Prayer Webs
What is a prayer web?
I have accidentally collected dreamcatchers throughout my life. Over time I would find one laying about, or one was given to me, and then I came to realize that I had a lot of them.
They are whimsical and spiritual.
Since over the years I’ve learned more about and have used prayer beads/ropes in my daily life, and many dreamcatchers have beads, I have thought about dreamcatchers in a new light. I thought: what if you are somewhere where you don’t have a prayer rope, but you would like to go through the Jesus Prayer, or the Rosary, or the Divine Mercy Chaplet? Say, maybe at work? It would be neat to have something visual to use for such prayers, in other words.
And so enter these prayer webs…
The 2 white beads shown are the Lord’s Prayer,
and the 10 blue beads (which I intended to spiral around, with varying success) are the intermediary prayers.
And if you manage to complete the 10 prayers plus the Lord’s Prayers,
then you can just go the other way around the web.
How are these made?
I didn’t know how to make a dreamcatcher before November 2021 - and I’m definitely not saying that I have the technique perfect on the date of this post (January 2022). But the important thing I want to express is that I finally decided to try making one.
Even though I thought they looked complicated.
I decided to learn… after all these years of collecting them and admiring them.
This is how I learned how to make a dreamcatcher: https://youtu.be/Vmtkc7FOWLw?t=236
I used the video just to get the general technique. I ignored the tools and measurements the woman in the tutorial used.
Materials I used
Red Willow / Dogwood
It was a gift, finding the willow for the above-pictured prayer webs.
I had been walking my dog along one of our favorite trails and I realized… “There are red willow cuttings everywhere! This is actually exactly what I was looking for.” (The trail had been recently trimmed for the ATVs/Snowmobile use). So I was able to grab a decent handful.
I don’t know much about using willow, but I do believe that you need to bend the willow into hoops sooner than later after they’ve been cut. The switches will become brittle if you wait too long. (You might be able to boil them back into nimbleness… but I’m not the one to ask about that.)
Acrylic White
For the white prayer web I simply painted over the willow with acrylic white. I don’t know the longevity of using acrylic paint on willow. Again, I’m not the one to ask about that. I just experiment a lot when I make things.
Dental Floss
Yes, dental floss. 86c dental floss.
So while I did begin making dreamcatchers with string or thread, I was flossing my teeth one night when I realized… “Hey. This has some strength to it. And it has a sinewy texture and look about it. I wonder if…”
… and yes, it does work. For now.
Will floss stand the test of time?
I’ll check in with you again in ten years.
Yes I know you can get sinew on the internet fairly inexpensively. But if you’re anything like me, you just want to make something now and that works that you don’t need to cough up special money for. Give it a go. Try different flavors. Just kidding.
Tip: Use a Needle to help get the floss/sinew through the beads.
Beads. Whatever beads you have or can afford.
The beads pictured above in the prayer webs are just cheap Wal-mart beads. Maybe you can tell, maybe not. Heck you can make your own beads out of simple magazines you have lying about! (Link to a quick tutorial I found - so cool!)
But anyway… what matters when creating, is that you are using your imagination.
That you are having fun.
That you are not stressing about comparing your work with others.
That you use what you can make, or find.
So do that.
Maybe don’t use beads at all… what could you use instead that you can find around your house or in your junk drawer? (:
Tip: Use a Needle to help get the floss/sinew through the beads/items on your prayer web.
Miscellaneous Materials
Some string or hemp (to help secure the willow into a loop/hoop)
A dab of glue (to secure the string/hemp)
Scissors
Needle (for help stringing the floss/sinew through beads, and getting tighter/intricate webbing)
Keep it simple and fun
This is something that I have to remind myself constantly when I want to make something, or improve upon something that I’ve made in the past.
If I begin to overthink crafts and creations, then it becomes too easy to put off completely for some unfair feeling that “I don’t have the right materials.”
No.
You do have the right materials.
You don’t need to order off Amazon for everything, to make it “just so.”
Don’t be afraid to get a little inventive. Don’t be afraid to say, “I like this how it is.”
Don’t be ashamed to embrace the little creations.
