DIY dyed wood bead garland

Hello there! Today some friends and I are sharing with you some fun spring garland ideas!

I have loved wood bead garlands and have wanted to try making one of my own, so that is exactly what I did! 

It was surprisingly easy to make these garlands and I am obsessed with the "tie dye" effect they have, which was a happy accident!

To start with you will need unfinished wooden beads. These are the exact ones I used. They are a pretty unfinished wood color. However, I wanted them to have a grey aged look so here is what you do to achieve that. 

Place some in a glass jar with lid. 

Pour in some of this to cover.  The longer you let it sit, the darker the beads will become. I gave mine a couple stirs with a plastic spoon then drained off the liquid after a couple minutes, maybe less. You can reuse this liquid so don't toss it!

 Blot off any extra moisture on a paper towel and you will get a great mottled effect, like tie dye.  I love the color they turned. 

Using a big needle and some jute twine, string the beads. You can make them however long you'd like. For reference, I used about 50 beads per strand. 

If you don't have a big needle you can add a dob of hot glue to the end of the twine. This makes it stiff enough to run through the holes in the beads. 

Tie the two ends together to form a loop with the beads, like a necklace.

 If you want to add a tassel, follow these simple steps.
Wrap your jute twine in loops. The easiest way to do this is to grab the end of a piece with your pinky and thumb, then wrap around your fingers to form the loops. The more loops, the fatter the tassel.
Tie off the top with another piece of twine.

Cut one end of the loop opposite the tie.

With the loose tie pieces, attach it onto your bead garland.

With another piece of twine, wrap the two sections of twine together to form the tassel. I used a bit of hot glue to secure the end piece. 

And that is it!

These look great on a stack of books, in a bowl, or loosely hung around the top of a bottle.

 I made about 4 strands out of the pack of beads I got. Each strand comes out to right around $5.00!
Not a bad price for these beautiful wood bead garlands!

You can experiment with different things to dye these with too! 

For brown try tea bags, coffee, or boiling and soaking the beads in walnut shells!

I tried the walnut shell trick and they turned this beautiful brown color.

I tried boiling blueberries and dying them in that but it turned out horribly. 

However, they are also really beautiful in their natural state, so you might not even want to dye yours! Get creative and have fun with it!

I am already thinking of fun ways to decorate for the holidays with these.

Here are some other garland and banner ideas that you might like to try. 

Simple Spring Garland - Twelve on Main // Easy Tissue Paper Garland DIY - Happy Happy Nester // DIY Wood Bead Garland - My Sweet Savannah // DIY Botanical Paper Banner - Today's Creative Life Spring Banner Craft for Kids - Finding Lovely // Spring Easter Garland Ideas - The Happy Housie // DIY Spring Wood Bead Garland - She Gave It A Go How To Make A Garland For Spring - My 100 Year Old Home // No-Sew Boho Banner - Cassie Bustamante // Spring Flower Garland - Craftberry Bush // Spring Garland - Life Is Better At Home

xoxo, Melaine