NorsePlay adds a "runestone" to its yard Vé.

After the city & cable company decided to totally spraypaint mark underground lines in my easement area and front yard (which is where I have my holy Vé with the sacred tree I leave offerings in front of), I decided to then spraypaint & adorn their semi-eyesore broadband podium box that's stood unused in my Vé since I bought the house well over a decade ago into a runestone of my own:

Semi-modeled after the Karlevi Runestone (Rundata Öl 1) on the island of Öland, Sweden, my "runestone" like most has been "raised" as a property marker, a praise/boast of achievement, and in memory of one who's died/fallen. Bouncing my text through Valhyr's Old Norse translator, I then used their Short Twig Futhark converter on the ON for the following (with a bit of transliteration to keep proper names intact):

These Runes are drawn by
Guillermo Skald of NorsePlay
Mapmaker of Midgard
Owner of this Vé and Red Hof
And Raised in Memory Of
Buddy Guillermosson

For a parallel bit of Tucson context, in the Southwest there's a fair amount of amazing Mexican Catholic yard decor (i.e. bathtub Virgen de Guadalupe shrines), and, as with any religious/cultural regionalism, those traditions can be loaned & borrowed as we've seen in the past (i.e. Celts, Sámi, etc). And as a Hispanic Asatruar, I'm open to cross-pollination that can successfully amplify our praxis & aesthetics with respect. While the one tree on my property just happened to be in the front yard (and thus by default became the offering place), grave mounds and runestones tended to be by boundaries where passerbys would see them, so anyone now walking my street can't help but notice my new addition in bepuzzled wonderment.

And now you're asking, "But Guillermo, how exactly do I NorsePlay something like this for myself?" So here's the easy to follow visual step-by-step breakdown:

[see all those paint lines & cable flags? Grrrrrr!]

Above is your city's front yard eyesore podium box. Clear the dirt & tree sheddings from around the base as best you can, clean the surface with a nearby hose & brush, and #220 sandpaper the surface to rough it up enough so the paint will stick.

Then hit it with half a can of Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover Paint + Primer, judiciously pausing about 15 minutes between coats, and you'll get the clean & ready surface you see below:

After a night of setting & drying, hit it the next day with two-thirds of a can of Rust-Oleum Stone Creations Spray, again with the 15 minute wait times between coats, and shake that can alot for best results. Mindfully shoot evenly as this paint speckles its thicker particles in white, gray, and black, so make sure that tri-coloured scheme looks minerally correct when you get that final coat on. I went with Gray Stone, but there's some cans in sandstone brown and some in a darker granite, go with whichever shade you want. The texture will feel like rough stone to the touch, which makes your "runestone" that much more tactilely convincing:

Let those awesome specialty "stone" coats set & dry for a night. Then remove the cover (if possible -- these are proprietary cylinder key locked, but mine had been there so long that time & heat had made the thick plastic cover pop out-of-true, but if not be prepared to sit outside for the following), and take it inside so you can "carve" your runes with some red acrylic paint:
 

[this very special Borre pattern engraved shot glass has its own story, and felt super-right to use for this endeavour as a palette cup. Note that for the six lines of text this turned out to be four times too much paint, so pour accordingly.]

I used the short end of a 1" foam brush, which was what I had, but wasn't the best choice as it needed rinsing out from time to time to get an even application, so maybe get a ¼" art brush. Go slow so you get your lines & runes right, but if you do mess up note that historically there are mistakes, syntax errors, and inconsistencies on many runestones, so you could just leave it, but have a wet rag nearby just in case (though getting some of the paint off the uneven "stone" finish might prove a mess, so perhaps don't). My choice of darkish red is inline with what archaeologists use to accent runestones nowadays to make their features visible to visitors, but there's nothing saying you couldn't make each line a colour corresponding to the Rainbow Bridge, or go flash Sif's gold, or warning dark blue Odin's cloak, depending on your purpose or dedication, but there's something also to be said for Rúnatal stanza 144 with its "staining" & "sacrificing" the runes to imply that blood's part of this, which makes the darkish red fitting. Still, you go do what colour/s work for you!

[with my personal Elder Futhark bindrune of Gebo & Mannaz on the crown to top it off!]

After letting your inscriptions dry indoors for the night, put it back out and hit it the next day with half-a-can of Krylon UV-Resistant Clear as a multi-layered protective topcoat. You need this as the stone specialty paint isn't actually an outdoor paint, and the acrylic is subject to long-term fading, so this should preserve all your previous efforts, and finish the job right! This clear wasn't a dulling matte nor a glossy candy coat glass topping -- it layered down really invisibly, so big recommends on finding this specific spraycan.

The final result in situ:

[note the Yule shoe with now-old carrots for Sleipnir against the tree, and the hörgr at its foot for faining.]

Given this artistic runestone adaptation's success, NorsePlay wants to see this set of directions as the start of something others will do, and bring this tradition into the modern world. Whether you're just being decoratively ornamental, wanting a mysterious but effective keep-off-my-lawn, memorializing someone who's passed, meritoriously blowing your own Gjallarhorn, or all of the above, I want you to go raise your own runestones NorsePlayers! And when you're done, post your results in the comments below!

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.