Week 5 ~ Dreamcatcher

 

As the world becomes more advanced in technology, science and intellect there seem to be more questions than answers than ever before. Where do we come from? Why are we here? How do you learn more about ourselves?

For thousands of years cultures the world over have been fascinated by the dream state. What is our subconscious trying to tell us? A lot of people believe that our dreams are a result of our complex brains working through the images and emotions of our daily lives and trying to process them and understnad them.

There are many books written on the symbolism in dreams and what it may represent to our unconscious minds.

I've always been fascinated by dreams and love the idea of keeping a dream diary. The ancient myths and traditions surrounding dreamcatcher seem beautiful and fantastical to me.

These myths vary. Generally it is thought that these webs like decorations should be hung near where you sleep. Some then believe that they catch nightmares and bind them so that you have pleasant dreams and, especially for scared children, this magic seems reassuring and pure.

Whether you believe in their mystical uses or not, they are beautiful adornments to your bedroom and this week we will look at how to make our very own!

What you will need:

A hoop or a lot of people reccommend using flexible, bendy, twigs. (I just popped down to my local pound shop and bought 3 simple bangles for a pound!)
Leather Strips (again you can use other things - some use strips of fabric or lace and I used cross stitch thread as I had some lying around)
Waxed thread (again you could use jewellery making wire or I simple used strong sewing thread)
Optional decorations (beads, feathers etc!)
Optional - some use glue or a clothes peg to help secure or work with the dreamcatcher)

Ok these steps are all open to interpretation so this is just a simple and vague how-to guide!

1.) Wrap your ring - using the leather or alternative material - keep the wrappings tight. Some use a clothes peg to secure the leather to the hoop while they work on it or some simple knot it or glue it to the hoop.

2.) Making the web - take your waxed thread (or alternative) and knot it onto the hoop. Then mentally divide the circumstance into say 12 and loop your thread around these 12 points, making taught straight lines of thread between them.

3.) Now you'll have a straight sided shape in the inner circle of your hoop, made out thread. Tie your thread to the centre of one of these sides and hoope or tie your thread to each of the consentric centres (basically you keep repeating step 2 until your inner circles get too small to work with). You might also want to thread some beads or feathers through this design!

4.) You can then add further decoration - tying lengths of thread to your hoop and adding beads or feathers to them.

The Youtube video below will help you visualise these steps.

Really it's up to you to be as creative as you llike.

I admit now that the bigger the hoop the easier to work with and leather lengths are so much easier than the thread I used which needed to be plaited and secured and fiddled with. I even messed up the stringing in the centre so my dreamcatcher wound up not looking as neat or web-like as most but it was still fun and looks pretty!

A helpful tip might be to go into a kids toy shop as they sell big beads and feathers and kids craft items for cheap.

These don't actually take too long to make and can be as professional and personal as you like.

Have fun with this and do get in touch if you have any questions or ideas!