Designing Bindrunes

I design a lot of bindrunes for people based on their initials. I find the rune equivalents for the letters and arrange them in the most attractive way I can. Sometimes the rune symbols are mirror-imaged for symmetry, and sometimes I combine two or more runes on a single stave (i.e. the perpendicular stroke). 

There are many examples of ancient bindrunes designed in just this way, so it is perfectly in keeping with rune tradition. In fact the ancients were fairly arbitrary about writing runes left-to-right, right-to-left, images mirrored, and sometimes even whole sentences appeared upside down. But I do not as a rule reverse runes (i.e. draw them upside-down) because it is generally accepted that this also reverses the rune's meaning.

constructing a bindrune

English Letter Equivalents
Runes are phonetic - in other words, they represent sounds rather than letters. So Kauno is equivalent to K like it appears in the word "king", or a hard C as in the word "cat". So if your name was Colin or Catherine, your first runic initial would be Kauno, the rune that corresponds to K. But if your name was Cyril or Cecilia then you would choose S representing Sowilo because that's the rune that makes the soft C sound.

Names like Thora and Theodore and others starting with the TH sound can be a bit confusing, too. In English you would say your first initial was T, but in runes it is Thurisaz., because that rune represents the th sound all on its own.

The ancients did not distinguish between W and V. They used the same soft V sound for both, so both V and W initials are represented by Wunjo.

J and Y are the most difficult letters to represent in runes. Strictly speaking the J in John or Joanne should be represented by Dagaz because the ancients pronounced Dagaz like a DG or DZ compound consonant. But in modern usage it is common to represent J as Jera even though its real sound is like the Y in the word "year". There is another rune that makes the Y sound and that is Ihwaz. It sounds like the Y in "young".

There are no rune equivalents for X or Q. The ancients did not use those sounds. I usually represent X with Kauno and Sowilo to make a "ks" sound, and Q as Kauno and Wunjo to make a "kw" sound.

Names of German or Scandinavian origin that start with ING are represented by Ingwaz. Inge and Ingomar are good examples. Don't be fooled into using Isa because it represents the letter I. Ingwaz is much more attractive!

I usually follow these rules when compiling bindrunes for people:

K and hard C are represented by Kauno
S and soft C are represented by the Sowilo
T is represented by Tiwaz
TH is represented by Thurisaz
V and W are both represented by Wunjo
J as in John is represented by Jera
J as in Juan is represented by Hagalaz
J as in Jorge and Y as in Yolanda are represented by Ihwaz

There is a table of all the English letter equivalents on the Bindrune Introduction Page.

Are your initials in the Bindrune Gallery?
You can search the bindrune gallery in the members area of www.rune-tattoos.com to check whether I have designed a bindrune based on your own initials.  There are more than 4000 designs available. There is a free access area of the rune tattoos website but the members area and the bindrune gallery are available only to signed-up members. The annual  fee has recently been reduced to just US$6.95 - that's around GB£4.00 or EU€4,60.
 

Retrospective: Bindrune Amulets
(no longer in production)

The amulets were made of natural wood from windfall branches. The pendant was fitted with a leather thong, silver-plated or gold-plated necklace.

The amulets were about 30-35mm diameter and made of windfall wild woods. The rune was branded by hand in the traditional way or painted. The wood was highly polished and finished with a non-toxic varnish.

There was a choice of pokerwork or painted designs in a range of colors.

Artwork (this item is still available)

You will get these three versions of the design in plain black, in a single color of your choice with a thin black edging line, and a 3D version with bevel and shadow effects. The artwork is free of copyright so you can use it as a monogram on stationery and personal items, as a logo for a business or on a website, or even for a tattoo.

The service includes the artwork as a PDF document in an email attachment, plus a free copy of my eBook 'A Runic Empowerment Ritual' suitable for use with tattoos or solid objects. The artwork document and the eBook are delivered by email attachment, usually within a few days.

Use the "Order Now" button below

IMPORTANT NOTE
Please don't order a word or phrase as if it was someone's initials. A bindrune made up from the letters of a word WILL NOT represent the meaning of the word, it doesn't work like that.

For example I had someone order OPHE as if it were a friend's initials, but they really wanted a bindrune to mean "hope". Another customer ordered IRHC when what they actually required was a runic symbol to represent the concept "rich". I did the bindrunes on the basis that they were personal initials, but "hope" is not represented in runes by those 4 letters, it is made up from two completely different runes and would look quite different from the bindrune I designed. Same thing with the "rich" concept - that one can be represented by a single rune.

So don't be fooled into thinking that a word would make the same bindrune as a person's initials. Because you will get a design that has no meaning - or worse - that might mean something else entirely!

If you want a bindrune to represent a concept, or a word that has special meaning to you, then order the RM6002 Custom Practical Bindrune Artwork package from the Practical Bindrunes page.

Icon Pack (this item is still available)

RM53 Rune Icon Pack - US$9.45
All these rune icons:

plus 10 icons of your own personal bindrune in these colors:

You will receive a self-installing program that includes a beginner's guide to using icons. The package is delivered by email, usually within a few days. Use the "Order Now" button below.
 

Art Pack (this item is still available)

RM52 Personal Bindrune Art Pack - US$14.45
Four large images of your personal bindrune in these styles:

The art pack features four 750x750 pixel high-resolution images of your personal bindrune suitable for printing on A4 or letter size paper.

The service includes the art pack as a PDF document, plus a free copy of my eBook 'A Runic Empowerment Ritual' suitable for use with tattoos or solid objects. The art pack document and the eBook are delivered by email attachment, usually within a few days.

Click the buttons on the order form to see any options available and use the "Order Now" button to place your order.