that a process of an icon creating starts. Everything is important in it! Every point – a real sacrament!
An icon board, as usual, is made of well-dried lime-tree. Oak splines for boards protect them from warping. Thanks to that the icon will be in use more than a hundred years. At the stage the boards are made in rounded or square shape. Also carvers make an ark in the front part of an icon-board.   
After the icon-board preparation, they proceed to the next stage – board priming. This is one of the most responsible preparation works, because it gives strong connection for manifold layers. The board surface, which was soaked by 3 – 5 % glue, is covered by a piece of linen or cotton cloth. It is so called “canvas”. All materials are natural. After the canvas gluing they start to apply gesso – priming. In fact, each stage is very laborious. The number of layers can be up to 15. The gesso ground is polished by fine emery paper. An icon board should be prepared perfectly, bright-finished!
The icon painting.
Our artists copy an image from tracing to a board with a needle. If there is some gilding, than they use only gold leaf. After gilding an icon-painter processes to the following stage – preparation of painting emulsion – tempera. Traditionally the emulsion is made of an egg yolk and thinner (bread kvass, white dry wine or wine vinegar). Some drops of lavender oil can be added for to preserve the emulsion longer. Then glazing is applied – thin paint layers, which are transparent, like glass, for previous layers of painting. Final details are thoroughly drawn at the end of the painting process.  
Closing stage of icon painting is covering it with drying oil. In old times icons were covered by linseed oil, but modern materials get the better of the past and nowadays special lacquer is used. The covering protects an icon from moisture and dust and strengthens the painting layer. Images in the icon become more transparent and colours richer.