How to draw DREAMCATCHER

Hi everyone!

Today’s Dreamcatcher tangle is from Oklahoma CZT Daniel Lamothe and it’s his third on the site.

Dreamcatcher was posted on Daniel’s blog a few years ago but I was reminded of it recently by CZT Lucy Farran when she submitted Xoxo and another tangle we’ll be exploring on Friday.

Daniel writes that he was inspired by a tile he created for another project,

“the shape I finished with reminded me of a dreamcatcher. So I decided to play with a pattern reminiscent of those in traditional dreamcatchers.“

Wikipedia explains the origin of dreamcatchers:

In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher or dream catcher is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. Traditionally, dreamcatchers are hung over a cradle or bed as protection.

It originates in Anishinaabe culture as “the spider web charm” – Ojibwe: ‘net-like’ (White Earth Nation); ‘dream snare’ (Curve Lake First Nation) – a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider’s web, used as a protective charm for infants. …

In the course of becoming popular outside the Ojibwe Nation, and then outside the pan-Indian communities, various types of “dreamcatchers”, many of which bear little resemblance to traditional styles, and that incorporate materials that would not be traditionally used, are now made, exhibited, and sold by New age groups and individuals. While some people see this popularization as harmless, many Native Americans have come to see these imitation “dreamcatchers” as over-commercialized, offensively misappropriated and misused by non-Natives.

An unfortunate outcome and, I think, yet another example of The Law of Unintended Consequences. I wanted to add an image of a dreamcatcher as an illustration but that felt disrespectful after what I’d learned and in any case, who knows what is “authentic” vs. commercial.

For the legend and philosophy of the dreamcatcher, see this brief story from the Lakota Cultural Center: The Legend of the Dreamcatcher.

As for the tangle …

Daniel’s blog post includes the tile inspiring his tangle as well as his explorations along the way to coming up with Dreamcatcher. Ultimately he settled on the eight-sided version:

“this worked out best in my opinion and so in the stepout below it’s what I start with. I also realized at this point it could work as a reticulum just as well as a filler or floral pattern.“

Daniel illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Dreamcatcher here on his blog where he features his tangle in examples on various color tiles and with different inks.

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UPDATE December 22, 2021 – Project Pack #16. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle – Keeping Score project pack, Maria begins creating Dreamcatcher at 10:38 in this video.

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For a complete list of Zentangle’s Project Packs click the PROJECT PACKS link in the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.

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Check out the tag daniell for more of Daniel’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

Related Links

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3. Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
4. How to use the site — an excellent free video tutorial showing how to use the site as well as pointing out lots of useful features you might have missed.
5. Linda's List of Zentangle-Original Patterns — here is the complete list of original tangles (aka "official tangles") created and introduced by founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, including those not published online. If you are new to the Zentangle Method I highly recommend learning a few of the published Zentangle classics first.
6. "A Zentangle has no up or down and is not a picture of something, so you have no worries about whether you can draw a hand, or a duck. You always succeed in creating a Zentangle." Thus patterns that are drawings of a recognizable naturalistic or actual object, figure, or scene, are not tangles. A pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle. TIP: tangles never start with pencil planning.
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