At this weeks online event, we showed participants how to make their own wax food wraps with batik style patterns created with a non-wax resist made from items you can find in your kitchen cupboard. We showed how to make natural dyes from turmeric, onion skins, black beans, beetroot, blackberries and elderberries, to dye your fabric and demonstrated how to finish your wraps with wax.
We have developed this workshop ensuring all the materials and dyes used are non-toxic and safe for food use. You will be amazed at what you can make from just a handful of items that are kind to the environment and found in your home.
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| Click on image above to see 'how to' video |
You will need the following for this activity:
- 100% cotton cloth, woven cottons work best. Look for old bedsheets, pillowcases, shirts, blouses etc
- Scissors
- Iron
- Cardboard (a cereal box is ideal)
- Sticky tape
- Plain flour, water and a spoon to mix
- Piping bag used for icing cakes or cut off the corner of a thick plastic carrier bag or use greaseproof paper cone if you are a confident with this method of piping
- Natural dyes (see below for recipes)
- Paint brushes - we used watercolour brushes
- Greaseproof paper
- Bees or soya wax pellets (see links below for suppliers)
Natural dye recipes mentioned in the above film:
- BLACKBERRIES (purple) - add 25-30 blackberries to a small pan. Crush with a fork. Add 200mls of boiling water and simmer for 15mins. Leave to cool and add to a jam jar.
- ELDERBERRIES (purple) - use x2 stems of elderberries and prepare in the same way as blackberries.
- TURMERIC (yellow) - add 1 TBSP of turmeric to a small pan. Add 200mls of boiling water and simmer for 15mis. Leave to cool and add to a jam jar.
- ONION SKINS (pale orange/brown) - take 2 handfuls of the dry papery part of a brown onion and break into small pieces. Add to a small pan. Add 300mls of boiling water. Gently simmer for 20-30mins. Cool and add to a jam jar.
- BLACKBEANS (light grey) - take any amount of dried blackbeans and add to a dish. Cover with cold water to about 2cms (an inch) above the beans. Leave to soak overnight. Strain off liquid into a jam jar. Cook something lovely with the left over beans!
Uses for different sized wax cloths:
- TINY - 10 x 10cms - cover for a bottle and other bits and bobs
- SMALL - 20 x 20cms - for jar lids, small food items, cheese etc
- MEDIUM - 30 x 30cms - covering bowls, wrapping sandwiches etc
- LARGE - 40 x 40cms - small loaves of bread, larger vegatables
- EXTRA LARGE - 50 50cms -large loaves of bread, could be used to keep vegatables fresh if made into pouches
Here are some links that inspired our making:
Supplier of wax and other (UK based) - always check that ingredients are food safe:
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