How Icons Are Made?

All the icons in Iconik Art Store are painted on hardwood panels. Typicaly it's pinewood, but occassionally other types of wood also used. Selected panels are checked for any knots or cracks that affect the quality of the icon.

Then the panel is grounded with several layers of levkas, which is a base for painting. The ground is then smoothed with an abrasive paper or scraper. The resulting surface is white and very smooth: this is the only suitable surface for painting in egg tempera. Finished levkas is covered with egg emulsion and sun-dried before the painting begins.

A line drawing is made of the icon to be painted and this is transferred to the grounded panel by coating the back of the drawing with a powder pigment and tracing with an awl or a needle. Then it's covered again with egg emulsion, this time mixed with red ochre pigment.

Usually the haloes and (if required) the background are then oil gilded using real 20-23K gold. The gilded icon is finished with shellac.

The icon is painted with pure powdered pigments, mainly earth colours, which are mixed (tempered) with egg yolk. The dark colours are painted first and then the lighter colours are added. Any very small gold details are then added. Finally the face and hands are painted – this brings the whole icon to life.

The icon is then allowed to dry for a no less than 3 days and then is coated with a varnish for protection.

The whole process takes 1-3 weeks depending on the size and complexity of the icon. This is a slow work which can't be compromised.