Beeswax wraps

What to do with all the beeswax? After a few years of making candles, we wanted to try new beeswax wraps, but the recipe was hard to find.  I converted a bunch of online recipes to an approximate ratio by weight of wax, resin and jojoba oil.

My method:

• 100g of beeswax
• 30g Damar Resin
• 20g of jojoba oil
• Melt in an old pan, stirring constantly
• Brush on to the fabric with an old paintbrush
• Place in oven on tinfoil-lined baking sheet to distribute wax more evenly.  Leave in for 15-30 minutes at 225 F.
• Remove and let cool, separating each of them one at a time.

Notes from 12/2019:  used the above ratios and it seemed super sticky when pulling them apart to cool down. The lowest ones in the stack had too much wax, so I had to add more dry fabric at the end underneath to suck up the extra.

First try:

100g beeswax + 25g resin + 20g jojoba oil.  Melt in double boiler. the resin didn’t melt well at all!  Painted result on with a paintbrush onto old linen sheets, and it wasn’t sticky at all.  Need more resin.

2nd try:

100g beeswax + 75g resin + 20g jojoba oil. Melted resin first in an old pot. Then once it was melted, added the beeswax and stirred continuously. (beeswax has a low flash point! be careful)  This method worked great.  Added jojoba later. Painted onto fine muslin.  This was good and sticky. Perhaps too much since it leaves a bit of sticky residue on the things it sticks to.

3rd try:

Target 100:50:20.  100+2/3*100 beeswax:  75+2/3*25 resin: 20+2/3*20 jojoba = 166g beeswax : 91g resin : 33g jojoba  = 100:55:20. Added 50g of beeswax to the pot to reduce stickiness a bit.  This is ok, but still a bit tackier than I think we need. Painted it on and tried putting it in the oven this time… worked better than ironing. Target should be 100:30:20 Wax:resin:jojoba next time!

Research & Notes

Here’s a list of other sites with recipes I took from:

Ingredients are beeswax, pine or damar resin, and jojoba oil

Use thin cotton like bed sheets

WellFolkRevival: 1 cup beeswax : 1/4 cup resin : 2 T Jojoba oil.  140g : 36g : 28g = 100:26:20

TheMontanaFarmhouse: 1 cup beeswax : 1/4 cup resin : 2 T Jojoba oil.    Good comparison of different methods.  140g : 36g : 28g = 100:26:20

FaceDownWaste: 40g beeswax : 40g resin : 10g jojoba. = 100:100:25  for 25cm square of cloth

Piwakawakavalley.com: 100g Beeswax : 20g resin : 3tsp/15ml/15g jojoba = 100:20:15

GrowForageCookFerment: 1/4 cup grated beeswax : 2 T resin : 1 T jojoba.  Melt everything together and paint on.  140g : 72g : 56g = 100:51:40

1T of powdered resin = 9g

Conversion of beeswax pastilles volume to mass:

1T oil = 14g

1 tsp oil = 5g