DYEING
HYDRANGEAS
TIPS FOR DYEING HYDRANGEAS WITH RITZ DYE
It may seem a bit outrageous to some people that anyone would want to dye or spray a hydrangea with artificial color. But there can be a number of good reasons for investing ones time in this project. First, hydrangeas are an effective, inexpensive method of decorating. If one has limited access to the blooms, it is reasonable to use this technique to make the flowers last a few years longer than would otherwise be possible.
Second, there is an occasional event or a decorating situation when a splash of color in a particular shade is called for. Dyed hydrangeas can fill-the-bill here quite nicely.
Below are some tips for the dyeing project.
- Make sure that the blooms are completely dry before beginning.
- Dye the heads just like you would dye cloth - dip them in a boiling dye bath.
- The deepest colors can be achieved by making sure the Rit dye mixture is boiling before dipping the dry hydrangea heads into it. For lighter effects leave head in dye less time or dip when dye bath is slightly cooler than boiling. Over time, I have come to like the lighter, airier effect, but deep colors can be useful as an accent. It can also be effective to mix the different shades, as in the basket arrangement above.
- Sometimes, when dyeing older blooms, the color of the old hydrangea before dyeing is not as clean and light as one would like. Try spot-spraying the blooms with white spray paint before dyeing. Concentrate spray on the centers of each floret. Also, spray all darkened areas of the bloom. This method is especially helpful in prolonging the usefulness of blooms that are more than a year old.
- Just as a reference, the dyed flowers in the basket above are three to four years old. They were dyed the year before this picture was taken. The roses in the arrangement were not dyed or dried by me (I purchased them).
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Close up
NOTE: I'm sorry these pictures are so badly done. They were obviously taken during two different dyeing sessions - one with blue dye and the other with pink dye. For some reason, I didn't get pictures of both parts of either session. Also, these are fuzzy, weird colored pictures (Maybe it's because dyeing and photography should each be done with two hands, and I've devoted only one hand to each for these pictures.)
Dyeing Steps
BEWARE! Dye will drip on the floor and other surfaces being used. Be sure to cover all involved surfaces with newspaper. On the other hand, the dye doesn't seem to stain most surfaces that are not fabric or flowers.While the pictures are probably self explanatory, here are the captions for them:
1. A dry, white bloom is held over a pot of boiling dye bath.
2. The bloom is lowered into the dye bath and held for a few seconds.
3. and 4. The same bloom as the white one pictured in Step 1, is being removed from the dye bath a few seconds later. At this point it looks like a totally ruined bloom. But do not fear, it fluffs back up to it's normal shape.
5. The blooms are hung to dry. I was fortunate to have this wire bookcase that I could use as a rack, but the blooms can be can hung from a line that is strung up in an out-of-the-way area. They dry fairly quickly.
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