Dream catchers are one of the most fascinating traditions of Native Americans. The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, while letting positive dreams through. The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center of the dream catcher, and glide down the feathers to the sleeping person below. The negative dreams would get caught up in the web, and expire when the first rays of the sun struck them.

So, here is a mini and cute dream catcher for all the sleep-lovers (like me!!) out there! With this portable Kaspersky dream security, you can sleep anytime and anywhere without having to worry about nightmares!

This is also a great gift for your family and friends to show how much you care for them (everyone will appreciate good dreams...believe me).

So let's get started!

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies.

For this project, you will need:

Some kind of a loop or ring. (I used my ring earring, the pair of which I have misplaced. So this project was a great way to give utilize it. You can use any circular ring you can find like key-chain, bangles, the plastic ring bellow the bottle cap...etc)
Various kinds of embroidery thread. (To make the one in the picture, you will need three colors. For better understanding of this tutorial, label your colors as: Color 1 for outside, color 2 for the highlights and color 3 for the net)
Glue (Preferably one that dries clear. I used Fevicol)
Feathers (You can either buy a pack or collect some from pigeons or something)

Step 2: Prepare the Ring

First we need to cover the ring with thread. To do so, choose the color u want to use. This should be your color 1.

Then, knot the thread at one point. DON'T CUT THE EXTRA THREAD. Let there be some left over. This will be called thread(1) for future references.

Tip: You can glue the knot down because otherwise it keeps sliding away and that feels really annoying.

Then begin wrapping the thread around the ring. Make it like the coil in the 4th photo and then push it together. It should look like the 7th photo after you have finished. Ensure that there are no gaps. In case there are, push the threads closer. Keep tightening the coils, or else your dream catcher will be really shabby.

Tie other end to the thread(1).

To make it more colorful, you can tie a thread of another color 2 to the thread(1). Then keep wrapping/coiling it at a distance. Don't push it together like you did in the first time. It will look like the last photo. You can cut the excess thread in this case.

By the end of this step, you should have a fully wrapped thread ring with two extra threads from one side. If that's how it looks, let's go to the next step!

Step 3: Weave the Net

Now let's start weaving the net.

Tie the end of thread (color 3) to the thread(1). Below are two designs, Iam fond of. But feel free to play around with this step.

For design 1: (easy)

Pass the thread from below the ring. Wrap it halfway and pass it from below again at a distance . You can refer to the photos 1,2 and 3 to understand. Every time you wrap it, you make a 'vertex'. here as we are making a triangle, there should be two vertex. The third vertex shall be the place the thread was initially tied or the place you started from i.e. thread(1) DON'T CUT THIS OFF . Tie the loose end again to the first vertex. Now make another inverted triangle (starting from the side opposite to the place the first vertex was. Let the remaining thread remain so u can attach the feathers later. This design is a good idea if your ring is very small.

For design 2: (a little harder)

Start off just like the first design, but instead of a triangle make a Pentagon. Basically there will four vertex apart from the place u start from. DON'T CUT THIS OFF. Then take another thread and tie it to the center of one of the arms. Then make another pentagon with each vertex lying on the center of each of the five arms. Look at picture number 6 for reference. But bear in mind that it will NOT remain a pentagon when you add the next layer, it will seem more like a star. Also make sure the thread is tightly stretched and not sagging. You can make as many layers you want in this manner. I chose to make three.

Step 4: Make the Handle

So, by now you should have three threads remaining : two of color 1 that was left in step 1 and one of color 2 that we left in the last step.

Braid these three thread together!

To braid: Spread the three threads out like a fork. then put the rightmost thread into the center such that the center thread becomes the rightmost. Then put the left most in the center, such that the the now center (before it was the rightmost) becomes the leftmost thread. Keep repeating this process until the threads become too short.

After than, knot all the thread together.

Step 5: Make the Feathers

Now, let's make some mini feathers!

To do so, take a feather of the color of you choice. As said earlier, you can buy a pack from a local art shop or collect a few from the roadsides ( where I stay, there are many birds. Grey feathers lie around all the time. If that's the case near your place, you can use a few of those too).

For one type of feather, cut a tiny piece from the head of the feather, like in the third photo. Ensure it contains the midrib. Then using a scissor shape it like a feather (or a leaf will do too).

For the other type, cut some of the hairy part of the feather. Pinch a few of the strands and add a drop of glue. The. With you forefinger and thumb, rub it together.

Vòila! Your feathers are done.

Step 6: Attach the Feathers

We need to attach the feathers now.

Begin by tying a thin thread around the tail of the feather of type 1 or near the glued end of the feather of type 2.

Pass one side of the thread from below the ring and then tie it down. Cut the excess.

I chose to attach two feather of type 2 on two sides and one feather type 1 near the bottom.

Tip: To make sure the feathers don't fall off or that the threads don't come out of the knots, apply tiny drops glue near all the knots. This will also stop fraying of the threads.