I have a slight obsession with bottle brush trees. Okay, more like a major obsession. I love that you can spruce up any little shelf or mantle or table with just a few of these cute trees! What I might love even more than the trees though, is dyeing them in every color of the rainbow! In this tutorial, I will show you how to turn traditional green bottle brush trees into a rainbow forest!

When I first started my bottle brush tree collection, colorful trees were just breaking in to the scene. It was tricky to find trees in the exact colors I wanted for my decor. It was easy to find the dark green traditional bottle brush trees, however, and I thought that there must be a way to turn those green trees into the colors I wanted. With some trial and error, I discovered the process that worked best for bleaching green trees, then dyeing them the colors I wanted. Let’s get started with the materials you’ll need!

Materials

Green Bottle Brush Trees - I have bought large bags of trees from Michael’s (Lemax brand), and I have also bought some from Amazon, like these HERE. I like that the Amazon ones have a wood base, but I also like how the Lemax ones from Michael’s come in larger sizes. You do want to make sure that your trees are sisal trees and not synthetic fiber ones. I have learned that often the Lemax bags contain a combination of the two. Most of the trees in the bag are usually able to be dyed, but a few cannot. The Amazon ones above are sisal and are able to be dyed.
OR White Bottle Brush Trees - If you want to skip the bleaching step altogether, you can buy white (really more off-white) bottle brush trees. These weren’t readily available a few years ago, but they are starting to pop up more. White trees usually cost a little more, but that can be worth it if you want to skip the bleach step. I like these white trees with wood bases from Amazon. Again, you want these to be sisal trees too.
Bleach - Any traditional bleach will do. I like Clorox splash-less varieties because it does tend to splash less, but you can really use any brand and type.
Rit Dye - I love using Rit Dye for this project. I have tried a few other brands, but this brand has always been my favorite as far as color and coverage is concerned. You can use either the powder or the liquid variety. You can find these at craft stores or on Amazon. Here are a few of my favorite colors with their links on Amazon:
Gloves - I just use these disposable ones from Amazon.
Apron or other clothing that could get stained or bleached.
Old Towels
Old Cookie sheet or dish
Bowls - Make sure these aren’t your best china bowls. I use some cheap plastic ones and glass Pyrex ones that won’t dye.

Bleaching

To bleach your green trees, start by making sure that you are in a well ventilated area and that your clothing is covered. We don’t want to bleach your clothes too! I actually do the bleaching in my kitchen sink to minimize mess. I also wear gloves when working with bleach (and dye) to protect my hands.

The more bleach you use, the quicker your trees will turn white, but I don’t like to use straight bleach. I like to use a half bleach, half hot water mixture. I feel like it is too strong by itself, so I make it less concentrated. Depending on how many trees you want to bleach at one time, you can use as little or as much water and bleach as will fit all of your trees comfortably. I mix the water and bleach in a bowl in my sink.

If you feel like your trees aren’t getting bleached very quickly, you can always add more bleach. Each tree is different and will take a different amount of time to turn white. I swish them around a little in the bleach to make sure all sides of the trees are getting covered. You will know when they are done because the green will be gone! Take them out and rinse them well with warm water. I set them on a towel (use white if you don’t want it to bleach your colored towels!) that is on a cookie sheet. These do not need to be dry before you start the dyeing process. You can begin dyeing right away.

I sometimes like to take the trees out before they have completely turned white so that they are a pale green color. I think it is really pretty and much more toned down than the dark green. Please also note that these trees won’t turn a pure white. They will turn off-white, which is very easy to dye.

Dyeing

Now that you have your off-white trees, you can begin the fun part!

Make sure you keep that apron and gloves on for this part of the process. I also do this in a bowl in my kitchen sink. Just use the same bowl you used with the bleach. Pick the dye you want to use. If you are using a powder dye, I put about 3-4 cups of HOT water into the bowl, then I sprinkle in about a tablespoon of the powdered dye into the water and stir. When using a liquid dye, I use about 3-4 cups of HOT water to 3-4 Tablespoons of dye then stir.

If you are dyeing more trees or are using a bigger bowl, you may need to up the amount of water and dye. The more dye you use in your water, the darker the color. If you use more water, it will lighten the color. This is where your preference comes into play. If you feel like the color isn’t dark enough, add more dye. The longer your trees sit in the dye will also make your trees darker as well. Play around with the amount of dye and the length of time to get your perfect colors. The one thing to remember is to use HOT water with your dye. It helps the color dissolve and it makes it brighter and richer. It also helps the dye stick to the sisal fibers better.

Put your trees in the dye and let them soak it up. If you want to get even more creative, you can get an ombre effect by lowering your trees into the dye slowly, dyeing a small section at a time and having one end more dyed than the others. You can also create a two-toned tree by dyeing one half in one color, then the other half in another. If you want to change up your colors a bit, you can even mix two different dyes together to create custom colors. One more thing to keep in mind is that the bases of your trees will be dyed a slight hue of the same color. If you really don’t want your base to be dyed, you will need to make sure that they don’t touch the dye.

Once your trees have reached your desired colors, you need to rinse them. This is the one time you want to use COLD water in this process. Rise in cold water to set the dye on the trees. Make sure you rinse until the water runs clear. Set them to dry on an old towel on a cookie sheet. Even after rinsing, the trees almost always still have a little dye on them. They will dye your towels. I have some very colorful towels now, thanks to drying these little guys! Also, make sure that the wet trees of different colors don’t touch each other. While they are still wet, they can transfer color to each other.

Allow the trees to dry completely, which could take up to 24 hours. You can tell if they are dry by touch. Once dry, you can start decorating with them! This is the best part! I love to use these on my kitchen table as our centerpiece at Christmastime. I also put some on my mantle with a little Christmas village above our stockings and a pom pom garland. These are also adorable in a cloche or a mason jar type snow globe. You can even use these when wrapping gifts by attaching them to the top of your presents with string. The possibilities are endless!