How to dye Hydrangeas {Rit Dye}

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Dyed Hydrangea Arrangement
 I have a medium sized hydrangea bush that I baby all summer long to get as many blooms as I can. I love the range of colors. I propagated a bush from it, planted it elsewhere in the yard and the blooms are pinkish. On the mother plant the colors range from pink to blue to purple due to the soil content. Using Rit Dye allows me to change up those colors!
 

drying hydrangeas (2)This was a very good year and around the second week of August I snipped most of the blooms. I tried a couple of different ways of drying the blooms. These blooms are in a bucket of water, to dry naturally as the water evaporates.drying hydrangeas (5)This bunch I let dry without water. I’d like to be able to tell you which way worked best, but I can’t. The patio leaks when it rains, and it rained while I was in California and the blooms got wet. I KNOW that was not good for them, but they did okay.dying hydrangeas (4)When I got the opportunity to test my hand with some Rit  Dye, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.dying hydrangeas (6)These are my dried blooms.

supplies for dying with Rit LiquidI gather my supplies. I decided to mark my plastic with the amounts of water and dye so that I wouldn’t have to use a measuring cup and spoon with boiling water and/or liquid dye.

dying hydrangeas (12)As you can see, my hot water didn’t quite make the line. I decided it isn’t brain surgery, my color would just be a little deeper.

dying hydrangeas (14)I dipped my dried blooms into the dye bath.

dying hydrangeas (23)I clipped the wet blooms onto a sapling in my back yard that I grew from a SEED! I’m loving this tree. It’s one of those trees that sprout up, I protected it from the lawn mower. I planned to take it to jamie, but it grew too fast. It hung out on the fence for 2 years, then I moved it to the back yard. It’s a ornamental pear tree. It is about 2.5 years old now.
dying hydrangeas (47)I dyed some blooms blue and and lavender (using blue and pink combined). After I dyed the blooms, my water was still really good and warm, so I grabbed a couple of drop cloth placemats from the kitchen.

dying hydrangeas (22)I dampened the placemats, and ended up pouring the orange dye water into  a wider container.Dying Placemats (2)I wanted to do an ombre pattern. To achieve this, I gently folded the placemat in half, and dipped the center into the dye bath. Dying PlacematsI clipped the placemat so that I could let it soak in the color for about 10 minutes or so.After that, I released the close pin, and lowered it further into the dye bath, but not leaving it for so long. I did that one last time to just give a little color to the furthest end.Dying Placemats (4)I used the water hose to rinse the placemats until the water was clear.

Dying Placemats (7)I hung them on the clothesline, instead of the tree. 🙂    They are great for Halloween because they look just like candy corn!

orange dyed hydrangeas (4)Because of the way my hydrangeas were dried, some took the color differently than others.

Dyed Hydrangea Arrangement (5)I put them in one of my caddies and used the placemats that I dyed.

Dyed Hydrangea Arrangement (9)I really love how the flowers AND the placemats turned out!

Dyed Hydrangea Arrangement (14)I used some hydrangea leaves to add some green.

Dyed Hydrangea Arrangement (15)Do you love hydrangeas as much as I do?

Dyed Hydrangea Arrangement (16)

black hydrangea  source

You still have time to  dye some hydrangeas and placemats black for Halloween!

What have you dyed lately?

Be sure to check out Rit Dye on Facebook,Twitter and Pinterest.
gail
I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Rit Dye and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post, as always are my own.

 

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ABOUT GAIL WILSON - A teacher at heart, Gail Wilson relishes the chance not to show off her projects, but to help others find their inner handywoman, step-by-step. Her blog, MyRepurposedLife.com, chronicles her scrap-saving adventures and has been featured on countless DIY magazines and websites, including Women’s Day, Design*Sponge and Apartment Therapy. She is a longtime influencer for both Homeright and Gorrilla Glue. With a tribe of more than 450,000 followers, Gail is inspiring a new generation of DIYers to pick up some tools and get to work.

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Comments

  1. DIY Show Off says

    October 9, 2012 at 11:49 pm

    Beautiful! I’ve never tried dying but this is inspiring! I’m including a link back in tomorrow’s fall highlights (natural decor). Thanks so much for sharing! Hope all is well, Gail! 🙂

    Reply

  3. Jessica @ Stay at Home-ista says

    September 25, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    Love it! I’ve never thought of dying flowers before, but I’ve pinned it, which hopefully menas one day i’ll get around to doing it:)

    Jessica

    Reply

  4. Suzanne@Meridian Road says

    September 24, 2012 at 10:48 pm

    I’ve got to dye some hydrangeas blue! I can’t believe how wel that turned out! The placemats are pretty cool, too.

    Reply

  5. Stephanie says

    September 24, 2012 at 9:50 pm

    You make it look so easy! The hydrangeas turned out so beautiful. And they will last forever now. The placemats do look like candy corn! So fall inspiring that is for sure!

    Reply

  7. Corn in my Coffee-Pot says

    September 24, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    Oh…those place mats are cute.
    I love them. They look pretty simple. I’d like to be able to GROW a Hydrangea …and then I’d consider dying some.
    I haven’t used Rit dye in along time. I was thinking about dying some rugs that have lost their luster…They are terry type rugs for bath mats, but I use them on the kitchen chairs for the Littles…because they are slobs! 😉

    …I ‘died’ some chickens this weekend, does that count? Patricia

    Reply

  8. Tracy Snyder says

    September 24, 2012 at 4:35 pm

    I love hydrangeas, wish I could grow them 🙁 I never knew you could dye them. Great job! I love the placemats. Your tablescape with the dyed hydrangeas and placemats looks great!

    Reply

  9. freddyandpetunia says

    September 24, 2012 at 4:11 pm

    Luv this idea! The blooms here got away from me and have all turned brown (because I didn’t pick them early enough).
    I see salvation in their future! Merci Beaucoup!
    Catherine

    Reply

  12. Proper Prim says

    September 24, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    There you go, teaching me something I didn’t know before. Never ever thought to die flowers. Great idea. Love your tablescape pics… nice work.

    I will have to tuck that one in the memory bank for 2 years from now. I cut down my bush, only to find out that I also cut off the blooms for next year… who knew?

    Reply

  13. Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures says

    September 24, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    Wow, what a great idea. I never would have thought about dying them black. Now all I need are some gorgeous hydrangeas to experiment on. Thanks Gail.

    Reply

  19. Nadine @ Chic with the Kool-Aid Mustache says

    September 24, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    Who knew you could dye dried flowers!? I love hydrangeas and my Mom always had gorgeous ones when I was growing up but they don’t do well for me. They turned out really nice and would make a beautiful wreath.

    Reply

  21. Joni Taylor says

    September 24, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    I wonder what would happen if when you clipped the flowers and put them in water you had dye in the water. That way it would pull it into the plant. Maybe it would work??? Just a thought.

    Reply

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