The Source: Waterproofing Wax
A case for making a good portion of your possessions into raincoats.
Do you have a fabric thing that you would like to be ~more~ than just a normal fabric thing? Do you want your fabric thing to also wick water? You are certainly in luck because today I will go on for entirely too long about waterproofing wax.
I have been a devoted applicator of wax to fabric for a little over a decade and a half, which is when my very nice family purchased my still-favorite and worn-daily coat. Sure, waxed canvas coats are having a moment and therefore are also being ruthlessly lampooned (about which I feel both seen and attacked). Nevertheless, I’m going to stand by and also continue to recommend pouring hot wax all over a fair share of your fabric belongings.
You may be saying, ‘But Zinzi, you can send your coat to the manufacturer and they’ll re-apply the wax coating.’ True! But! It’s fun, easy, and extremely messy to do it yourself. And, if you’re like me, it will inspire you to start looking around to see what *else* you can dip in wax.
First, and because this is The Source after all: Which wax. Coat Manufacturer makes a wax—that’s one option. I have used it and it’s a great little tin of wax. However, since picking some up at my local fabric store, I have started to prefer two wax products from Otter Wax, which is a relatively new company out of Oregon (where else would it be from, honestly). One wax comes in bar form and another in a similar adorable little paint can. The bar is applied by repeated rubbing across your fabric (for this reason, it’s got to be quite heavy duty canvas); the can is melted in a water bath (sort of a double boiler situation) and then worked into the fabric using a rag.
Some ways I have and have not used waterproofing wax ::
On clothes.
A few years ago, in need of snow pants (or at least a shell under which I could layer) and not wanting to buy another piece of plastic clothing, I decided to waterproof some overalls. I had worn this Jungmaven pair quite a lot during pregnancy and not much at all since—so! They were a good candidate. For this particular project, I used the bar form of Otter Wax because (a) no melting required, which is nice and (b) the fabric is quite heavy duty and could take the repeated friction of the wax bar. It works really well!
Some other ideas that have come up in the apparel space: You can waterproof your baseball cap (or bucket hat?!), your bags and luggage, and your sneakers.
On eating surfaces.
The inspiration for this post comes straight out of the latest print edition of Treehouse, wherein I just so cleverly stapled fabric around a plywood board to make it a level surface for picnics. This idea was something we discovered was useful while shooting the first issue, however that particular fabric covering got pretty gross pretty quickly. Enter: WAX. I re-covered the board in new fabric and then used the little paint can of wax, working it in with an old rag. And! Now the picnic board can be used and used again because it’s an easy to clean, wipe-down situation.
A couple other ideas: Waterproof placemats; make-your-own beeswax food wraps; your own version of these under-baby mats.
Other around-the-house ideas.
A friend-of-Treehouse waxed some canvas to protect windowless window frames from the weather while building his house. I would think anything you’d want or need a tarp for, you could use some waxed canvas. Here are some pretty nice-looking ones, already made.
Also: How about waxing up a custom cover for your grill? Or cushions for outdoor furniture? A tent for goodness’ sake!
Reader, you’re the clever one after all: Have you waxed in the past? What are some other applications that you either have tried or think might be a fun idea? I want to know, like, a lot.
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I have waxed many a coat (and a few bags). I like to use a hairdryer to get the wax evenly distributed.
zinziiii, how do you always know exactly the topics my brain has been noodling on but needed a little push to find materials/get started? your picnic situation is particularly brilliant! and overalls to snow pants - yes! this past season i wore military wool trousers & a pair of liner pants and was delighted to see how not-wet i got while sledding :) thanks for another push to keep investigating water-proofing!