Icelandic Magic Staves

Finally, the Staves Sourced Straight from the Manuscripts

If you've been looking for good, reliable versions of Icelandic Magic Staves, you already know they're hard to come by. Sources are scattered across manuscripts held in different archives, often untranscribed, and what does circulate rarely says which manuscript it's actually from, or whether the design matches the original at all.

This project starts from the manuscripts directly. Every stave is redrawn from the page it survives on, kept faithful to the original design, and paired with its actual manuscript entry: what it's called, where it appears, and what the manuscript says to do with it.

It's also an ongoing one. This edition covers the Huld manuscript in full. More will follow, manuscript by manuscript, each redrawn and documented the same way.

Built to Pair Well with our Rune Font

Every stave in this collection shares its visual language with the Kvasrista typeface: the same geometry, the same staves and terminals. Put a stave next to a line of runic text and there's no seam. Just one continuous design, whether you're using one or both.

True to the Manuscript, Redrawn for Today

This is what redrawing from the manuscript actually means: the proportions, the angles, the exact structure of the original stave, carried over stroke by stroke, then cleaned up into something you can actually use. Nothing added. Nothing softened into a "cleaner" modern version. What's different is the execution, not the design.

Every Stave, in Context

In the ebook, each page pairs the stave with its actual manuscript entry: the name, its number in the manuscript, and the instruction that went with it there, in the original Icelandic and in English.

What's Included in This Version

• Ebook (PDF) — 56 pages: introduction, the staves and manuscript articles, and the full Huld manuscript section
• Hi-res PNGs of all thirty redrawn staves
• Illustrator file with all thirty staves fully vectorised
• Cleaned-up Huld manuscript pages, vectorised, as both PDF and Illustrator file

Who It's For

• Anyone working with galdrastafir in tattoo design or other creative work, who wants the source right
• Practitioners drawing on Icelandic magical tradition in their own practice
• Designers looking for a stave library that pairs cleanly with runic typography
• Readers who just want to know what these symbols actually are, and where they actually come from

Specifications

• Title: Icelandic Magic Staves — Redrawn from the Manuscripts
• Format: Ebook (PDF) + digital design set
• Pages: 56
• Trim size: A5
• Language: English, with original Icelandic transcriptions
• Files included: Ebook PDF, hi-res PNGs, Illustrator vector file (staves), Illustrator + PDF (manuscript pages)
• License: Personal and commercial use, including tattoos. Raw files may not be resold or redistributed. Full licensing details below.
• Publisher: Gelmir

Licensing

The set comes with a standard license for €30, good for:

• Personal use
• Commercial work (tattoos, commissions, prints, client projects)

For corporate teams and studios, get in touch for a license that fits.

Raw files (the PNGs, the vector files) aren't for resale or redistribution on their own — but anything you make with them, a tattoo, a print, a finished design, is entirely yours.

And here's the best part: everyone who buys now gets free access to every future manuscript as it's added. The set will grow over time, and so will the price — grab it early.