Sisal trees are a staple of holiday decor for many crafty folks, but for the rest of the year, they don’t have much place in your house. After all they are decidedly Christmas-y. But they don’t have to be! These bleached trees have a vintage look that can fit into your decor all year round.
Things you’ll need:
Sisal trees *natural sisal only
Bleach
Water
Glass dish
Things to do:
1. Fill your bowl with a mixture of 1/3 bleach, 2/3 water.
2. Submerge the trees completely in the bleach/water mixture. Don’t worry about bending the trunk or smooshing the sisal, you can straighten it out later.
3. Allow the trees to sit until the color has bleached out of them. This can take anywhere from a minute to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the tree.
4. Rinse the trees well and allow them to dry before reshaping them and fluffing up the sisal for displaying.
8 Comments
I bought 4 sizes of the sisal trees from this site and tried bleaching one and it would not bleach. I left it in the solution for 2 days and nothing. Finally emptied and tried straight bleach and not one bit of fading. The needles fell off but no fading. I dont want to try the others as dont want to ruin them. I am using clorox bleach. What is going wrong?
Hi Carol! Great question. Please make sure that the bottle brush trees you purchased are made of a natural fiber vs a synthetic fiber, such as, plastic. You could also try rubbing the bleach into the trees during the process. Remember to wear gloves! I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions. Happy crafting!
It would be kind to change the directions add very cleary to only use natural fiber sisal trees, give a warning not to use synthetic trees. You have a direct link to all your sisal trees in the directions. This is not fair.I was just putting together a large wholesale order of 250. I might have experienced the same thing on a larger scale.Plus it is just disappointing to get excited about a project,take a recommendation from a company,order/ pay,wait for your supplies.Get them, start to work then it doesnt work out? Pure bummer waste of money.Can you put a direct link to you natural fiber trees for this project please or does this company not carry them?
Thank you for the suggestions, Shana! The post has been updated per your suggestion. As for the website, we do comment on whether the individual trees can be bleached or not in the description for customers to reference. A majority of the trees should be able to be bleached, it is some of the larger, plastic ones that have issues. I would suggest bleaching only a few at a time (of the different sizes and types) to see if they take to the bleach before proceeding with all of them. Please look for “made of sisal,” as these are the natural fiber trees. If you ever have an issue with an order that you have place, you can always contact customer service and we are more than happy to help resolve any issues.
Thank you for your quick reply! Great! I thought by the above comment the person had bought your sisal tree but maybe not.I didnt realize sisal was a natural fiber. You have been very helpful. Ok Ill buy a couple samples before I buy a huge lot. Have a good day!
It’s my pleasure! We are always happy to help! Please let me know if you ever have any other questions, as I am more than happy to help you.
The 6 sisal tree (one of 4 sizes I bought) would not bleach and it does not say will not bleach in the description. I just looked for sisal. Thank you.
Sorry you had issues bleaching your trees, Carol. The 6-inch tree you ordered is frosted and may have issues being bleached. I would suggest letting it sit in the liquid longer and also rubbing it while it is in the solution. Please let me know if you have any other questions!