Making A Wooden
Rune Set

by Beowulf

The Elder Futark The making of a rune set is not at all difficult, and the set attunes itself to your vibrations far quicker than a purchased set, be they wood, crystal, glass, or pebbles. And so to work, here we are making a set using a tree branch, my particular favourite medium. Firstly select your branch; the diameter should be about that of a two-pence coin certainly no smaller. Harvest the branch in ritual fashion asking permission from the tree to remove one of its branches, and leave a gift, salt, a coin, a ribbon etc.

After harvesting your chosen branch it should be left to dry out, for at least one month to six weeks. I like to leave it in the airing cupboard, where it is warm but not so hot it cracks the branch. You are now ready to cut your branch into twenty-four individual slices, each about 5mm thick, I suggest that you cut three or four more than you need, in case a mistake is made during the next operation. I find a fine toothed saw is best for cutting the discs, either a Japanese "Pull-saw" or a hacksaw is ideal.

You are now ready to burn the runic symbols into your discs; the best tool is a pyro-pen, a tool purpose built for wood etching. You can also use a soldering iron fitted with a fine tip, or even an old screwdriver heated on your gas stove. Take care to use one with a wooden handle and wrap it with a pot holder to avoid burning your hand.

Once your set is completed you can finish it off with a thin coat of beeswax or linseed oil, you can, (if you must) give the runes a coat of varnish. As you have used a natural product to make your runes, I would recommend that beeswax be used.

If you decide to make your rune set from glass "beads", choose a dark colour such as blue, green, or maroon, so the symbol cannot be seen from the back Use acrylic paint and a fine brush to apply the runic symbol to the glass beads, or to flattish pebbles, that are all of a similar size. When dry apply two or three coats of a polyurethane varnish, or even clear nail varnish, to stop the paint chipping or wearing away. Using the pyrography method described above you can create different rune sets to great effect, Moonshadow & Raven made the set of Witch Rune's below, thay used yacht varnish to finish their set and an old soldering iron and bits to burn the designs into the wood. Beowulf