Weave a Real Dream-Catcher of the Seventh Fire Heritage Collection

Weave a Real Dream-Catcher of the Seventh Fire Heritage Collection

by White Eagle Soaring.

We provide some of the finest natural materials so you can create a dream catcher very similar to the one originally woven by the Anishinabeg.  As you weave, bring the other beings of Mother Earth into your thoughts.  Remember the plants as you handle the wooden twig; the rocks and waters as you add semi-precious gems; and the four-legged and winged ones as you use the feathers.  Honor them as though they were your relatives. They are.

Bring your heart into the Circle of All Beings as you weave the connections within the wood ring.  Remember that even though the thread is very fine, we are all connected.  We have much to learn from each other.  As you honor all of the beings of Creation, you bring honor and harmony to yourSelf.

Offer compassion and loving-kindness to yourSelf.  This may be your first or second experience weaving the dream catcher.  Although you can expect wonderful results, you do not have to expect to be a master at a craft you have just begun to learn.  Be patient and self-forgiving.  Letting go of judging yourSelf (and others) frees you to enjoy more fully the present moment.  The past is dead and the future is yet to be.  The only life that truly exists is here and now. Many of my students have found that they do their best weaving when they are mindful of what they are doing as they are doing it.  There area fewer mistakes, stress melts away, and they feel at peace and joyful when they finish.  Weaving the dream catcher is much more than a craft project.  It is a meditation that will bring you closer to the Creator, the Great Mystery that also abides in your heart.

Most of the weaving is done with the simplest of knots and loops.  The overhand knot is simply the making of a loop and passing through the loop.  The half hitch is the same as an overhand knot except that it is tied around something.

Dream-Catchers should be light and airy, like dreams. The best wood to use comes from the willow and from red-twig or gold-twig dogwood. You can choose species of willow that are golden, reddish-brown or black. You will want twigs that are smooth, slender, un-branched and 2-4 feet tall. The dogwoods rarely provide such long slender branches, but occasionally they will send out a sprout from the base that makes its way through the canopy of the shrub in one season without branching. Gathered in the late fall or early winter, you will not have to strip the leaves, you will be able to more easily avoid branched twigs, and the plants will have stored their food in the roots to await the coming of spring. Then they will re-sprout stems from the roots and send forth a new crop you can harvest again the following fall. As you gather, thank the plants for their contribution and leave an offering of tobacco to thank Mother Earth.

The moisture inside the stems is more than sufficient to allow them to be bent into a ring for weaving. No soaking should be necessary. If the wood is too dry it should be discarded for it will not easily absorb water without spoiling the colored bark. The best way to form the rings is inside a metal can with parallel sides. Plastic containers usually are narrower at the bottom than at the top and can even be hazardous to work with because the twig can creep up the sloped side and come shooting out of the container into the eye. The trimmed twig is coiled into the can small end first, carefully avoiding bending it sharply, and spiraling up ending with the large end nearer the mouth of the can. Some hand strength is often helpful to bend the larger ends. After some trial and error you will recognize which can diameters are appropriate for the diameter of the twig.

Several variables affect the rate of drying--the amount of water in the twig at the time it is coiled into the can, the thickness of the twigs, the humidity and temperature of the surrounding air, and the amount of air movement near the cans. Some of these variables can be influenced by placing the container in front of a heating vent or in an oven at very low heat for several hours. Too much heat will carbonize the bark and make it brittle.

When sufficiently dry the wood will hold its shape and diameter. However, it can absorb moisture from a damp environment and change shape over time. Using a by-pass pruner or a side-cutter to cut rings from each coil so that there is a side-by-side overlap of the ends of about one inch. This looks a little finer if the cut is beveled. Store the rings in a dry place. Do not store the rings in a closed plastic bag.

Preparing the Shuttle

Nettle-stalk fiber was first used to weave the Dream-Catcher. Nettle-stalk fiber is from a plant and must be made into thread by retting and treating it like flax. Native Americans who lived on the Great Plains would probably not have access to nettle and would probably use sinew. Sinew is a tissue that comes from an animal. It is difficult to obtain unless you do a lot of hunting, and difficult to work with in weaving. Imitation sinew is the weaving material used almost universally today. It is a plastic thread similar to dental floss and covered with a thin layer of beeswax. You will need about fifteen feet of sinew to weave the Power of the Circle Dream-Catcher.

