How to make "vintage" bleached bottle brush trees...an experiment

I love white Christmas decorations.

I picked up a vintage bottle brush tree years ago before I knew what a bottle brush tree was

and it's one of my favorite things ever.

source 

I've been meaning to see if I could recreate my own white bottle brush trees so when I found two bags for 50 cents each at a garage sale, I thought I would experiment.

And like any good scientist knows, not every experiment works out perfectly, but I was able to collect data and make improvements and came to some conclusions on how to make your own vintage looking bottle brush trees.

I started by filling my bowl with four cups of water and four cups of bleach.

I took my various trees and starting my experiment.  

With rubber gloves of course!

I dipped three different kinds of trees into my bleach bowl.

Two of the three kinds didn't have any change.

One of the trees, well, that type really started to turn white and change into the vintage goodness that I was hoping for.

So here is what I learned from my experiment.

Plastic trees will not be affected by the bleach.

The trees that I bought on clearance last year at the Dollar Tree and saved for this very experiment did not work.

The key to bleaching your own vintage looking bottle brush trees is to find a tree that is made of sisal not plastic.

I can't wait to go on the hunt for sisal trees because I really like how they turned out. Anybody have any good tips on where to purchase sisal trees?