Supplies & Materials: Runes & Ancient Writing
Every empire began with someone pressing a mark into something soft. This is everything you will need to follow them.
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A Note from Professor Webblethorn
Gather slowly and cheaply. Everything in this course begins with paper, a pencil, and something that presses a mark. The clay can be the kind that dries in the air, and the stylus can be a chopstick cut square. Save the earthenware and the cut reed for when your hand already knows what to do with them.
PROFESSOR THISTLELOOM WEBBLETHORN
Runes & Ancient Writing
Epigrapher, Head of House Septentrio
What You'll Need
Level One: The Household Road
Level One is the household road. Everything on this side is a household item, a free material, or an inexpensive basic, and it is the whole course: every lesson runs on Level One stores alone. If you only ever shop this list, the course is complete for you.
Writing & Drawing Basics
- Paper (plain white paper or a sketchbook) - Level One - U1-U5
- Standard pencils - Level One - U1, U2
- Standard pens - Level One - U2-U5
- Fine-tipped pen or marker - Level One - U1-U5
- Broad-tipped marker (chisel or brush tip) - Level One - U5
- Red pen or marker - Level One - U5
- Brush pen (if you have one) - Level One - U2
- Ruler - Level One - U1-U5
- Alphabet and sign chart printouts (from the lesson PDFs) - Level One - U1-U3, U5
Clay, Wax & Impression Surfaces
- Air-dry clay or modeling dough - Level One, Level Two - U1, U4, U5
- Stylus blank (chopstick, dowel rod, or blunt pencil end, cut flat and square) - Level One - U1
- Flat work surface (cutting board, tile, or baking sheet) - Level One - U1
- Rolling pin or smooth bottle - Level One - U1
Carving Tools & Surfaces
- Bar of soap - Level One - U4
- Blunt knife, nail, or wooden skewer (carving tool; adult supervision) - Level One - U4
- Potato or thick carrot (soft carving surface) - Level One - U4
Pens, Inks & Brushes
- Black ink, washable (or thinned black paint) - Level One - U2
Household Oddments
- Hand mirror (for right-to-left writing) - Level One - U3
- Counters (dried beans, coins, or pebbles; about thirty) - Level One - U3
- Book or box with a straight edge (practice pillar) - Level One - U4
- Stick, dowel, or book spine (edge exercise) - Level One - U4
- Lamp or directional light (raking light for tablets) - Level One, Level Two - U1, U4
Nice to Have
Enrichment only. The lessons work fully without these.
- Flat piece of soft stone and a nail (the Behistun experience) - U1
- Flat outdoor stone and a harder scratching stone - U2
- Whalebone substitute (large flat bone, antler, or smooth shell) - U4
- Latin primer or phrasebook - U4
- Purple and metallic gel pens (Codex Argenteus exercise) - U5
- A Latin psalm text - U5
- Printed copy of Cappelli's Lexicon abbreviaturarum - U5
PROFESSOR THISTLELOOM WEBBLETHORN
Runes & Ancient Writing
Epigrapher, Head of House Septentrio
What Evershade Provides
These come free with the course. You never need to buy them.
- The full lesson text for all 21 lessons
- Printable alphabet and sign charts in every lesson, from Cuneiform wedges to medieval abbreviations
- Assignment packets with quizzes, exercises, and complete answer keys
- Lexicon handouts for every lesson
Level Two: The Historical Road
Level Two is the historical road: specialty purchases and historically closer materials for the same lessons, gathered slowly. Nothing on this side is required, and no lesson asks for it before its Level One version has been taught. It is the same course, on an older road.
Clay, Wax & Impression Surfaces
- Natural earthenware clay - Level Two - U1
- Cut reed stylus (giant reed or bamboo) - Level Two - U1
- Canvas cloth (keeps clay at working dampness) - Level Two - U1
- Wax tablet and stylus (beeswax in a wooden frame) - Level Two - U3, U5
Carving Tools & Surfaces
- Plaster or clay slab - Level Two - U1
- Metal point, awl, or nail - Level Two - U1, U2
- Soft wood (pine, basswood, or balsa) - Level Two - U4
- Sharp pocketknife or carving knife (adult supervision) - Level Two - U4
- Stone tile, slate, or unglazed ceramic tile - Level Two - U3, U4
- Bone or antler blanks - Level Two - U4
- Red ochre or earth pigment (to rub into carved lines) - Level Two - U4, U5
Pens, Inks & Brushes
- Reed pen (cut bamboo or river reed) - Level Two - U1, U2, U3, U5
- Quill or quill-style dip pen - Level Two - U4, U5
- Prepared goose or turkey quill - Level Two - U5
- Dark ink (for dip pens and quills) - Level Two - U4, U5
- Black and red ink or paint - Level Two - U1
- Red ink or paint - Level Two - U5
- Iron gall or walnut ink (another option) - Level Two - U5
- Oak gall ink - Level Two - U4
- Small watercolor brush - Level Two - U1
- Flat brush and dark paint (inscriptional layout) - Level Two - U3
- Straightedge and hard point (for ruling manuscript lines) - Level Two - U5
Writing Surfaces
- Papyrus paper - Level Two - U1, U2, U3, U5
- Parchment paper or vellum-style paper - Level Two - U4, U5
- Leather or prepared animal skin - Level Two - U2
- Smooth wooden board - Level Two - U2
- Potsherd or unglazed tile fragment (ostracon) - Level Two - U2, U3
- Plain linen cloth - Level Two - U3
- Wooden stick, branch, or lath (hazel or ash) - Level Two - U4
Household Oddments
- Candle (for raking light) - Level Two - U4