Simple DIY Thread Wax

I have a hobby addiction. I make lotions, soaps, lip balms and bath fizzies. I dabble in painting with acrylics and watercolors. I love to garden and bring fresh herbs and produce into the house to cook with. I enjoy paper-crafts like letter writing, origami and calligraphy. I love to bead and embroider. You would think with all of these hobbies and passions, somewhere along the way I might have mastered patience. I wish!

Finished Thread Wax

I recently started making the most adorable beaded bookmark with a family of elephants on it. I love sitting there, adding each bead and securing it to the others. I don’t love needing to add another length of thread to my project. The darn thread starts twisting on me and makes it hard to thread my needle! It drives me crazy when I can’t immediately go back to adding beads and instead I am futzing with my thread, trying to get it to behave!

So you can imagine my delight at discovering thread wax and how much easier it made my life. I found lightly waxing my whole length of thread made it easier to work with and my stitching tighter and more secure. I have tried a few different types of thread wax and some are very waxy. Others are great but I find the containers hard to use, particularly for long lengths of thread. Today I wanted to make my own thread wax! I had originally considered putting the thread wax into our 0.25 oz tins but I felt I might still have issues with the container. So I actually put this into our lip balm tubes instead. This may seem like a strange container for thread wax but let be explain why I decided to go this route.

With the tin, the more material you use, the deeper you will need to go into the jar. With a lip balm tube, you can advance the wax thread as you use it. That means once you get comfortable with hand placement, finger pressure and thread speed, it will always remain the same. The tube is also easier to manage and keep clean. How cool is that?! Come join me in the blog kitchen to make this simple (and life changing) thread wax!

Recipe:

Weighing Beeswax

I can’t wait to make this thread wax! Let’s get started. In a microwave safe container, weigh out the beeswax, palm kernel oil, cocoa butter, and castor oil. Heat gently in the microwave until the mixture is liquid. If you still have a few stubborn lumps of beeswax, don’t worry. Simply stir the mixture and the heat should cause the beeswax to melt. Stir the mixture well to make sure everything is cohesive.

Once everything is liquid, you can either pipette the mixture into your tubes, or you can use a filling tray. I like using a filling tray because they are simple and fast. If you are using a filling tray, insert your tubes into your tray. Flood the tray with your melted thread wax. Allow the mixture to cool. Scrape off the excess. I like to use a plastic putty knife. Remove the tubes from the tray then cap.

If you are going to pipette the lip balm into the tubes, fill the tube until you get a dome of liquid material at the top. Wax shrinks when it cools and doing this helps ensure that you get a very pretty top. Fill all of your tubes making sure they are domed on the top before they cool. (You may need to reheat your lip balm during this process. This is normal and to be expected.) Allow the tubes to cool and cap.

Now you can give your thread wax a pretty label or put it into a cute bag. I actually really like the idea of using the white lanyard caps for this so I can wear this and make it easy to find in all of my project stuff! Enjoy this project-saving thread wax balm or give as gifts to like minded hobbyists!

Weighing Palm Kernel Oil

Weighing Castor Oil

Melted Thread Wax