Stop...Collaborate & Save the Planet!
You may have noticed that there has been a lot in the news about single use plastic over the past few years. In the beekeeping world I’ve seen an increase in people making Beeswax Wraps to use instead of clingfilm and when my longtime pal, who’s also a small business owner, asked if we could collaborate to make up some kits for her customers I jumped at the chance.
My longtime pal is Natalie, owner of And Sew on Fabrics near Braintree in Essex. If you like fabrics you’d love her shop; it’s a magical emporium of patterns and textures and once you enter, expect to be there for hours as you peruse (and stroke!) the beautiful fabrics and make up reasons to purchase unusual buttons and pretty ribbons.
After discussions around what the kits would look like, we spent a day playing with beeswax, fabric and other magic ingredients to create the right combinations. The kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it when we had finished with wax all over the counter top (and me!), pieces of fabric hanging to dry on a makeshift “washing” line but we’d cracked it with a combination of beeswax, jojoba oil and pine resin all providing the flexibility and antibacterial qualities required in a great wrap.
The kit has been created with ease in mind so instead of including measured amounts of pine resin etc I’ve made up some beautiful blocks that are premixed, taking a lot of hassle and steam (no need to stand over a stove melting everything down with this kit!) out of the process for you (although not for me, I still get to stand over the stove whilst everything melts and my hair goes frizzy, but I’m happy to do that for you!).
The fabrics have all been hand picked by Natalie and cut to size, we’ve even added a small swatch (hexagonal of course) to the front of the box so you can make your own choice on design.
Making the wraps is dead easy and shouldn’t take long, or make too much mess! All of the instructions are in the kits and are simple to follow. If you get the chance to try out our kits, please do let us know on our social media channels as we’d love to see your finished wraps.
I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with Natalie. Owning a business is great fun, but at times it can be lonely and you can start questioning motives or whether ideas are worth following through. Working with a fellow business owner has been so much fun, we each have our strengths and having each other to bounce creative ideas off of has been great… I don’t think this will be the only thing we collaborate on and we haven’t argued yet so watch this space for more exciting products in the future!!
Right, I’m off to make more wax bars and steam my face!! cheery-bye for now xx
