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.
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.
When I got the opportunity to test my hand with some Rit Dye, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
These are my dried blooms.
I 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.
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.
I dipped my dried blooms into the dye bath.
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.
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.
I dampened the placemats, and ended up pouring the orange dye water into a wider container.
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. 
I 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.
I used the water hose to rinse the placemats until the water was clear.
I hung them on the clothesline, instead of the tree. 🙂 They are great for Halloween because they look just like candy corn!
Because of the way my hydrangeas were dried, some took the color differently than others.
I put them in one of my caddies and used the placemats that I dyed.
I really love how the flowers AND the placemats turned out!
I used some hydrangea leaves to add some green.
Do you love hydrangeas as much as I do?
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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DIY Show Off
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! 🙂
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Jessica @ Stay at Home-ista
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
Suzanne@Meridian Road
I've got to dye some hydrangeas blue! I can't believe how wel that turned out! The placemats are pretty cool, too.
Stephanie
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!
Pam Jackson
Mine dried up naturally on the bush..and I have several still hanging there. Might try this with them.
Corn in my Coffee-Pot
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
Tracy Snyder
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!
freddyandpetunia
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
Becky@Beyond The Picket Fence
I love hydrangeas--they are my favorite, but we can't grow them here :(. Love them dyed!
Pamela PBJstories
That is ridiculously creative!!!!! LOVE THEM!
Proper Prim
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?
Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures
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.
Dee @ A Lapin Life
Hi Gail,
I love this idea. I spray paint mine but they can look stiff. Super cute tablescape too!!!
Dee
Randi~Dukes and Duchesses
So cool! I would never think to dye dried flowers!
Terri
Wow...those are amazing! Love all the different colors...now if only I had some hydrangeas. You don't see too many in AZ!
Suzy Myers
Great idea! I love seeing unusual things dyed with RIT dye!
suzy
Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co.
Oh how cool! I love hydrangeas!
Nadine @ Chic with the Kool-Aid Mustache
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.
Debbiedoo's
Girl you are a genius! I love this idea. I am really enjoying the Rit dye projects I am seeing today!
Joni Taylor
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.
Sandi @ The Primitive Skate
The hydrangeas turned out beautiful.
I never knew you could dye them. Thanks for the tip. Have a wonderful week!
sandraallen260@centurytel.net
Jamie@OwlReally.com
everything looks great! love the ombre placemats -they remind me of candy corn. 🙂
Full Circle Creations
Looks great! A great recycle from your yard!