Requirements

The air altar The first thing you will need is some rune essence. This is the only compulsory item for Runecrafting. If you want to mine rune essence for yourself, you will need to complete the Rune Mysteries quest. Once you've done that, you can find more details by reading the Mining - The Rune Essence Mine article. Alternatively, you could purchase rune essence from other players.

Before you can craft certain runes, you need to meet some requirements. To craft cosmic runes you will have to complete The Lost City, to craft blood runes you must complete the Legacy of Seergaze quest, and to craft death runes you will need to complete Mourning's End Part II.

Runecrafting takes place at rune altars. Each type of rune altar converts rune essence into runes of the altar's type. For instance, the fire altar will convert rune essence into fire runes.

There are various ways to access the rune altars. Players that want to access the rune altars through the mysterious ruins need a matching talisman (or tiara). However, players using the Abyss to runecraft do not need a talisman or tiara to access rune altars.
Rune Essence and Pure Essence

Before you can mine rune essence, you must undertake the Rune Mysteries quest, in which you help the wizards of the Wizards' Tower uncover the secrets of Runecrafting. They will then grant you access to the source of rune essence.

Rune essence

Rune essence can be used to make air, water, earth, fire, mind and body runes only.
Rune essence cannot be used to make member-only craftable runes such as law or combination runes.
Mining on free worlds, or while having a Mining level under 30 on a members' world, will not produce pure essence but rune essence instead.
Rune essence may be traded to any other player.

Pure essence

Pure essence can be used in Runecrafting without restriction on which runes can be created given the player has the necessary level.
Mining on a members' world, with a Mining level over 30, will produce pure essence rather than rune essence.
On members' worlds, monsters which would normally drop rune essence will drop pure essence instead.
Quests or situations where rune essence would be used will accept either pure essence or rune essence.
Pure essence can only be traded with members.

The rune essence mine The following people are the only ones that can teleport you to the essence mines:

Wizard Sedridor on the lower level of the Wizards' Tower south of Draynor Village.
Aubury in the rune shop in Varrock, just south of the east bank.
Wizard Cromperty in East Ardougne, just to the north-east of the Marketplace.
Wizard Distentor in the Magic Guild in Yanille.
The gnome Brimstail in a cave in the Tree Gnome Stronghold (north-west of Ardougne). To find his cave, head north-west in the Stronghold until you see a small bridge on the west side of the Stronghold. Brimstail's cave is inside a large hollow rock a little to the east of that bridge.