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Create custom bottle brush trees of any color using bleach and dye for your holiday decorations.
I have fallen in love with bottle brush trees. I have started collecting them the last few years. Picking them up here and there and adding to my collection.
But I wanted more.
I was having a hard time finding anything but the dark green ones they sell by the bagful to use with your Christmas village. So I decided to try some DIY Bottle Brush Christmas Trees.
I wanted more of a vintage look to the trees so a friend told me you could bleach them so I decided to give it a try. I’m always up for a good craft project.
How to Bleach Bottle Brush Trees
- Make a mixture of 80% bleach and 20% water in a glass bowl.
- Add the trees to the bleach/water.
- Let them sit for several minutes until the color has been removed.
- Use metal tongs to remove them from the bleach and then rinse under water.
You can pull them out before they turn totally white if you like. I did that on a few of them.
Your bleach mixture will get dirty and sludgie as you go. If you are doing a lot you may need to change your mixture out part way through. The dirtier the mixture gets the longer it will take for the trees to bleach out.
For the bigger trees you may have to get creative with your container.
I love my little forest of bottle brush trees.
I love the vintage look of the creamy white trees but for a more colorful forest you will need some dye. For my Valentine trees I purchased 3 different shades of red/pink Rit dye; Scarlet, Petal Pink and Fuchsia. You can also mix your dyes together for even more colors.
How to Dye Bottle Brush Trees
- Bleach trees using the instructions above.
- Add 1/2 Tbsp of the powdered dye into a pint sized jar of cold water.
- Dip your bleached bottle brush tree into the dye.
- Let trees Dry
Ombre Bottle Brush Trees
I only left my trees in for a few minutes so just judge according to the shade you want. I wanted variations in shades so I just pulled them out when they were the color I wanted.
You can see the slight variation in color as a result of leaving them in for different amounts of time. The longest I left one in was two minutes, so it doesn’t take long. It gave me a nice ombre effect.
Frequently Asked Questions
My trees won’t turn white.
Not all bottle brush trees are created equal. You want to make sure you buy trees that are made out of sisal. This is a natural fiber from the leaves of an Agave plant. There are some bottle brush trees that are made out of synthetic green material and they will not bleach or dye. Sisal trees, on the other hand, are dyed so that color can be stripped out by bleach.
Where can I buy bottle brush trees?
I have found them online through Amazon, at the Dollar Tree and at most craft stores such as Michaels and Hobby Lobby.
Once they are dry, you are ready to decorate and enjoy your colorful bottle brush tree forest.
Krista says
It depends on the type of material the trees are made out of. The ones I got at Walmart are plastic bristles and even with the ones with the thick coating, the coating bleached yellow, but the bristles were all still dark green underneath and showed. A quick coat of spray paint will change the colors of those so they aren’t a complete waste of money. I did silver so far and will paint the others white and gold tomorrow so I can kind of do what I was wanting. I will go get some from MIchaels tomorrow so I can bleach and dye them like I was wanting to do with these that didn’t turn out. Just wanted to share that info to save someone the money with the non bleachable ones.
Diane says
I tried it and mine would not bleach out. Now I have heard two things, you need regular bleach, not the thick kind and soft brush. so I don’t know but I will have to try again.
Leigh Anne says
It may be the trees and the type of material they are made out of.
Diane says
I read some where you have to have soft brush and mine aren’t that soft. Probably the reason, I can’t wait until they come out so I can try. I love the colors you did, so pretty.
Diane says
I tried some individual ones I purchased from locations like Michael’s, etc, and none of them will die, I used Clorox and even let it set over night. Mine look very similar to yours, I don’t get it why it won’t work on the three different ones I purchased. Any idea?
Leigh Anne says
Strange? How strong was your clorox solution?
Diane says
Strength was about 80% bleach and 20% water.
Robyn Neville says
I like it, I like it. You’ll be happy to know I still decorate my living room for Christmas with the stuff you bought. I took photos so I could recreate it. I even put up the long garland on the banister to downstairs. Although my bows are a bit pathetic.
Leigh Anne says
So glad you liked the Christmas decor!
Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen says
I am in love with your blog!!! First the Peppermint Ice Cream and now this! Those Trees are perfect! The ones in the specialty stores that look like that are a crazy $5 each! Thanks so much for sharing this great tip! Thanks fro linking to Show Me Your Plaid Monday’s!