Aunt Molly's Bead Street

Beadwork Patterns, Alphabets: MICRO RUNES

These runes have been charted for peyote stitch, but could be done in brick stitch as well. They are sketched as small as the beads will allow, hence the name "Micro Runes." Some are depicted in two sizes, and some are not shown because they didn't lend themselves to peyote stitch, or to such a small scale.

 For those who've asked for an explanation of what runes are, I quote Lisa Peschel in A Practical Guide to the Runes:

"The runic system was in use by the Nordic and Germanic tribes of Northern Europe for both secular and religious purposes. . .The development of the rune alphabet was a fairly recent occurrence, brought about by the increased trading activity with Mediterranean neighbors who already possessed a fully developed alphabet.
"Before this time, the runes were primarily a magickal system of pictographs representing the forces and objects in Nature...
"There were several different runic alphabets in use throughout Northern Europe over the centuries, but the most common is the Germanic, or Elder FUTHARK."

 Back to the Patterns Page

 
These instructions, the patterns, and all images are ©1998, Mary J. Tafoya.
Single copies may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial use only.