Flocking our Purple Christmas Tree

We have a purple Christmas tree this year!  And no, I don’t just mean purple decor (like my past jewel-towed theme).  Long story short: I fell in love with a flocked purple tree a few years ago, and I’ve been searching for one since.  Only problem, finding a flocked purple Christmas tree added a challenge.  So, I decided to buy a regular tree and flock it myself!  I’m sharing all the details, and I even have a video with the steps for flocking our purple Christmas tree.

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You can easily flock any Christmas tree.  Any colour, any kind (real trees too apparently!).  We’ve always had an artificial tree, and I hadn’t really heard about flocked trees until a few years ago.  Now that I’ve seen them, that’s definitely the look I prefer :)  Oh, and you can flock garlands or wreaths too, pretty much anything.

But yes, a few years ago I was strolling through our local little mall and saw a flocked purple tree!  It wasn’t super large, I snapped a picture, and thought about it for days.  Wouldn’t you know it, when we went back, it was sold!  Apparently, they had the same tree for YEARS and it had finally just sold.  They tried looking into the supplier history/details, but no dice since it was so old.  And so the internet search began…

Here is the flocked purple Christmas tree that may be THE ONE.  Only problem was/is that it’s never in stock.  And/or doesn’t deliver to Canada.  So, way back in January last year I purchased a new regular purple Christmas tree. Here is the direct link, but I don’t think it’s available anymore.  If I remember correctly, it was somewhere in the 25-50% off range.

I remember thinking that it was a lot brighter than what I envisioned.  More garish purple than the dark purple it showed onlined.  Not sure if it changed in the box, or if I forgot, but it actually is a nice purple colour, ha.

Now that I had the tree, I set out to buy flocking powder.  Funny thing though, flocking powder isn’t always available during the non-Christmas season.  I paid 70$ for 1 pound in June, but it’s about half the cost now.  (Trust me when I say that it went no-stock for months, and as soon as one was available, I jumped!).

Ready to see how easy it is to flock a tree!?  Check out my video embedded below, or watch it on YouTube here.

I go over the basic technique in the video, but I’ll describe it here too :)

How to Flock a Christmas Tree

First thing, you want to choose a good area with plenty of space.  It will get dusty, and the ground directly below will get mucky.  You can put a tarp down, but I just used a cardboard box.  A little too small though, ha.  I worked in the newly cleared out basement of course.

The easy steps are as follows: wet tree, dust powder, wet tree, dust powder.  Let dry.  I didn’t go in the correct order, but it still worked out.

Before you start spritzing, you need to open all the branches and really separate them.  I didn’t fluff them out as good as they could have been, and had to go back a few times and reopen sections.  It would have also been a good idea to do a row at a time.  I first did the whole bottom section, then decided to go row by row.  (It’s mentioned in the video).

You first need to wet the tree branches with a water spritzer.  My tree was pre-lit, so I tried to avoid the wire connectors.  Then, dust the flocking powder using a collander.  I don’t know how well a sifter would work, it was a workout enough with this one!

I worked my way around the tree and moved up and around as I went.

Using a little step stool, I was able to get the top.  I think it would have been easier to just remove the sections and work from a lower point.  But you live and learn ha.

I was having some issues with my spritz bottle (and went backwards on the proper technique).  A lot of flocking powder did get blown off, but I only used about 1/3 of the bag.  (The online buying guide says you need 4-5lbs for a 6′-8′ tree).  So, mathematically speaking, I’m way under a pound so far.

Cleaning Up

The trickiest part about flocking a tree is probably the clean up!

Fun fact, my tree fell over when I was trying to move it out of the way to clean the floor.  I was trying to scoot it over slowly, but timbeeerrr.  Good news, I didn’t lose a lot of flocking.  Bad news, I had to try and pick it up without making more of a mess.

There wasn’t a lot of visible dust on the ground, so I’m not sure where it went.  (If you watch the video, you’ll see it goes everywhere!).  The parts that got wet from my overspritzing (or my leaking bottle) were really mucky/gummy.  You need to clean this up right away or it will harden like rock.

Ya, I didn’t clean my sweeper and mop and it hardened.  I tried scraping the bristles out, but I may need to buy a new mop head.  The pair of socks I was wearing went through the wash and still came out with a clump of hardened flock.

Either way, the tree is flocked and it’s looking great!

I’d say I have a level 1-2 of flocked-ness, but I think I want closer to a 3 or 4.  (On a scale of 0 for no flock, and 5 for barely seeing the colour).

My plan is to see how it lasts this season, re-flock it before I store it, and then maybe flock it once again before next Christmas?  Like I mentioned, I only used about 1/3 of the bag.  Or, I could use the same amount and keep the rest for touch-ups down the year?

Christmas Tree Decor Plans

So far, we haven’t lost that much flocking from it just being out/touched.

I had a loose branch that I tested with clear spray paint.  I figured that it would be the strongest seal, and I really saturated it.  It did lose a bit of the top flock, and I probably wouldn’t go that crazy on the whole tree.  So maybe, flock once more, do a light clear spray paint coating, and pack it away.

And here is how our tree is currently decorated.  I brought out all the decor this past weekend, and the kids helped put some stuff up.  I’m definitely going to be reorganizing that, since the whole top half of the tree is bare…

The idea is that our tree decor this year will introduce some of the main colours we’ve used in the house so far.  The stockings each have a letter for the corresponding person, in their favourite colour (used in our house!).  And that go with our new mural.

So, picture yellow/gold, dusty blue and rusty red :)

I’m participating in a Christmas tree blog hop next week, so I need to get that decorated soon!

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial about flocking a purple Christmas tree!  It was honestly super easy, and I love the flocked look.  The reviews were mixed on whether the flocking stays forever or falls off easily, so I’ll make sure to report back.  (But if my floors, socks and mop were any indication – this stuff can really harden, ha).

Do you like the look of a flocked tree?  What about a purple tree? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts!