Saturday, December 28, 2019

Refurbishing a feathered dream catcher




Many years ago I was given a dream catcher made from an antler and some sort of stone or bone circle. I don't remember the occasion or the giver but it held a place of honor on a wall in my house.


Years later the day came when I rearranged my wall art and noticed the feathers were sickly and covered in dust.  I hanged it outside so the wind could blow the dust off.

And forgot it.

Recently I noticed the feathers had not weathered well. Only the spines remained.
 

I looked briefly into finding replacement feathers, but what I found wasn't satisfactory.  I had other copper hanging ornaments I had purchased.  So I decided to make copper feathers. 

Finding a good weight copper was tricky.  I ordered a sheet online but it was much too thick. Luckily it arrived bent and I was able to return it.

I visited a metal distributor but their stock was also too thick. Finally I found a web site that advertised copper sheeting the thickness of 1 1/2 sheets of paper.  And it was perfect. www.nimrodcopper.com

I was able to cut the feathers out with titanium scissors,  The cutting action even flexed the feathers to give them a textures look.

While attaching the replacement feathers to the existing beads, the leather holding the feathers disintegrated.  So I replaced that as well. I didn't have any brown suede on hand, but I think the green looks fine.

Close-up of a copper feather. 


The refurbished dream catcher.