I have always loved vintage bottle brush trees. I have been just fascinated with them since I was a small child. They have such a charming vintage look and I always want to use them everywhere for decorations. They are actually very easy to dye different colors. I purchased my bottle brush/sisal trees from Ebay.com. They are also available on Amazon as well, just make sure to purchase the trees that are the ivory color.
You will need:
- Ivory bottle brush/ sisal trees
- Dye, any brand works (I used Rit and Dylon for natural materials.)
- Jars or glasses of different sizes
- Trays or old bowls, paper towels for lining the trays or bowls
- paint drop cloth or plastic drop cloth to protect work space
Start by filling jars with varying amounts of water and sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of dye powder into the jars and stir with spoon. Take the bottle brush trees and dip into the dye. You can hold them with your fingers or just let sit in the jar. Check the tree often till you get the desired color intensity.
Problems that can arise. If you get a color that is too intense, pour out some of the dye and replace with more water. If your dye is too pale, add a bit of dye powder to the jar and stir. If the tree is dyed too dark, you can hold it under the faucet with warm water until you get the desired intensity. To clean dye from surface, I use a bit water with a bit of bleach in it. Just be careful not to get the dye or bleach water on any object or fabric that is valuable.
Once the trees have completely dried, you can immediately use them in decorating or you can embellish them with small items such as mini Easter eggs, paper or fabric flowers, rhinestones, beads etc…
Mrs. Lizzie's Art Room 