All manufacturers 3M ACCO UK Limited AIRCOM S.r.l ARTELIBRIS Artgoory Artograph ARTformat Audenaerde Creative Ava Publishing AWAGAMI Awagami Factory Awagami Factory, Fuji Paper Mills Cooperative BEVA Botz Bruynzeel-Sakura BV BUNTPAPIERFABRIK LUDWIG BAHR GMBH & CO. KG C.KREUL Caneva Caneva Ruggero Canson Cappelletto S.N.C. Carioca Cartiere Miliani Fabriano S.p.A. CERNIT Clairefontaine Clairefontaine Rodia Color Kit Colorfin LLC COLORFIX COLORIFICIO CENTRALE COLORSTOK International b.v. Conservator's products company Copic CREALL Creta Color CTS CTS s.r.l. CWR Da Vinci Daily ART Darwi DEFET GmbH Deml Derwent Desillusionist DIDO Ding Hwa Dino-Lite DOLCICOLORI DUCKoupage Dupont Dux F.Zulauf Messerschmiede und Wekzeugfabrikations AG Faber Castell FABER-CASTELL Fabriano Ferrario Feu erstein Gmbh FOME S.R.L. Frame G.Lally Gamblin Artists Colors Giotto Griffin Manaufacturn Hansa World of Airbrush Marketing Und Hansa World of Airbrush E Coluture Havo B.V. Aug. Industriale spa itoya iwata jacquard Klebebander Koh-Noor Kremer Pigment GmbH Co.kg Krylon Kurtz Gesmb, Lion Lion Office Products Corp. Lyxeskin Lyra Magnani Maimeri Maimeri S.P.A.A.A. Dachs S.A. Marianna Hobbi Marianne Hobby Masserini S.R.L. McIVOR PLASTICS Ltd Molotow MORN SUN MORN SUN DEVELOPMENT CO.LTD MUNGYO MunHwa Nabertherm Nerchau Noris-Blattgold GmbH NT Trading Company Old Holland OLFA Online ONLINE Schreibgerate GmbH P H COATE & SON Paasche Airbruch Co PANPASTEL Pebeo Pebeo Gmbh PEBEO Industries Peeloff s Pentel PERMASET Pfeil Pordamsa Proedge Restauro- Technika RGM Rich riunite metali in foglie in Polvere SpA RJM di Rosa Gastraldo Edoardo Roeper Rohrer & Klingner Rolco Labs Rotring Roubl off Royal Talens Rupert Gibbon & Spider Rust-Oleum Rust-Oleum corporation SAMARAGIPS Sanford GmbH Schminke SCHOELLERSHAMMER Schut Papier SHARPIE Shenzhen Demeili Shenzhen Demeili CO.,LTD SIA Euro Arti Sigmund Lindner Sigmund Lindner GmbH Sinotex GmbH SKG keramische farben "Surmann&KI Glauck GmbH Slater Harrison St berts Mill Stanger STAYER Teloman Teloman Products Ltd. Terracuita Teifoc S.L. TO-DO TOO(IZUMIYA Co Inc) Touch Transotype Tratto UHU Ursus Vallejo Vinciana editrice VINSENT WHISPER WINSOR&NEWTON world of airbrush Marketing und Sales AUSTRIAN PRINTING ABC Decor Art Club ARTformat AST AERO-PRO Bertel Smann Media Moscow Velmozha Vtorbumtorgresursy Gamma Globus GOZNAK Grandpak CJSC Gavrilov-Yamsky Flax Mill CJSC Neo Art KVG CJSC Podolsk Art Center CJSC Profizdat CJSC PHARM ZM ZUBR ZHK I-tex Needle Factory Publishing House "Gamma" Publishing House Gamma Publishing House "Christina - New Century" Publishing House "Publishing House" KhPi "IP Bazlova Svetlana Nikolaevna Andrey Leonidovich, Alexander Anatolyevich IP Kozin Vladimir Mikhailovich Viktor Yuryevich Caliber Kramika, Chinese Imperial Academy of Kraski Kuzbythim Laspi Lasstoyamika Lilia Lilia Lilia Holding Luch Medius NEVSKAYA PAPER OJSC "Gamma" OJSC "Trinity Worsted Factory" OLKI LLC "Azbuka Decora" LLC "Alpha AST" LLC "Arlyuma" LLC "Vikart" LLC "Publishing House Art-Rodnik" LLC "Publishing House V. Shevchuk" LLC " Kamennogorsk Paper Company LLC Kosima LLC Krasny Gipsoliteyshchik LLC Kroiter LLC Liliya Holding LLC Masternet TM LLC Mozaika-S LLC NEVSKAYA PAPER LLC NEVSKAYA POLYGRAPHY LLC Omega LLC Onyx LLC -Book" LLC "ReStyle" LLC "Riolis" LLC "Rogneda" LLC "Slavyanka" LLC "Tair" LLC "Trading House "Bumizdeliya" LLC "Success" LLC "Faber Castell Anadolu" LLC "Fila Stationari" LLC " Art materials" LLC "Chip-Art" LLC "Exlibris" LLC "AVALE" LLC "Begupak+" LLC "IT" LLC "New Technologies" LLC "NPF" Chernaya Rechka" LLC "TD Gamma" PKF "Chernaya Rechka" Podolsk Art- Center Enterprise "I.T.I." Natural history and school Profizdat PTH St. Petersburg paper mill Goznak smart STAMM Tair Tuyukan Art school Art materials Art council P/l P/P Dvurechensky Sergey Vladimirovich CHERNAYA RECHKA Expopribor Eton
MATERIALS USED TO MANUFACTURE THE ICON.
