“Dream Catchers”

The ‘dream catcher’ charm is a traditional Native American Indian device for capturing good, wise dreams and for letting the bad ones pass through it and into the night. It has a single thread that is wound in a spiral from the outside to the centre, symbolizing the journey from the waking world to the world of dreams. The native Americans believe in that their dreaming selves pass through the heart of the dream catcher and return with knowledge of the dreams of their true selves.

Making a Dream Catcher

Dream catchers are available ready-made but it is also possible to make your own. A dream catcher is a very personal thing and making one gives you plenty of scope to design it in a way that says something about you.

You will need…

☧ A thin bendy stick about 60cm long twine, such as fishing line, or strong cotton thread coloured ribbon

☧ Knife

☧ Beads

☧ Feathers

1. Curl the stick into a circle and fasten it with twine wrapped around. Some people like to cover the whole of the wood in ribbon before that start, but it is up to you. Cut off any sharp ends of wood at the join and wrap some ribbon around it.

2. Tie one end of a length of twine on to any point on the circle and thread it across ¼ of the circle. Tie it onto circle and cut off the long end.

3. Come back towards your starting point and the another cross-twine across the circle. Repeat this four times until you have four lengths going around the circle.

4. From the centre of each of these tie one twine to each of the other three. This gives you a sort of ‘cat’s cradle’ effect. Experiment until you have a pleasing criss-cross of lines resembling a spider’s web. An alternative way to do this is to use a single length of twine, but this might take some practice before you succeed.

5. Add a bead in the centre of the web to represent the spider.

6. Finish by decorating the dream catcher with some ribbons hanging from the bottom of the circle. Add some feathers and beads to these downward-hanging ribbons.