How to make your own New Moon Dreamcatcher

In the New Moon movie, Jacob gave Bella a special birthday gift, a dreamcatcher, to ward off bad dreams. It turned out that Bella really needed it!

If you're decorating for a New Moon-themed party, or want to send someone a special New Moon-themed gift, you can make your own dreamcatcher from items at your local craft store.

Background Research
My daughter and I planned to visit our local craft store to buy materials to make her a dreamcatcher. Before we left, we checked out the New Moon Official Illustrated Movie Companion (pages 54-55) to get a closer look at Jacob's dreamcatcher.

Jacob's dreamcatcher:


Jacob's dreamcatcher appears to include a grapevine frame, leather lacing, beads, string, a shark's tooth, a small seashell, and a beautiful silver wolf charm.

Gathering Materials
We bought our own materials at Michael's to approximate Jacob's dreamcatcher:
- 1 small, pre-made grapevine wreath ($0.49)
- 6 metal ocean charms, chosen by my daughter ($3.99)
- leather craft lace, 5 colors ($4.99)
- hemp cord, 4 colors ($4.99)
- 3 string of beads, chosen by my daughter ($3.99)

Total cost: about $20

Our dreamcatcher materials:


Making the Dreamcatcher
Next, I found instructions online about how to weave the web that catches the bad dreams. There are good instructions at nativetech.org.

Note that we started with a pre-made grapevine wreath, so we didn't use a metal hoop at all.

Tip 1: When using grapevine, you might need to cut off the picky bits that poke out and snag on your string.

Adding Personal Touches
After I wove the string (hemp cord) into a web, we had to decide on what beads and charms to use. We tried various beads, but some were too small to fit on the cord. We found some extra puka shells from a broken necklace that fit nicely on the cord. Also, my daughter really wanted to use feathers, so we found a few extra ones from her pillow.

Tip 2: If your string or cord doesn't thread well through the holes in the beads, try adding a tiny bit of clear nail polish to the end of the string to strengthen it.

Tip 3: You can also use a tiny bit of clear nail polish to strengthen knots in your string or cord (but don't use it on leather).

We used small pieces of leather craft lace to tie on the charms and the feathers, to give it a more finished look. We attached a longer piece of leather craft lace to hang the dreamcatcher. The final touch was a metal dolphin charm, chosen by my daughter.

Here's the final dreamcatcher:


It is now hanging on my daughter's bed. Hopefully, it will help ward off her bad dreams, too!