Sunday, November 14, 2010

Dyeing bottle brush trees

I'm in a 'use what you have' kind of mood lately and been wanting to dye some of the bottlebrush trees that I have on hand. The directions are to remove the original green color by soaking them in a solution of bleach and water. I used various strengths and as you can imagine came out with different shades of green down to a creamish color. Further directions said to used dye to recolor. With only some food coloring on hand I decided to give that a try. The blues and blue greens did not turn out well at all. The green trees you see below are the result of watching and removing from the bleach solution at different times. A dozen of the pink were sent off a few weeks ago for a swap, they are my favorite. They all look much better in person. One thing I'd like to add is that different results were achieved with the different brands of trees. One batch literally melted. I never did achieve a nice clean white color so if you have, please let me know your secret. You can play with the shape of your trees by fluffing up or squishing down the bristles.

These are going to be fun to fix up and decorate.

11 comments:

Karin Corbin said...

Nice!

I have been playing around with these little guys too. It is easy to trim them into various shapes that represent varieties of trees found in a forest.

Kim Gillian said...

I really like these bottle brush trees...I may have to try this!!
Really cute!
-Kim :)

Josje said...

I quite like all the different shades you managed to achieve, even the ones you say have not come out right. They look like they're antique ones, like from those German Christmas scenes.
I don't have any bottle brushes but now I will certainly look out for them. Thanks for the tip!

Kathi said...

You achieved some great results! I really like the pink and white ones.
I would never have thought to try to bleach them. Great idea!

Claudia said...

I think they look great, Cheryl!

xo
Claudia

Sans! said...

Thank you for the tip on the bleach, Cheryl!

Ilonka said...

Hi Cheryl, whow that looks great have à wonderful week!!

Gr. Ilonka

Carey said...

I think they came out rather nice. Where are you finding these bottle brush trees. I have been looking for them but can't seem to find them.
Hugs,
Carey

Flor said...

Están muy lindo !!!¡muchas gracias por compartirnos el como los hiciste!!! ( =
Un beso
Flor

Tammy Renee said...

Oh I love how your trees turned out. I did a tutorial how to some time back and used leftover Easter egg coloring. Worked wonderfully.Right now I am working on a few for Christmas. As far as getting them super white you cant without painting them. The sisal the trees are made of is naturally off white.

Mini Blessings,
Tammy Renee
dollarstoredollhouse.blogspot.com

C said...

Great idea Cheryl. I am going to try to remember this for next Christmas. Happy New Year! Best wishes, Carol :)