my neck of the woods or to enrich any environment with lovely natural aromatherapy.

My research into distilling essential oils and hydrosols led me to this striking still. Here I am a few years later firing her up and experimenting with an assortment of vegetation. For all of my research, I came up with only a few nuggets of pertinent information. My best resource was from Erin Stewart over on her website, Floranella. Her site led me to a few local lavender farms; and Youtube is always good for a smattering of useful (and not so useful) videos. There is so much I want to learn. I had intended to take a class with Erin that was offered through Wildcraft Studios, but then the pandemic hit. I just found another excellent resource and video from Mother Earth Living. I highly recommend watching their video. I am a total newby, but I will gladly share with you my limited knowledge and any tips that I've gleaned.

The base of the still is called the pot. The column is next, and is often optional. The top part is called the cap or the onion or the swan neck lid. The lyne arm is the connecter to the condenser, where the coiled tubing is. 

I've heard from a couple sources that you shouldn't use the same still for both essential oils and alcohol. I guess I won't be making any moonshine. It was suggested that 3 litres to 10 litres would be good sizes for home distilling. The column needs to be pretty packed with plant material for making oil. That's a lot of plants to pack the 10L column! The smaller 3L size seemed perfect for me because I only had a few large lavender plants. I didn't want to use all of my lavender for one distillation. I wanted to combine it with other plants and try different blends. 

When you receive your still, check the box, packaging, and still for any damage. In my case, there was a three-day time period in which to file any damage claim, which was clearly stated on the website. I hadn't noticed this reminder, and with Covid I let my box sit for a while before I opened it up and really checked it out. Unfortunately, the box was damaged in shipping and my still had a dent in it. Luckily, I've taken many metal smithing classes and felt comfortable doing as Copper Brothers customer service suggested, and used a rubber mallet to gently tap the dent out. Phew, disaster diverted! And by the way, I found Copper Bros customer service to be prompt and helpful. Also, I received my still within the week of ordering! Yes, that was an international order.

Besides the still, you'll need a heat source. I chose a 1500W electrical burner. You'll also need to cool the coils in the condenser unit by keeping a flow of cold water. I didn't want to be wasteful with free flowing water, and opted for recyling it. A bucket or container for the water, aquarium pump, and some tubing does the trick. I bought a very inexpensive pump for $12. I wish I had gotten a better pump that had a knob to control the flow of the water instead of twisting the tubing to control the flow. The knob would have been much easier. It's worth the extra $10 to get this feature, and you'll probably get a stronger pump to boot. 

I found setting the still up took some time and finagling. You need to find the right height of supports for under the condenser unit to match the burner and still height. The cooling water system has to be just right. And how to catch the hydrosol is another conundrum. Have lots of bricks, tiles, bowls, stools, etc around to figure this all out. I took a picture when it all worked to refer to the next time I set up. 

I like having the thermometer built into the still. You'll want to seal any joints that might let vapor escape with either a paste of rye flour and water or with teflon tape. It's not actually "tape" in that it doesn't have adhesive on it (Thank goodness! I mean, who would want to get this gorgeous copper all sticky and gunked up???) Plumbers use it to seal pipes. It clings to the metal and doesn't allow any steam to escape. My still was pretty air tight, but I did notice one tiny spot that needed the tape.

You can use the still without the column and put plant matter in the pot with the water. You can pack the column with plant matter. You can also do both in combination. If you put plant matter into the pot, it's suggested to put a strainer or something on the bottom of the pot to prevent the plant matter from resting on the pot bottom and getting scorched from the heat. I mostly used just the column. 

It takes a long time to get the water to boil, so it's much quicker to pour boiling water into the pot right from the beginning. Once you reach 100 degrees celsius or 220 degrees fahrenheit you should soon see tiny spurts of hydrosol come out of the condenser. I would run the still anywhere from one to three hours, getting one to two pints of hydrosol. 

The essential oil floats to the top of the hydrosol and can be removed by a variety of methods. I would guess there is only one to two tablespoons of essential oil in one batch. I decided this year to just leave the oil and hydrosol together and not bother with removing the oil. I found the hydrosol to be very long lasting and fragrant. In fact, my sage blend was REALLY sagey, and smelled like Thanksgiving. I sprayed about four spritzes and it lingered for weeks! Perhaps a little too long to smell like Thanksgiving dinner in summer.

I distilled rabbit brush blossoms, which has a very green, lightly pineapple like fragrance. I also tried juniper berries and pine blossoms. My favorite, of course, is the lavender. I tried fresh and dried and love them both.

I've put my still away for the year, but look forward to next season. I hope to plant additional fragrant plants to try along with my native growers. 

If you keep your hydrosol in the refrigerator, it should last about a year. I've purchased some pretty cobalt glass sprayers from Amazon in different sizes to fill for gifts. 

I'll be putting together sets of hydrosol, handmade linen towels, and wax wraps for Christmas gifts this year. I'll try to put up a post on the wax wraps soon. For now I'll enjoy the lingering scents of summer with my hydrosols.