Get at the least, a wheel balancing stand. You don't need a "truing" stand unless your bike is really fast (high top speed) and requires more accuracy. You can get these cheap on ebay or from harbor freight, etc. To make a balance stand into a crude truing stand you can tape something like a straw to one side near the edge of the rim when it's on the stand. Of course if you're sufficiently clever you can even make your own.
You can lace the wheel one spoke at a time, but it will make cleaning the wheel more difficult. You won't often get the opportunity to have a bare rim that is very easy to polish and clean. I'd probably take some detailed digital photos to make sure I get the pattern right, but doing one spoke at a time will also work.
The process is pretty systematic, but requires patience. Look at some videos on youtube to get and idea of what is involved.