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Friday, January 22, 2021

Handmade paper fire starters with beeswax
















I had a brainstorm in the last few days since my experiments with fire starters - maybe I could use handmade paper for them.  I had to find my box of handmade paper as it has been a while since I was in there.  I made up two of each - two without wax and two with beeswax.  I decided to use beeswax on them because I just recently acquired some and I wanted to preserve the beauty of the paper.   


These are the ones I made above.  The ones without wax worked reasonably but those with wax were much better.  I used my griddle covered with foil in the same way as I did for when I used crayons.  I laid my handmade paper sheet (8.5"x 5.5") over the foil and rubbed the beeswax sticks over it.  Beeswax required a bit more heat (250F) and also the handmade paper is thicker than the other papers I used so it takes a bit longer for the heat to transfer through.  I avoided the edges and that proved problematic when I tried to light them as the sewn ends were less waxed than the rest.  
I had to go back and add wax to the edges.  For those already made up I simply dipped the ends in melted beeswax.  For those not yet made up I found that sewing through paper coated with beeswax is problematic as the wax is a little sticky.  So for my next ones I will put regular wax on the edges and the beeswax in the center.  It will give a nice highlight to the paper to have a coloured edge.  I will investigate the availability of parraffin - used for sealing canning jars - at the grocery store to see if there is any available at this time of year. It would provide a clear quick melting options for handmade paper.  I do like the beeswax on the handmade paper so I would consider just putting the parraffin on the  edges.          Therese