Most manufacturers make a sinew that looks so heavy that the Dream-Catcher looks like a small snowshoe. The sinew must be split into finer threads, usually four, by running the thumbnail over an end so it gets flatter and wider. Then holding the very edges in the tips of your fingers, begin to pull it apart watching which way the threads want to go. If you pay attention to the sinew it will tell you how and where to pull. Feel free to ask it. (And I mean feel-free) Take whatever splits easily. As you continue to split the sinew the other threads will usually be separated to they will be easily found later. Sometimes it will begin to knot before fully split, sometimes several times. Be patient. You may be able to force past this knot by putting tension on the unsplit end. But do not pull too hard. When this material is forced into a tight knot the situation is probably so hopeless that you will be tempted to start over again with a new piece. Sometimes you can remove one thread at a time, sometimes you can split it in half and then split each half once again. Remember to stay in the moment, focused on what you are doing and what you are feeling. Forgive yourself, forgive the manufacturer, forgive me (please). There is no blame, it just is, and get on with it. The good news--the factory from which I buy my sinew makes a pre-split sinew that could help you avoid all of this. The bad news--they give you one-eighth the sinew for the same price as the sinew that must be split.

After you have split off one of the four threads you can create a "shuttle" for ease of weaving. The shuttle is a simple innovation that makes it easier to quickly and accurately weave a dream-catcher because all of the thread (imitation sinew) is neatly wrapped up in what I call a temporary shuttle. The beeswax makes it all stick together.

I had tried to weave my first dream catchers with the thread lying on the floor around me. It takes about 15' of "sinew" to weave Power of the Circle. That's a lot of pulling through and back. Trying to increase my speed of weaving, I put a lot of stress on my shoulder and elbow. There had to be a better way. I found it.  However, some sinews had too little beeswax and the shuttle would fall apart. In such a case it is always a good safeguard to have a bit of beeswax on hand to add more to make it stick together.

How important is this? I can weave this dream catcher in about 7 minutes using the shuttle weaving technique. And creative use of hands, of course. More about that later.

If you are planning to weave a lot of dream catchers, you will want to purchase from me the same imitation sinew that I have used for many years. It can be split into four strands to give a much finer weave.

Holding one end of the sinew between thumb and index finger, begin to wrap it around three fingers--the index, middle and ring fingers. (Trust me. Four fingers will make a shuttle so long that it will be necessary to hyperflex the wrist as you weave. Head down! Carpal tunnel ahead!) Continue to wrap around three fingers making a narrow band about a1/4 inch wide. Leave a short tail sticking out so you can find it again. Failing to do this you will probably have to tear the shuttle apart to find the beginning end. Now gently slide this band off your three fingers, pinch it together near each end, and roll it between your palms. The result should resemble a tan firecracker. This "shuttle" will vastly increase the ease, simplicity, accuracy, and speed of weaving.

Sinew buyer beware--some sinews will be impossible to split such as that offered at many craft stores and a major leather craft chain. Some sinews will split very easily but have too little beeswax to hold together as a shuttle and fall apart as you weave. This also makes it almost impossible to thread on the gemstones later. See the information about supplies in the appendix Sources and Resources.

Now you are ready to start:

Pay attention to the way the sinew comes off the shuttle: avoid pulling through the shuttle.  Keep the shuttle together by frequently rolling it between the palms of your hands or, with one hand, over your thigh.  Beeswax holds the shuttle together.  If you hold the shuttle in your hand too much and for too long, the beeswax will melt onto your hand and will no longer hold the shuttle together.  Then you will have a much more difficult time weaving with a tangle of thread.  Avoid holding the shuttle in your hand!!

Go on to weave a Mid-point Dream-Catcher, Power of the Circle

Go on to weave an End-point Dream-Catcher, the original spider web