To create an icon is a long and complicated process which requires much patience and skill by the icon-painter. Generally there are several basic stages:
The first one is the painting of the image on paper. It is important here to observe the proportions and the canons corresponding to the certain image.
The second stage is to prepare the board for the icon. It consisted of gluing the canvas and placement of ground coating.
The third step is to transfer of drawing to the board.
The next step that follows is to gild the icon. In ancient times there had been used very finely hammered gold pads. During the Middle Ages apart from gold plates, there had been also used powdered gold. Today for icon gilding is being used slagmetal or genuine gold pads - called "foil". Different kinds of special mixtures and varnishes are also being used.
Then the icon should be painted. In ancient times, the masters themselves used to prepare their paints from powdered pigments. Today it is very widespread the so-called Egg tempera, which closely resembles the old technology.
Finally, there should be written out the letters and inscriptions on the icon and put special varnish coating.
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