Vintage Bottle Brush Trees

This post is all about how to make your own vintage bottle brush trees.  First, purchase some dark green pine trees at any craft store or dollar store. You can find them in the Christmas Village section during the holidays.  I recently bought some in Lowes and Sears, but you can find them in any dollar store or Wal-Mart.

Before bleaching

In a dish pan combine enough water to submerge your trees with approximately 1 cup of bleach. Place your trees in the solution and allow them to soak until they reach the desired color. They will take between 2 and 6 hours.  You may leave them soaking over night. Some of the white flocking will come off of the branches, but it is OK, you can replace it in the decoration phase.  Once the color is removed rinse the trees in clean water and allow them to dry.

After bleaching
 

If you like the natural cream color your trees are ready to decorate. Be sure to replace your good clothes with old ones before you start this process.  Brush white paint on, going from the bottom branches to the top.  The paint will splatter, so be prepared. Allow the paint to dry. Next I brush Americana Triple Thick brilliant brush on gloss glaze on all of the branches, again going from the bottom to the top.  I then sprinkle the Buffalo Snow Flakes and white glitter on the trees. I am using Martha Stewart's Crystal Fine glitter - white. I also recently bought Tree House Studio white disco glitter, which is bigger, with iridescent color. (All of these supplies can be found at Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Joann Fabrics.) Allow the trees to dry again. Some of the flocking will come off once dried.  You can always add more later, if needed.  Finally, I use my hot glue gun to attach ribbon or miniature garland and colored beads to the branches. I use beads from a string of bead garland, which is quite inexpensive.  You can find this bead garland in any Wal-Mart or dollar store.  Once dry, I paint the clear glaze on the base of the tree and add the Buffalo snow flakes and glitter to this area, as well.

My first set of cream trees! I got the ribbons at Hobby Lobby and the beads on etsy.com and at various craft stores.
 

If you would like to dye your trees you can use RIT dye.  For the pink trees below I used the fuschia pink shade of RIT dye.  I left the trees in the dye for a short time.  Use a glass bowl or drinking glass, large enough to hold the biggest tree.  Put cold water in the bowl and add the desired amount of dye. I then used the process described above to flock the branches, except I did not add the white paint to the branches first.  I also made some green trees, but I did not like the shade of green, which was too dark, so I bleached them a second time.  Yesterday I purchased light yellow RIT dye, which I plan to mix with the green to create my own shade of pastel green.  Julia at hopeandjoystudio on etsy.com makes the most beautiful pale green trees. I am hoping to create that same shade of green.  Her trees are gorgeous. I've ordered 2 sets of cream and 2 sets of pink and they are all perfect, so if you don't want to make your own check out her site!

I hope you enjoyed my post about how to make your own vintage bottle brush trees.
Happy Holidays!