Feathers, yellow string and colored beads wove through students’ paper webs in the 7th Street Underground for The University Board’s Teach Me Tuesday.

Each student at the event received a raffle ticket to be entered in a drawing for a professionally made dream catcher.

Khalif Harris, a business administration major, led the activity and helped pass out supplies. Harris said arts and crafts are a way to relieve stress as an alternative to sporting events or going to the library.

“Dream catchers are a window to your dreams. They are supposed to keep unwanted spirits away,” Harris said.

Harris said people traditionally hang dream catchers outside of their homes as a source of protection.

Harris also said the turnout at this session of Teach me Tuesday was pretty good in comparison to others.

About 35 students came to make dream catchers.

Most students chose feathers, beads and colored pencils to decorate their dream catchers based on their favorites or the color web they were given.

Angela Davis, a sociology major, said the craft of making a dream catcher was not something she was used to. She was unaware of how to even start the craft. She chose the colors based off her favorites and went with the flow.

After confusion soared through the room about how to start the craft, Darius Francis, a communication studies major and co-leader of the event, encouraged the participants to weave through the web as they saw fit.

There were endless options to the patterns that could be made. No dream catcher would look alike.

The opening in the middle of the web is where the bad dreams would be caught and spread through the strings, Francis said.

Alexandria Hunter, a biological sciences major, said she did not believe in the power of dream catchers, but attended the event to accompany a stressed friend.

Art majors Lindsey Phillips and Kirbi Eckerty attended the meditation and spirituality event the previous night and thought making a dream catcher was a good follow-up activity.

Phillips and Eckerty said they had never made dream catchers before and agreed that their purpose was the catch the bad dreams and let the good dreams in.

Joanna Leighton can be reached at 581-2812 or jlleighton@eiu.edu.