Runes... that't it, I'm making my own!

[Jainarayan]

I've been looking at them on the interwebz, and I gotta tell ya in one word: they all suck! OK, so that's 3 words. Oh my Gods! what garbage. Here's my idea for making my own...

• Go to a craft store.
• Get wood blanks, or a long 1" dia. dowel to cut into 1/4" rounds. I like the idea of cutting them on the bias to get an oval shape. That also makes it easier to know if the rune is upside down or not.
• Run some very, very fine sandpaper over the cut ends. Not necessary for pre-formed wood blanks.
• Pencil the rune onto the wood.
• Use a sharp pointed carving tool or wood burner to follow the pencil lines.
• Use paint on the carving if I don't burn it. Stain won't work because the open grain at the end will soak it all in. Rub with a bit of beeswax, a natural soap, or some type of light oil or fat.
• Call the deities to see and bless the finished pieces.

Any other ideas? Improvements on those?

 

[Sees]

Sounds good to me but definitely favor taking from a tree personally if possible. With the offering for tree/spirits of the tree, land, etc

Consumer wood harvesting in mass is kinda bad juju but it's not like you will have "broken" runes either way

 

[Jainarayan]

Sounds good to me but definitely favor taking from a tree personally if possible. With the offering for tree/spirits of the tree, land, etc

Consumer wood harvesting in mass is kinda bad juju but it's not like you will have "broken" runes either way

I was thinking of using a branch from a tree. I have oak trees in my yard, and occasionally a good sized branch will come down, especially in a windstorm. I don't know if it's better to take a branch off the tree, after asking its permission, or using one that fell.

 

[Sees]

I like to use ones that have recently fell if possible even though harvesting off the tree will be most traditional/popular. I think the energy/goodness is still there all around the tree and it's sort of like a gifted branch in my mind.

 

[Quintessence]

I'll describe what I did, but what works for me may not be meaningful or relevant for you.

I grew up in a forest. It was in that forest that I first heard the voices of the gods, though I didn't interpret it that way at the time. I drew wood from this specific forest, and would never dream of doing it any other way. At the time I was making my rune set, neighbors were murdering some beautiful black oak trees for no good reason. It was very upsetting to me, but I decided to use a branch from one of these trees. I remember communing with the spirit of that murdered tree, requesting permission. The response was so strong that it was stunning. To put it to human words, it was a very strong sense that the tree was overjoyed to be granted the respect it was owed and offered such a sacred purpose.

I cut the discs by hand. This means it took several hours as opposed to a few minutes, because black oak wood is quite hard. The rest of the sanding, wood burning, and staining was not difficult but done with care and reverence. I forget exactly when in the process I did this, but at some point I blessed the runes by the Four Elements. It was a very long process because I did each rune one by one, and my set is Anglo-Saxon Futhark, so it has more characters than the usual runic alphabet folks use. One by one, I passed each rune through the smoke of incense, the heat of flame, rubbed it with ash, and dabbed it with water.

What I think the real lesson to take out of this is that when you invest a lot of time in making something, it makes it sacred by virtue of that investment. This rune set is by far the most personal and treasured of my divination allies, even though it hasn't been with me as long as my trusted tarot deck. Plus, I took the time to get to know the runes on my own terms, one by one, instead of using stock interpretations. All of that has made it a fantastic ally for me. I hope the same will come of your own investments!

 

[Jainarayan]

That's a really nice story. Whatever method I wind up using, I'm not going to rush into it. I know they won't be done in an afternoon. If I use the oak branches from my trees, it may take a while to get the right ones, size, shape length. If I'm lucky, one branch will do the trick. I don't have any good woodworking equipment, not even a decent miter box and hack saw, though I can get one. The only place I have to cut is on my deck, and with the weather getting cold, this will probably take a while. I can envision them finished, so I hope I can achieve it.

 

[Riverwolf]

Runestones really do sound like the sort of thing you should carve on your own, rather than buying a pre-carved set, likely carved to precision-perfection in a factory. Though I'm honestly not much into divination(probably for the best, since I lack both training and teacher), Runestones are at least a type of art. And taking out the flaws in art inevitably takes out the art's human soul.

With Tarot cards, you want them to be precise, due to the fact that they're, well, cards. Even if you don't use them for divination or readings, they can still always be used to play games (which I actually understand was their original purpose, anyway.) But with Runestones, I feel the imperfections in the individual stones is what gives each one its identity, and the collective imperfections are the signature of the Carver.

 

[Jainarayan]

I definitely want to make my own set, either wood or stones, if I can find the right stones. Finding the ones that "speak" to me will definitely take time, and put a lot of myself into it. I'd use a Dremel to carve them then paint the rune on each one. Right now I have a set of rune cards I sort of made. I found a nice chart on the web, printed it on glossy photo paper, and cut it into the individual runes. I did use it the other day for my reading. I shuffle them and pick them looking away. I did find a decent looking set on the web I may get, just to get my feet wet, and see how we interact. If nothing else, they're pretty; I'd use them for display if we don't connect.

Spoiler: Largish picture

I've noticed that inguz has two forms.

 

[DayRaven]

I made a set once (think I still have them somewhere). I used an ash tree branch for them. I used Indian ink on the carving. If I remember right I used the Anglo-Frisian futhark.

Fascinating topic runes, though I study them more for early Germanic linguistics.