Rune stone tip

[Gilberticus 374]

Because of a few new Viking, magic, and occult movies recently made and a few more about to released by summer, rune stones are becoming popular again. I had wondered why I was getting so many special orders lately. Making these stones and then popping them on something like Amazon.com is a quick, easy way to make a few extra bucks. The reason why I bring this up is because over the holidays, I found a set of 25 amethyst rune stones in my mailbox, with a little card that said "Enjoy, Gilberticus !". This is the only site where I'm known by that. So, to help whoever gave me these, as well as anyone interested in carving runes, I'm going to show a few pictures and a simple drawing. Now, if the person who sent me these sees this, I'm only trying to help. When I first started this business, I had no guide and no mentor, I had to figure all of this out on my own. These first two pictures are kinda crappy, but the stones are no bigger than peanut M and Ms, which is exactly the size they should be

 

This is bad.First of all, only masters should use amethyst, because one wrong slip makes the stone worthless. On days when I have to carve amethyst, I won't even drink coffee, lest my hand shake. People are very picky with amethyst. The gem is only semi-precious, but it's purple, and people associate purple with royalty. Plus, you have to have an eye for the gem, which is the first thing wrong here. Even with my crappy computer camera, these stones should not appear black. You want a deep, royal purple, but you want to be able to see through to the center. People like looking at the inclusions. Now, the carving. This is how Cen should look:

But this is how your Cen, and all your lines, look:

And the yellow highlighter is to show how you took your paint and extended it beyond even the lines you extended too far. With runes, as well as any carving, you want very crisp, precise lines. When you fill lines with paint, the easiest method I've found is dipping a toothpick in paint. I can tell a thin paintbrush was used here, because there's gold paint smeared far outside the lines. To people in general, burning the runes into wood pebbles/tiles is the easiest way to make them. If you're making a set for yourself, what I found to have a nice, authentic feel is animal bones. I don't think you can sell those on Amazon, though, can you? Can't be getting people in trouble

Now, to the person who carved me these, your lines extend beyond what you intended because your cutting tool is poor. I am very near-sighted, so all I had to do is take my contacts out to see that you have jagged chips along the lines. I hope this didn't make you feel bad, I'm not trying to be a jerk. People aren't going to buy amethyst rune stones to use; they're going to want them as part of like a display. I've discovered that people are very picky with amethyst. Also, had you used decent quality of amethyst, and had cut them properly, a set of 25 rune stones the size of peanut M and Ms could easily sell for around $50 to $75. Yours are damaged to the point where I can only appraise them at around $5. However, thank you very much for the gift, no one has ever carved a gem for me before. Amethyst is the birthstone of my deceased daughter, these are going right on my night stand next to my side of the bed

[SX255 630]

Do they turn see-through purple when you bring them up to a light bulb?

[Flix 5,116]

So despite wanting to remain anonymous on here, someone on Darkmatters knows your address somehow?

[Gilberticus 374]

SX: no boss, they turn barely purple when held right next to a light. Flix, I have absolutely no clue, man. I have no clue how you use IP addy's to track someone down. I'm not quite sure how I want to take that yet. On the one had, I did want a tiny bit of anonymity. Stalker movies some times kinda start out this way. Maybe I should have never talked about my real world career. On the other hand, someone valued my opinion enough and likes me enough to find me and carve a set of rune stones. That's why I hated being critical of a gift. On the one hand, it was a very nice gesture. On the other, the stones show a tiny bit of skill, which means this person has carved before. No one ever helped me when I first started, and I ended up wasting a lot of money and ruining a lot of beautiful gems.