With handmade wall hangings all the rage this season, it should come as no surprise that dream catchers are also starting to crop up in creative circles everywhere. Happily, it turns out that these traditionally-based works of art are actually quite simple and straightforward to make at home using just a handful of supplies. Read on for our couldn’t-be-easier 6-step tutorial to get the look of those traditional tribal wall hangings you love.
Use scissors to cut off a piece of Silver Baker’s Twine from the spool, about 2 ft. in length. Thread the twine through the eye of a needle and tie a double-knot in the end opposite the needle. String a collection of Celebration Pearl Beads over the needle and onto the string. For this particular project, 16 beads were tied on in a 4-bead pattern—repeats of black, gold, silver and white in order consecutively.
Remove the twine from the needle, and triple-knot one end of the twine to a 6″ Gold Metal Ring.
Pull the twine up and over the opposite edge of the metal ring. Tightly wrap the twine a couple of times around the metal ring to hold it in place. Note that you may want to rearrange the beads as you make each straight pass across the ring, depending on your preferred design. Four beads were arranged onto each straight pass in the dream catcher pictured here.
Continue repeating straight passes across the face of the ring by double-wrapping the twine around the ring and rearranging the beads to suit your desired design. Tie a double-knot in the twine at the end when finished.
Repeat Steps 1-4, the only difference being that you won’t use beads. You’ll simply use plain twine to add another layer of randomly-wrapped straight passes to coincide with the first beaded layer. Now use scissors to trim off the excess twine left from the four double-knotted ends.
Finish by cutting several extra pieces of twine in random lengths ranging from 4-7″ (or whatever lengths you choose—it’s up to you!), and double-knot them to one end of the metal ring. On the opposite ends of the double-knotted lengths of twine, tie on bunches of colorful feathers. When finished attaching the feathers, you’re done and ready to hang your DIY dream catcher on the wall using more twine or a finishing nail!
Be sure to check out our other Supply of the Month projects including these projects using the feather assortment.
DIY Feather Decorated Balloons; by Haeley Giambalvo
DIY Feather Arrows; by Sara Albers
DIY Feather Artwork; by Amy Weir
(Project and photos by Carrie Waller)