They’ve come up with a Color Formula Guide that lets you make more than 500 colors by combining their dyes (and sometimes water). I have this thing for custom colors and have always felt a little, well, stifled by the set group of colors out there. But NOW, now I have a secret weapon for all my custom color needs. Feels fabulous.
I almost couldn’t decide which project to work on with the beautiful box RIT sent me (including every. single. dye. color. in their line)! But then I couldn’t get the idea of dying wood without the yucky, smellyness of wood stain our of my head. Plus, we don’t have a way to display our Christmas cards. And we need one. So there’s that.
-scrap 1″x2″ board, cut into eight pieces (6″ long, 9″ long, 12″ long, 15″ long, 18″ long, 21″ long, 24″ long, and another 24″ long for the trunk)
-wooden clothespins (I used twenty two)
-RIT dye
First dye your clothespins. Make small batches of dye and soak your clothespins in the dye to make yourself a mini clothespin rainbow (I’ll be honest, I. love. these! No clothespin is safe from the RIT dye now that I discovered how fabulous they look dyed).
Nail the shorter boards to the longest board, in order from shortest (on the top) to longest (on the bottom).
Paint green dye on the ‘branches’ and brown dye on the ‘trunk.’
Let everything dry out (the clothespins and the ‘tree’). Hot glue the dyed clothes pins onto the ‘tree’ like lights. Arrange the top row in a yellow starburst pattern. Glue that in place too.
ps- More places to keep up with RIT dye-
MdmSammMadamesamm says
February 26, 2012 at 3:59 pmBrilliance love it
SandraDragonLady says
May 25, 2012 at 3:45 pmThank you so much for the idea- this is exactly what I needed for a kid’s environmental fair I’m helping with. We won’t have each group of kids long enough for them to paint the clothespins, but they’ll be able to add patterns (then glue wings and eyes) to the already dyed ones! I am making dragonflies out of clothespins and have now dyed over a hundred using this technique. The kids are going to love choosing from the different colors! Thank you again!
Kirstin says
May 26, 2012 at 1:26 amI love this Sandra! I’ve been using the dyed clothespins for all sorts of things this summer too- I bet your dragonflies turn out great!!!
Ann Sealey says
June 2, 2012 at 1:33 pmWow – this is going to save me a ton of time this summer! My art room is rainbow themed and every year I paint new sets of clothespins in the colors of the color spectrum… can’t wait to try them in the dye! Thank you, another one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments…
Kirstin says
June 2, 2012 at 2:39 pmI love this Ann! The ability to color wood changed my life- brilliant, right?
Andrea Mathison says
June 21, 2012 at 9:40 amI love this…..we will be using this idea for our Young Women at Church. We will put a picture of the Savior on the top row, and then attach black and white pictures of the Young Women on the clothes pins on the tree. We will then attach it to our bulletin board….it will look fabulous and will be fairly inexpensive to make too….BONUS!
Kirstin says
June 22, 2012 at 6:06 amAndrea I love that! Send me a pic when you’re done if you have a chance. 🙂
Jenn says
June 21, 2012 at 10:27 amCould u use easter egg dye instead? If it works it would be more budget friendly, right?
Kirstin says
June 22, 2012 at 6:06 amHmmm, I have no idea Jenn! That would be budget friendly. If you try it and it works, would you let me know?
Deb says
July 7, 2012 at 10:30 amLove this idea! I am planning on making some for my first grade classroom. Just curious what your dye to water ratio was. I only need to make a small batch of each color. Thanks for your help.
Kirstin says
July 8, 2012 at 1:29 pmHey Deb! I used the ratio’s from the wood dyeing directions on RIT’s site (follow the link in the post). Hope that helps!
stellans says
September 19, 2012 at 5:24 amI know this is very late to this discussion, so I hope you will see and answer if possible:
I want to use this technique for a wooden (light-weight unfinished birch) eReader cover, but I’m worried about the dye wearing off onto my hands as the cover is handled. Have you noticed any dye coming off your hands as you use your card tree (which is brilliant, by the way: I want one too!)?
Thank you!
Kirstin says
September 19, 2012 at 3:36 pmFirst, what a GREAT idea! I love that.
Also, I haven’t noticed any of the color coming off, but I also don’t handle the clips (or the tree) very often. It makes me wonder if it might come off on your hands (or on your clothes/whatever you set your e-reader on!). My best thought is to dye some clothespins (or something) and handle them to see if the dye does come off???
Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Linda says
June 21, 2017 at 12:52 amYou could always do a spray clear finish coat to seal the color in. There are several good ones on the market.
Carissa says
December 7, 2012 at 2:34 pmI absolutely LOVE your Christmas card display and want to make one of my own this weekend! Did you use the powder or liquid RIT Dye?
Kirstin says
December 7, 2012 at 3:48 pmThanks Carissa! I used the liquid RIT. Send over a pic when you finish- I’d love to see it!
Kerrstyn says
February 13, 2013 at 3:39 pmLove your tree! I will have to make that closer to Christmas!
I dyed clothes pins in December to make magnets. They turned out great, but the silver parts rusted a little,right away, some more than others. Did this happen to you? Or do you have any ways to avoid it?
Kirstin says
February 14, 2013 at 5:21 pmHmmm, the silver parts didn’t ever rust on mine. I wonder why not?
I was just thinking the other day that I should dye more clothepins for non-Christmas-y purposes. 🙂
Jessica says
June 29, 2013 at 6:39 pmI’m doing this for my classroom this year! Question: did you sand your clothespins before you dyed them? I didn’t know if this was a necessary step for clothespins. Thanks for the awesome idea!
Kirstin says
June 30, 2013 at 10:42 pmHey Jessica- these are perfect for a classroom. Nope, no sanding, just into the dye baths.
Hope that helps!
Karlene Obert says
September 10, 2013 at 6:48 pmCould food coloring be used?
Kirstin says
September 11, 2013 at 9:44 pmKarlene- I don’t know! If you try it, will you let me know what you find?
TylerRose. says
March 25, 2014 at 9:52 amMake sure to rinse them off well. I actually put mine into the oven on 225 degrees to help them dry faster. If they are even slightly wet and you store them in a plastic bag, they will mold over within a couple days.
There was a question of sanding/filing. I look over them when they’re going into the dye and chuck out any that are obviously too damaged to look good. Then when they’re out and dry, I’ll check the jaws to be sure they’re not too jagged. The water of the dye causes wood to expand. But it usually needs just a few seconds with sand paper and they’re fine.
I love the look of the little bowl/containers. But I do mine in sandwich or quart size zip baggies and place them lined up in a larger square container to keep them upright. No mess, no spills, and easy storage for using again.
Buffy says
April 13, 2016 at 5:39 pmSo clever, thank you for the idea.
Debra Yungkurth says
September 16, 2016 at 10:16 amWe are going to make the Christmas tree! How do you stand the tree? Some of us do not have the wall space to lean it up against the wall. Did you put cleats or something else to help it stand?
Kirstin says
September 16, 2016 at 8:12 pmHey Debra- we ended up putting a little mini ‘stand’ at the bottom (using an “x” of wood). Hope that helps!
Maryann says
April 12, 2019 at 5:32 pmMy husband used dye to make a wooden sign and found that the dye faded over time….what is your experience with dyed wood fading?
Kirstin says
April 21, 2019 at 2:23 pmMaryann, we actually don’t have this display anymore (it got downsized in one of our moves!), so I can’t tell if the dye would last for years. I have some dyed clothespins that are still going strong, but they’re so little and I wonder if that makes a difference???