Dream catchers are both beautiful and functional. When hung above one’s place of sleep, they are said to protect a person from nightmares.
You will need:
A wooden or metal hoop
Roughly 3 yards of yarn or leather string
1 yard of white string for the interior
Beads
Feathers
Dream catchers are a craft originating with the Ojibway Native American tribe. They were often woven for newborns by grandparents, to protect the children from nightmares. While the traditional dream catcher is Native American, the concept of objects to protect a sleeper from bad dreams in universal. Many cultures throughout the world have their own ways prevent bad dreams.
The Native American dream catcher consists of a hoop, within which is woven a “web,” and feathers dangling off the ends. This dream catcher is hung over one’s bed. Good dreams pass through the center hole in the web, trickling down the feathers into the sleeper’s head. Bad dreams get stuck in the web and disintegrate when they are touched by the first rays of the morning light.
To begin making a dream catcher, you will need to start with a hoop. Traditional dream catchers were made with wooden hoops (willow often works well due to it’s suppleness), but today, many dream catchers are made on metal hoops. Craft shop carry ready made metal hoops, but a cheaper solution is to fashion a hoop out of bailing wire (one of my favorite crafting mediums), or another strong wire.
Once you have your hoop, it is time to wrap the edges. (If you are using a wooden hoop, and prefer to have the wood showing, skip this step). Many dream catchers are wrapped with leather, but yarn can be just as attractive, particularly for a child’s dream catcher as the bright colors available in yarn can be quite appealing. To achieve a leather look, I often use strips of Avola (a suede like material) as an inexpensive alternative to real leather. Wrap the entire hoop in your chosen wrapping, tying off the end in a loop.
To begin the web, tie a piece of white string to the top of the hoop. Pull it a couple inches to the right (or left if you’re a lefty). This will form a space between the string and the hoop. Pull the string over the top of the hoop dropping down behind the hoop, then through the space. Pull taut. Repeat until you reach the last space.
The last space should be about half the size of the others. Instead of pulling the string through the space, this time, pull it through the center of the first loop you made. Continue on with the third, fourth, and so on. A star-like pattern will begin to form.
When you near the center of the web, slip a single bead onto string, but continue weaving the center of the loops as normal. The bead will fall into place on it’s own. Some people like to have beads covering the webs of their dream catchers, but traditionally only one bead was used. This bead represented the spider of the web.
When you reach the middle, tie off the string. There will be a small hole in the center of the web; this is where the good dreams crawl through.
Tie three pieces of string to three feathers, sliding a few beads down each shaft. Tie these three feathers to the bottom of the dream catcher. You can add a few feathers to the top of the dream catcher as well, or wherever else you desire.
Hang your dream catcher above your sleeping place and enjoy.
Today was the Granger Homestead old fashion fun day, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. It was basically a steady rain, so about 1:00 many of us packed up and went home to dry off. I guess Mother Nature wanted to prove she still has dominion over us humans. It was pretty cool seeing so many people walking around in their period costumes though. Someone even had hammer dulcimers to make music. If only the sun had been shining! Oh well, we can't control the weather.
The wild turkey was actually pretty good eating. There was a little bruising, but most of the meat was fine. It tastes different than farm raised turkey. It was dryer meat (just the way I like it), and was sort a mix between turkey and roast beef as far as taste. My grandmother said she once cooked a wild goose that tasted just like roast beef, strangely enough.
Well, due to getting ready for the double weekend, I didn't have time to post a craft project on Friday, so I'll post it here. Having gotten lots of beautiful feathers from the unfortunate accident with the turkey, I've been making dream catchers all week; so naturally, this week's project is a dream catcher.
Once again, I'm having image upload problems, so for now it's just the text. The web weaving is a bit tricky the first time or two, but once you get the hang of it, it falls into a sort of relaxing rhythm until you can practically make them with your eyes closed. Ok, maybe not with your eyes closed, but you get the idea; once you get the knack, it all falls into place.
The best part is, dream catchers aren't just a myth, they actually work. I never have bad dreams when there's a dream catcher hanging over my bed. So while I very much apologize to the poor turkey, I do thank her for the supper and the beautiful feathers.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Coincidences have an odd way of occurring sometimes. My cousin had a baby at the end of last week and it's tradition that I usually make a dream catcher when a new baby is born. As I missed the last two additions to the family, I thought I'd make dream catchers for them as well. So I was planning three dream catchers this week. The only problem was, my supply of nice feathers has dwindled to almost nothing, as I haven't yet taken my autumn forest walk to collect more.
Well, as coincidence would have it, I hit a turkey on the way home from work this evening. (Of course, of all days, I had to hit it the one time I borrowed my sister's car. Luckily, she's currently visiting England, so there's not much she can do about it right now.) So, having never done a wild turkey before, the first thing I did was call my grandmother who gave me all the information I needed. After dunking it in boiling water, the feathers came out fine. Then, despite the fact that the meat was a bit bruised from the accident, Gramma gave my brother and I a lesson on how to clean a turkey. It's sort of like gutting a deer, only in smaller form. So we'll find out tomorrow if the turkey is still good for eating, but in any event, there are plenty of beautiful feathers for dream catchers.
