LifeBook Week05: Dreamcatcher

This week's LifeBook lesson taught by Rachael Rice is all about dreamcatchers! I'd never heard of dreamcatchers before and I was fascinated by Rachael's introduction into this Native American tradition. If you're wondering what dreamcatchers are just check out these images on Google.

We didn't make a physical dreamcatcher, we created a representation of one for our art journal using a doily and some pretend feathers cut from paper. The words and symbols on our dreamcatcher represent our intentions for the year. For me this is progress, positive change, moving in the right direction and trusting the journey.

I used gelli prints for my background, as well as some music paper, number stamping and white and copper acrylic paints to distress it. Instead of a real doily I chose a paper one and altered it with copper paint and gilding wax.

I used a purple Gelato (grape) to shade around the edges of my page as well as under and around the doily to make it stand out more. I used the same Gelato for colouring the paper shapes and blended it with Gesso. This made it possible for me to write over the Gelato layer with a white pen. I edged the feather shapes with copper gilding wax to give them dimension.

The dots for the chain to "hang" the feathers were done with copper Stickles. Finally, I added some real feathers and trims to the layout to make it truly mixed media.

I really enjoyed working on this lesson. You can see some photos of my process below, as well as some close ups of the finished project. (Click on the first image to open the gallery.)

Gelli print collage with white and copper brayering

Music papers, stamping and additional brayering

The completed page