How to Make Wire-Wrapped Dream Catchers
Dream catchers were originally crafted by the Ojibway Indian tribe to hang above their children's beds. These objects are now made by many other tribes and jewelry makers. The main parts of a dream catcher are its rounded loop that is used to hold strings that look like a spider's web, and dangling feathers that hang from the bottom of the loop. You can make a dream catcher from wire using a round loop and metal craft wire.
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Instructions
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Cut a piece of wire 2 1/2 feet long. The length of the wire can be approximate. You want a length that can wrap around your metal or stone ring a few times without getting tangled.
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Pull the piece of wire through your ring. This ring can be a metal ring two or more inches in diameter or a ring made from polished stone. It should be sturdy enough to support your wire wrapping.
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Wrap the wire around the dream catcher ring three times, leaving a long length of wire on one end, and a short length of wire at the other end.
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Bend the shorter piece of wire about a third of an inch away from the ring using your needle-nosed pliers and then wrap the remaining bit of short wire around the bend to form a loop to hold the dream catcher.
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Wrap the longer wire around the base of your loop and then down to the other side of the dream catcher ring.
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Slide a bead onto the wire so that the bead is within the ring. It does not need to be secured.
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Wrap the wire three times around the ring.
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Make a bend in the wire about a third of an inch away from the dream catcher ring using your needle-nosed pliers. Wrap the base of the wire loop a few times to secure the loop you made.
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Pass it through the ring to wind it around the ring three times, forming a triangle.
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Make another loop, wrapping the base of the loop with wire.
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Pass the wire through the ring and wrap it twice about a quarter of an inch away from the first loop you made at the top of the dream catcher.
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Pass the wire through the ring and wrap it three times between the second and third loops at the bottom of the dream catcher.
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Create another loop by bending the wire and wrapping the base of the loop with wire.
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Pass the wire through the ring to the opposite side of the first loop you made, wrapping the wire around the ring two times.
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Weave the wire in and out of the wire ring in a web-pattern, securing it in place each time by wrapping the wire around the ring or another wire one to three times. Add two more beads to the wire as you wrap.
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Cut three four-inch pieces of wire, threading a bead onto each one so that one bead is one quarter of the way down the length of the wire. Trim off any excess wire using your wire cutters.
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Bend the wire around the bead, and wrap the wire around the base of the bead to form a loop. Repeat this with the other two beads.
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Cut six pieces of wire a 1/2-inch long and bend them into rings using your needled-nosed pliers.
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Cut three pieces of chain, two which are about 1 1/2 inches long, and one two inches long.
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Attach the longer chain to the middle loop at the bottom of your dream catcher using one of the small rings you made. Attach the other two pieces of chain on the outer two loops at the bottom of your dream catcher using two more of the small rings you made.
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Attach the beads to ends of the chain using the small metal rings you made.
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Tips & Warnings
You can also use feathers to hang from the bottom of your dream catcher.
You can use finer gauges of wire to make the dream catcher more delicate.
Wire comes in different colors, such as steel, silver, gold, copper, and brass.
Wire can be sharp once it is cut. Use care when handling wire cutters.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images