I'm just glad the poor turkey isn't going to waste.
Lavender bottles, also known as lavender wands, are a crafting tradition that was very popular in Victorian days. All that’s required is a little ribbon and some lavender stems.
To begin, tie 11 to 15 lavender stems together, just below the heads. Always use an odd number. Be sure the lavender stems are fresh, as dried stems are difficult to work with.
One by one, carefully bend the lavender stems down around the heads creating a sort of cage around the heads.
Taking the long end of the ribbon, begin to weave it around the stems, alternating over, then under. Continue to weave in the over/under manner until you have woven below the heads. Wrap the remaining ribbon around the stems a few times and tie off.
Trim the stems to the desired length. Form a loop of ribbon and secure it to the lavender bottle with a bow.
The lavender will dry itself with no additional measures and it will retain its sweet smell. These are great to put in with freshly washed laundry, and are simple enough that children can have fun making them as well.
Wow, is it Friday already? Holy moley, tempus fugit (time flies). Well, this week I noticed that the lavender was on its last legs, so I thought it was time to snatch some before it all withered away for the year. As such, this week's craft project is a lavender bottle. They smell great anywhere whether it's hanging in a doorway, or tucked into a drawer to give clothes that fresh lavendery scent. These little things are so quick and easy to make, that constructing them soon becomes addicting! I apologize for the pics being a little fuzzy, but it was a bit of a challenge to take photographs with one hand and weave with the other.
Air-drying is one of the easiest, least fuss methods of drying flowers. The downside, however, is that many flowers do not lend themselves to air-drying. Often trial and error is the best way to learn if a particular flower will air-dry well. Flowers with firm, woody stems such as roses, lavender, and coxcomb take very well to air-drying, but flowers with smaller, flimsy stems such as asters and daisies do not.
To air-dry flowers, tie a small bunch of the chosen flower together. Be sure not to put too many flowers in one bunch or they may rot in the middle. Hang the flowers upside down to help them keep their shape. It is best to hang the flowers in a dry place with a bit of airflow. In general, a back bedroom or pantry works very well for air-drying most flowers. Some flowers, such as straw flowers, are an exception to the rule and will dry just about anywhere, including my moist, warm kitchen!
Leave the flowers to hang for three to four weeks, checking periodically to be sure they are not molding. They should feel crispy and crackle under the touch when they are thoroughly dried. Once dried, the flowers can be used for a myriad of craft or decorating projects, or they can simply be left hanging from the ceiling for an aesthetically pleasing effect.
Almost every country kid has memories of dying Queen Anne’s Lace with food coloring.
The head of a Queen Anne’s Lace flower is made up of hundreds of tiny blossoms. Each blossom unfolds its individual petals to produce the lacy network of the entire flower. These blossoms are very receptive to coloring when they are allowed to drink food colorant through their stems. The resulting effect is a beautiful web of delicate petals brightly displaying any color a person can mix.
To begin, it is important to pick suitable blossoms. All Queen Anne’s Lace will take up dye to some degree, but for truly vibrant color, there are better times to pick the flowers than others. It is best to harvest the flowers when 1/2 to 2/3 of the of the head’s tiny blossoms have opened. The head itself will be opened flat, with the ends rounding down a bit, much like an open umbrella. Flowers picked too early never open fully to display the dyed petals. Flowers picked too late generally wither away before they can take up enough colored water to show. It may take a few attempts to find the right cutting time.
Once you have the flowers, fill a glass with a cup of cool water. Take a bottle of food coloring of your choice and place 10-20 drops in the water. Stir well. I find that yellow and green work the best and require less colorant than reds and blues. You can also dye multiple flowers in the same glass at the same time. Leave the flowers in the water for a few days, sit back, and watch them change color.
Once the flowers are dyed, they can be easily dried by cutting the heads off the stems. Lay them flat upon the ground, with the stem stub pointing skyward. Leave them in a dry place for a week. Once dry, the flowers can be carefully hot-glued to a wreath form, one by one to make a simple, but striking wreath.
Queen Anne's Lace, also known as Wild Carrot, must have one of the longest blooming seasons of any flower in the blossoming world. It's a familiar summer sight, as the large, white blossom line the road sides and glow amidst the open meadows of the cow pasture. The best part about it, however, (aside from the fact that it makes great filler in bouquets when you're in a pinch for flowers) is that it can be dyed almost as easily as yarn, and with a lot less mess. I don't think there are many kids around here who haven't dyed Queen Anne's Lace at least once, it's sort of a country tradition. It's a summer pastime my neighbor showed me when I was about 5 years old. I've been doing it every summer since. Queen Anne's Lace can be dyed any color of the rainbow with a little food coloring and bit of patients. And no matter how many times a person tries this, it never gets old. It remains just as magical as it was the first time. So here is this week's project, a wreath made of rainbow colored Queen Anne's Lace.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
According to Greek mythology, the winter months were created when Persephone, the daughter of the harvest Goddess, was taken into the earth by Hades. Eventually, Persephone was returned to her mother, but only on the condition that she split her time between the world above and the world below. She was to spend six months above earth with her mother, and six months below earth with Hades. The Greeks believed that during those six months, the harvest Goddess, Demeter, was sad at her daughter's absence and thus everything went into hibernation, bringing us the winter months.
