Make your own tie-dye roses

Roses come in a wide variety of colours and there are even some dual-coloured roses. Of course, if you want to get really creative and make something different, then you will love making tie-dye roses! Not only do they look great, but they are also really easy to make and you don’t need too many items in order to achieve the desired effect.

You will need:

• White roses
• A selection of food colouring
• A pair of scissors
• A paring knife or razor blade
• Several jars of equal size

Instructions:

• Check the length of the stems of your roses to start with. Make sure that they aren’t too long for the jars or they could end up falling out. Trim your rose stems to the appropriate length. In fact, even if they are short enough, you should still trim them to create a fresh surface for absorption.
• Now use the razor blade or sharp knife to split the stem very carefully into two. Continue splitting the stem all the way up until you are about one inch from the base of the flower. You can split your stems into three or four but this adds to the risk of the stem breaking and you’ll need to be even more careful and precise.
• Add water to the jars along with a few drops of food colouring. It’s good to remember that softer colours like yellow or pink will have a more subtle effect whereas red will be more striking and spotty.
• Now place each half of the stem in a different jar. So your one rose can have half the stem in one jar and the other half in another. This will allow the stem to absorb two colours at once.
• Within about three hours you will start to notice the colours reaching the petals. Preferably let your stems rest in the coloured water for 24 hours before removing the and putting them on display. If you have cut the stems into three or four sections, then you will need to use three or four relatively narrow jars so that they can be placed closely together and the stem won’t be split apart during the absorption process.