Make your own: Dipped Branches

Remember that one time I got some sticks from my yard and turned them into a faux mantle and then they got recycled again into driftwood art?

Well I’m at it again with these custom dipped branches.

I started with several branches that I picked up from around my yard.

They got trimmed and cut down to size and then separated into 2 piles based on size.

Next, I chose my paint colors; purple, green and gold. I haven’t told you this yet but I’ve dreaming of painting my living room in a peacock color scheme and I know these will fit it well when I do. They’ll also probably make an appearance at the upcoming bridal shower.

I set up my paint station again, just like I did for my dipped votives and set to work.

If you’re doing this at home, as a part of your paint station you’re going to need a place to hang the drying branches. I have a wire shelf just above my laundry area which I used to hang my branches on.

Start by tying a piece of fishing line (or string) on the ‘top’ part of each branch. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be tight enough not to slip off. If you have a lot of bark like I did, this won’t be a problem!

If you have spray paint, towards the ‘bottom’ part of each branch, tape off where you want the dip line for the first color.
Then paint away! I found it less messy to hold the stick vertically and spray downward toward drop cloth.

Immediately hang the branch to dry and repeat with the remaining branches. I chose to work with one color at a time, first I did gold (which took 2 coats). . .

. . . and then purple and green. For branches that you’re actually going to dip into a paint can/bucket, you don’t need to tape off a ‘dip’ line, just dunk away! You’ll notice that on my purple dipped branches I did use tape because my purple paint can wasn’t very tall so I used a brush to help me out on the first layer. After the paint dried for 24 hours, I dipped a 2nd and on some even a 3rd layer of paint and just like that they were done.