Ancient Alphabets

Since I’m fascinated with all things Celtic, I thought making my own runes would be an interesting project. Upon doing a little research, I discovered runes really are not Celtic, but I made them anyway as the activity idea was already pretty much on my mind. When things get stuck in your head, you just have to go and ahead and give them a try. Wood was sacred to the ancient Celts, so at least I can honor that aspect.



Some mesquite branches salvaged after my husband’s pruning efforts worked perfectly for this project. I sliced the pieces with a jig saw.



After gently sanding the wood, I made a symbol on each piece with a marker and went over them with my wood-burning tool. Then I rubbed each wood piece with cedar oil on a soft cloth. A little book found at the used bookstore explains the runes.



I sewed a small leather bag to hold the finished runes and made a wood button by drilling holes in an extra wood slice.

More information about the origin and historical use of runic alphabets may be found here.