To begin with, you will need a few bottle brush trees in the size of your choice. I used light pink, white, and light green trees from Joann fabrics. Using these already white and lighter dyed color trees eliminates the need to bleach the trees to obtain a blank base tree. Usually you would have to use a 1 to 3 bleach to hot water ratio to bleach the dark green color out of standard bottle brush trees, but these are already light and even white and ready to accept the dye.
In addition to the trees, you will need fabric dye in your choice of colors and a few glass cups to mix the dye in.
To begin the dyeing process, I added a 1 to 1 ratio of hot tap water to the liquid dye and mixed it to combine. Then I dipped the top 2/3 of the trees in the dye for about 5 seconds. I then moved the tree up so that only 1/3 of the tree (the top portion) was in the dye and kept it there for about 30 seconds. I then removed the trees and dabbed them with paper towels and laid them on fresh paper towels to fully dry. As you can see, I used the light pink tree in the fuchsia dye and the light green tree in the aquamarine dye.
That was it! Seriously quick and easy little project. I also decided to go ahead and fully dye a few more trees for a different ombre effect. Just remember the longer you hold the tree in the dye, the darker the color. You can also start with a more diluted dye/water mixture and slowly add more dye to create the look below. I love that Joann’s is selling these white trees as it makes the whole process so much simpler. And right now they are 50% off with an extra 20% off coupon that you can get on their website. I think I may need to head back there to stock up. I see a whole lot more dip dying in my future!
