Hello friends! Today I'm sharing a simple, quick project with you of some DIY dyed faux orchid blooms and the faux + real arrangement that I used them for that's pretty convincing if I do say so myself! I almost hesitated to share it at all but thought it might get someone's creative wheels turning. So we'll start with a pretty "after" picture...
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...and here's what we started with!
I've had these faux orchid stems for years, and had grown tired of the pale, almost purple shade of the blooms. We all know that I like bright and bold and I was wanting them to have a bit more pizazz! So, last Fall when I experimented with dying a lamp shade, I decided to throw the flowers in the dye bath too and see what happened.
I let them soak for several hours to try to absorb as much color as possible, then rinsed them and stuck the stems upright in the yard to dry out.
I've shared this little trick before several years ago but think it merits mentioning again in case you missed it... I love buying real orchids and usually get several months out of them before the blooms are spent. But when that eventually happens, I don't pitch the plant! Here are a few that were done so I snipped off the dead stalks and was left with the healthy leaves.
I add my faux stems to the real leaves, and once assembled I think it's pretty convincing! I like to cover the pot and fill the container around it with some type of moss- preserved, spanish, or reindeer are my faves to use. Be sure to continue to water the leaves though if you try this so they won't die.
Early on I did this in hopes of the real orchid blooming again, but that's only happened once or twice for me when I kept them in a bright, humid bathroom. But I'm happy to extend the life of the plant and get a little more for my $ with this faux/real combo method, realistic purchased orchid arrangements can be really pricey! Here's another example from my post a few years ago with some white faux stems that I have too-
I'm loving the hot pink blossoms for now, though! I also painted the stems green with some craft paint, I didn't like the brown stems.
Glad to be using the old faux stems that were just stored away because I wasn't that crazy about the color. Now I'll happily use them over and over again in different spots all over the house!
If you're happy with the color offerings, Hobby Lobby and Michaels have some nice, realistic faux stems if you want to create your own arrangement. And actually, At Home had some really nice looking hot pink stems the last time I was there. If I had seen them first I wouldn't have dyed my own- ha! These are the best faux orchid leaves I've seen if you want to start from scratch, you can see how I used them here.
I want to know, have you ever dyed anything? And if so, what's the strangest thing you've dyed? P.S.- there's a bit more orchid talk saved here in my Instastories if you're interested.
The orchids are gorgeous and look REAL! What a clever trick to use the live orchid leaves along with the faux stems. I haven't used actual dye to change the color of faux flowers, but I have taken craft paint and watered it down to the consistency of dye and painted it on the petals. It works quite well and I can control where the color is used. I did this at Christmas with some beautiful faux white amaryllis that were just too white to look real. They fooled everyone.
ReplyDeleteOh that’s a great idea! I bet they looked fantastic!
DeleteYes - what a fun idea! Love small inspiration posts.
ReplyDeleteI'm toying with the idea of dying curtains for our baby's nursery since I can't find anything close to what I want (kelly green drapes).
I did that a few years ago! It worked out pretty well, those darker colors can be tough to get super saturated. I just used lots of dye and soaked them for a long time.
DeleteBrilliant!
ReplyDelete