Personally, I think the winter months were created to prevent people from killing themselves, or least going insane as they tried to multitask. The summer months seem made specifically for the sole purpose of multitasking around here. As I sit here typing this at 2:00 in the morning (when I would probably be better off in bed, but unfortunately am a bit of an insomniac), I'm recounting the set of multitasking I just completed and thanking the universe that there do exist winter months.
My other desk job is as busy as the farm this time of the year, so I'm spending a fair bit of time there as well. Then once I'm back home, it's chore time, followed by flower cutting. I was lucky enough to get out of the fields before the bats came out tonight. I don't really have a problem with bats, but I don't particularly like being hit by them either. Once the flowers were picked, the real multitasking began. As I sat there stripping flowers, I also had a set of pictures printing, a batch of soap cooking on one burner and a pot of candle wax on another. The result was an odd mix of cinnamon and eucalyptus scents filling the air. A rather interesting smell to say the least.
Silica crystals offer a wider variety of drying options than traditional air-drying.
Silica crystals are ready found in most arts and crafts shops (i.e. JoAnn Fabrics, Michael’s etc.), they can also be found in some florist shops. Delicate blossoms such as sunflowers and gladiolas can easily be preserved with silica crystals. Silica also allows for color preservation, something that is often lost during air-drying. The colors may darken a bit, but in general, blossoms dried with silica retain most of their color.
To begin, find a suitable container and pour a layer of crystals across the bottom. Place the flower heads on this layer and cover them with more silica crystals. Be sure to fill every nook and cranny of the blossoms to ensure proper drying and preservation of the shape. Cover the container with plastic wrap or a well fitting top to make it as air tight as possible. Leave the container in a place away from heavy moisture for several days to a week.
Silica crystals can be reused many times. Don’t throw them out after the first batch of flowers. Most silica crystals these days are “color coded.” Usually they start out blue and turn pink as they absorb moisture from the flowers within. Once the dried flowers are removed, the now pink crystals can be dried by spreading them on a tray and placing them in a warm oven for a few minutes. As the moisture in the crystals evaporates, they will turn blue once again, signaling that they are ready for use once more.
An alternative to silica is sand drying. In sand drying, flowers are covered with sand and the container is placed into an oven allowing the flowers to “cook.” The heat of the oven dries the flowers while the sand allows them to hold their shape. The sand method is a bit trickier, however, because it is possible to over bake the flowers leaving them brown and crispy. Also sand does not preserve the colors quite as well as silica.
And so it begins. Last night was the first big sunflower picking of the year. Our living room was bedecked in funeral parlor style as piles of flowers covered every available space. Of course we can't just bunch them into bouquets, we have to strip off all the leaves first. That's the part where a nice long movie like Lord of the Rings or Ben-hur comes in handy. If you can watch a movie, it kind of breaks up the monotony of pulling leaves off the stems one by one. We were up until 2:00 in the morning stripping leaves last night, but looks like we'll have plenty of bouquets to put on the stand this week.
This year the flowers are at optimum picking height; about waist high. Some years they end up six feet tall with stems like tree trunks. We fondly (or perhaps rather unfondly) refer to those patches as Mirkwood. Even worse, however, are the very dry years when we end up with dwarfed flowers. It's never fun picking flowers less than knee high!
Per usual, even though we staggered the plantings by several weeks, there appear to be four patches all coming on at the same time. I guess that's to be expected, they generally do that every year. The weather is usually the cause. All rain one minute and all sun the next tends to stunt one patch and start another off like a rocket. Oh well, there's not much prettier than a patch of sunflowers all blooming at once, even if it does make for a large flush of flowers at one time.
While I was out amidst the yellow heads unfurling their golden petals to the sky, I couldn't resist popping off a few heads for my pan of silica crystal. Sunflowers keep their color when dried and their chunky bodies make them loads of fun to work with on wreaths. And unlike the fresh flowers, dried heads don't make you all sticky!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A country farm is without question the greatest place in the world for a crafter to live. Perhaps being a country girl myself makes me a bit biased, but for the crafter, there does seem to be a certain advantage to living in the backwoods of the world. What we can't grow ourselves, we can find readily available in nature or at the very least, buried somewhere in the deep recesses of the barn.
Using these resources, the country crafter can make practically anything from baskets and fabric dyes to knitting needles and musical instruments. (Yes, even a guitar can be made by a desperate 16-year-old with some abatibi board and a lot of duct tape.) The best thing about crafting for a hobby is that it's always there waiting. A person can begin a project, leave it for weeks or months, and then suddenly re-immerse themselves in the project once more. The craft project is always ready to be called upon, when the time is right.
On the subject of time and crafts, I've finally gotten around to fixing this websight. I've been meaning to do so for quite sometime, but haven't had the chance. Life happens after all. I know the same five crafting how-to's have been there for weeks, so my hope now is to try and make time to post a new one every Friday. But as the saying goes, the best laid plans of men and mice go shortly awry; we'll see what happens.
