How to fix a beeswax wrap

Learn how to fix a beeswax wrap – it’s easier than you think!

Is your beeswax wrap not working anymore?  Did it get left in the sun?  Or washed in hot water?  Or scrubbed a little too vigorously?  Or is it just getting really old? Or did you make one but it didn’t turn out great?

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to fix a beeswax wrap that’s gotten damaged or worn out.

There are 2 key ways to fix a beeswax wrap:

1. Carefully warm it and smooth it any problems.

OR

1. Apply more wax blend and warm it and smooth out any problems

I’ll walk you through the steps for both of these.  

If your wrap got a little damaged, you might just need to warm it and smooth it out again.  This is a little easier than applying more wax blend.

If your wrap got really damaged OR is worn out (over time, with use and washings, it’s normal for your wax wrap to get worn out), you’ll want to apply more wax blend and warm it and smooth it out.  

Let’s go through the steps for fixing a wrap with just a little damage.  You can fix it using two methods – the iron method or the oven method.  

If you use the iron method to fix a beeswax wrap, here’s what you’ll need:

• An iron
• Parchment paper (you can find a compostable version by Reynolds Kitchen at Target and other stores).
• Somewhere to hang your wrap to dry

If you use the oven method to fix your beeswax wrap, here’s what you’ll need

• your oven
• a baking sheet 
• parchment paper if you’d like to protect your baking sheet.  
• somewhere to hang your wrap

Let me walk you through the iron method:

1. Place your wax wrap between two pieces of parchment paper.  The parchment paper protects your ironing surface & your iron from the wax.
2. Iron across the parchment paper to smooth out the wax blend.
3. Peel the paper away from the wrap
4. Hang the wrap to dry for a couple of minutes.

Here’s a troubleshooting tip for you:  if you find that the wax wrap starts to stick to the parchment paper and doesn’t peel away easily, try ironing just smaller sections at a time and peeling away those small sections, letting them cool, and then ironing a different section of the wrap.  As the wraps cool, they’ll start to stick to the surface they’re touching, so it’s important to peel them away quickly and hang them to dry.

If you’d rather use the oven method, here’s how (this personally is my preferred way).

1. Turn your oven on very low – 200F or lower.
2. Place the wax wrap on a baking sheet.  You’ll want to cover the baking sheet with parchment paper to protect it from the wax unless the baking sheet will be used for making lots of wax wraps.
3. Put the baking sheet into the oven for a few minutes (up to 5 minutes MAX).
4. Pull the baking sheet out of the oven and quickly pull the wax wrap up off of the baking sheet.
5. Hang the wrap to dry for a few minutes.

The reheating process, either by iron or oven, should help repair damage to the wrap by redistributing the wax blend.

If your wrap needs more luvin’ than that to get back to working, here’s what you’ll need:

• More beeswax blend (either buy a bar or make your own blend of beeswax, pine gum rosin, and coconut/jojoba oil).

Plus:

• a shredded that you don’t mind getting waxy.

OR

• a small pot & clean paint brush that you don’t mind getting waxy.

The gist of the process is that you’re going to put more wax blend onto your wrap, warm the wrap, check your results and smooth the blend around, warm it again, and hang it to dry.  You can repeat the process of adding more wax blend, warming the wrap, smoothing the blend if needed, and warming it again, until you get the wrap where you want it to be. 

Here’s more specifics:

Using a shredder, get the blend spread evenly across your wrap and especially on any worn out spots.  Then apply heat to your wrap with either the iron method or oven method.  Check that the blend has melted all across the wrap.  Once you get it evenly spread, you can hang your wrap to dry.

Using the other approach with a small pot and a brush, melt your blend on a VERY LOW temperature just until it’s melted.  Then turn off the heat.  Keep a close eye on it so that it doesn’t overheat and start to smoke.  Wax is flammable!  

Dip the tips of a clean paintbrush into the blend and “paint” the blend across your wrap. 

The was will start to cool as you apply it – that’s okay!  Once you get a decent amount spread around, you can warm the wrap with either the iron method or the oven method.  Let it warm for a little.  Check the results to see if you used enough blend and if it’s spread around evenly.  If so, you can hang your wrap to dry! 

That’s all there is too it!  It’s really easy to fix your beeswax wraps.  It just takes a little time and patience.

If you want to learn how to make your own wax wraps from start to finish, head over to NoTraceShop.com/courses to sign up for my online DIY beeswax wrap workshop – you can take it from the comfort of your home at any time!

Have you tried fixing wax wraps?  I’d love to hear about it!  Leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading!

-Liz @ No Trace