I decided to do some research on how to make these myself but found there are a few wax recipes to cover your cotton cloth and it seems it’s not as simple as I thought it to be. To get the best results it’s not just wax beads sprinkled onto your cloth, melted in the oven then brushed in, trimmed when cool. Yes these do work to a point.
These cloths are placed on your bowl, folded over the edge then warmed with your hands to keep them close to your bowl sides. From what I can gather with only wax, the folded down sides crack and crinkle. When you take off this cover to flatten and clean, you start missing very small amounts of the wax.
When I found that out I looked at what else is needed to make these a better cover. Turns out for best results you also need a little jojoba oil with a little resin to make them a little more bendy so you don’t lose fine bits of wax in the fold, then to be able to warm them with your hands around the bowl for a better seal.
These are by no way leak proof, air tight or long term covers. They also have a work life of up to about 18months depending on usage and will degrade much much better than the plastic.
I’m quite happy with the 4 various sizes that I bought, with my silicone covers I bought a while back I have enough for short term covers for bowls and plates in the fridge. I very rarely use cling wrap. I decided this is one thing that I’ll buy rather than make as I don’t want to deal with the resin and oil. These do work and are something to consider.
They can also be used to wrap up a sandwich, keep together a few biscuits or cake, but not for long.
I guess it’s going back to the olden days before plastics, I may need to research it more.
2 comments
I don’t use much cling wrap but sometimes it’s the only thing that works. I bought some cloth wraps but fo7bd them very very unsuccessful. I always have cold hands and trying to warm up wraps to bend over bowls etc was just impossible. Although reading your blog makes me wonder if it was maybe just my wraps, they were homemade by a friend, in the beginning of the use of these things and so may have just been beeswax! I may have to try again.
Author
Hi Jennifer,
The mixture obviously needs just a little bit of other to break up that hardness of the beeswax. I’m also guessing that is why prices vary as the extras are what marks up the price.