Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Carving Stones

I uncovered a project in process during the recent studio rearrangement which I was really happy to find. These are the runestones that I was making for myself a few years ago. I love using the tarot and other deck systems, but I wanted to have a go at using a tactile, stone based system.
The normal runes have never really done much for me, the symbols don't speak to me, and I usually don't like the stones or plastic faux stones that they're sold as these days.
So I decided to make my own. Using symbols that are personally meaningful and are instantly available for me to interpret. Yes, that is a smiley face on one of them!
These are all stones that I chose on a special trip to a local beach, with this project in mind. I carved each stone using my Dremel Motor Tool with a diamond point. It was easier on some of the stones that others as there are sandstone and granite (the two extremes in hardness!). But mostly it went pretty smoothly.
I then used a Zig Painty gold pen to fill in the mark to make the symbols easier to read.
I made a fabric liner for a small but sturdy basket and have them in there for now. I may make a reinforced, lined velvet bag for them at some point. So far they have been very useful for me and I'm glad that I came across them again.

2 comments:

Caroline said...

Yay what great stones!

I got into rune stones a few years ago and quickly added quite a lot of my own.

Someone who was into the runes was terribly snooty about it so I'm really glad to see someone else with an open mind!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

These are really nice! Did you find your stones, pick certain types, or purchase the *bag-o-rocks" that are at all the stores? I am thinking my Dremel and some of the stones I have could be used in the canvas boxes.....more ideas....!!!!