dreamcatchers &

air plants

According to Native American lore, dreams, both good and bad, surround us as we sleep. Nightmares are tangled in the dreamcatchers web while the good dreams slip down the hanging feathers and on to us as we sleep. Dreamcatchers enhanced with air plants deliver peace and tranquility both day and night.

This post may contain affiliate links, and I love all the products I promote.

Who knew? dreamcatchers and air plants are a perfect combo

3 Styles

Although there are about a bazillion ways to create a dreamcatcher, we’ll go through 3 different styles: boho, traditional and shabby chic. The 1st is made a with a stick and a necklace, the 2nd is a created with a traditional woven center, the 3rd uses a purchased doily.

Stick and Necklace Boho Style

Supplies

metal macrame hoop, about 12″
a stick about 12″ long, just a bit longer than the width of the hoop
a beaded necklace, one with knots between the beads so that the whole thing doesn’t come apart when you cut it.
yarn to go around the edge of the hoop
crochet hook, optional. I used size G, or 4.0 mm
2 yards of 5 different ribbons or trims
yarn or ribbon to wrap hoop
feathers
wood beads with a large opening
large, blunt embroidery needle
glue and hot glue gun
sharp sewing scissors
air plants, I used about 10 small harrisii
floral glue, optional
pendant, or special bead. I’m using a polished rock with a hole through it.

Directions

Cover the hoop with yarn. You can wrap yarn around the hoop, or you can cover it like it did, crocheting around the hoop.

crochet around hoop video tutorial`

square knot to secure yarn - dreamcatcher

Lash the stick to the hoop, using the same yarn that you did to cover the hoop. Wrap the yarn around the stick and secure the yarn with a square knot.

Wrap the yarn under the hoop and around the stick in an X pattern.

Cut the necklace so that it is one long string. To keep beads from flying off the string, use a necklace that is knotted between beads.

Then wrap the necklace between the stick and the lower half of the loop.

Determine the length of the desired trim and cut it double your desired length. Fold the trim in half and loop over the hoop.

Using a blunt embroidery needle, slide beads on to the trim.

Take about 3 feathers with their ends together add a bit of hot glue to the tips.

Just for fun, I’ve also added rocks from a wind-chime.

Now for the air plants, nestle the air plants into twig and strand of beads. To secure the plants, you can glue them into place. Or, simply tuck necklace behind air plant leaves.

Play around with the air plants and the necklace until the air plants are secure. Shown are T. harrisii. If desired, tie a pendant to hang from the top. In this case, I’m using a polished blue rock.

All finished: a boho style dreamcatcher.

Traditional Style Dreamcatcher

Supplies

macrame hoop, about 12″
ribbon to go around the edge of the hoop
yarn to weave hoop center and to hang feathers from, cotton yarn works best to weave “web” because cotton doesn’t stretch
feathers
wooden beads with a large opening
glue and a hot glue gun
sharp sewing scissors
air plants, I used 6 peach capitata
floral glue, optional
pendant, or special bead. I’m using a prism

Directions

wrap ribbon around the ring for dreamcatcher

Add a dab of hot glue to the metal ring to attach the ribbon to the ring. Then wrap the ribbon around the ring.

When the ring is completely covered with the ribbon, add a bit of glue to the end of the ribbon to secure the ribbon.

To learn how to weave the dreamcatcher, I followed watched this video. It’s kind of long, but it walked me through the whole process.

Weave dreamcatcher

Traditional woven dreamcatcher embellished with shells.

Cut yarn double the desired length of the yarn and slip yarn over the hoop tying it to the hoop. Using an embroidery needle, slide beads on to the yarn. To fix the placement of the bead, tie a know so that the bead cannot slide past the knot. As described above, add a bead of hot glue to the end of 3 feathers, then press the feathers against the end of a piece of yarn. Next, slide a bead over the end of the feathers.

Secure air plants with yarn

Loop yarn around the lower leaves of the air plant then tie to the dreamcatcher. This is easier said than done. You will have to play around with the yarn and air plants to get it right. Also, it’s a lot easier if the dreamcatcher is lying down on a table rather than trying to attach the air plants while it’s hanging on the wall.