ICON consists of the following materials:
Iconic linden board with back counter dowels made of oak.
Initially, a drawing of the future image for the icon is made - the so-called PRORIS, which must comply with church canons.
In this photograph, the icon has already been painted over, the trace (drawing of the image) has been transferred to the icon, and the drawing itself has been traced with a thin needle. The icon is gilded with gold leaf and is ready for painting.
PAINT LAYER --- these are substances of natural or artificial origin which are capable of coloring a particular material without combining with it chemically. All pigments are divided into achromatic and chromatic. Achromatic pigments are white, black, gray. Chromatic pigments are all colored pigments. Chromatic pigments, in turn, are divided into 2 groups: warm (yellow, orange, red) and cold (green, blue, indigo, violet). By chemical composition pigments are divided into mineral and organic. The science of minerals and pigments is directly related to chemistry and physics, I think there is no need to emphasize it - leave it to the professionals.
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I have been painting icons for over 20 years and my experience in this area is enormous. In my work I use exclusively mineral paints, purchased not in a store, but from geologists—people who are specialists in their field.
Natural mineral stone AZURITE - refers to semi-precious stones - one of the most expensive in icon painting. Presented in its natural form and next to it, crushed in a mortar.
Having penetrated the world of icons as an icon painter and restorer, you understand that the heyday of ancient Russian art of the 15th-16th centuries, where there were no artificially prepared chemical pigments, is a model for imitation and improvement. After all, in the ancient Russian icon everything is natural - from beginning to end - from making the icon linden board to covering it with natural linseed oil. And these materials are for our benefit, the Lord Himself, the Creator of all things!!!
Natural mineral paints are first crushed in a brass mortar, and only when crushed are they ground on glass with a chime.
Personally, as an icon painter with extensive experience, I can compare natural mineral paints with living flowers; and artificial pigments sold in art salons with artificial flowers. Fresh flowers and artificial plastic ones --- find the difference? Minerals are crushed by hand in a mortar, then ground by hand on a chime and in Holy water with prayer - as in ancient times.
The colors and shades of natural stones are mesmerizing! When working with them on an icon, you become especially sensitive and soulful, tuning into “prayerful work,” and realizing that all this is given into the hands of the icon painter by the Creator of all things.
The color of minerals is completely different - alive, with shimmer. In my work on the icon, I use such minerals and earths as: cinnabar, orpiment, chloride, hematite, bloodstone, limonites of various shades, mummies, malachite, vivianite and, of course, semi-precious stones such as azurite and lapis lazuli.
CINBOAR is a natural mineral with beautiful color and density! The longer you grind cinnabar, the brighter and brighter its color becomes! One of my favorite stones!!!
Cinnabar, a red mineral, “burns” especially beautifully when you bring a candle to the icon at vespers….
Of course, natural minerals are not cheap, but in my work I focus not on price, but on quality. But high-quality and meticulous work cannot be done quickly. An artist can quickly write a sketch from life. But a sketch will remain a sketch - and this must be understood when painting an Orthodox icon! When you paint an icon, you realize that you are leaving for a completely different World - you lose the sense of time: Being in Being, you come into contact with Non-Existence...
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There is an unwritten rule in working on an icon: if an icon painter paints an icon in accordance with all canons Orthodox Church with prayer, putting a piece of his soul into the creation of the image and the more he devotes himself to the icon, the more God will give him in his further mastery and artistic perfection!
When ordering an icon, you must, of course, understand that there is a costly material component for the production of the icon, gesso, gilding, and natural paints. And accordingly: the price of an icon consists of materials + the work of the icon painter.
We try to work with different customers in different price categories.We can always agree with you on the price!
Making icons according to the canons is a traditional process from start to finish
Making icons in the classic version consists of the following steps:
- Making boards;
- Surface preparation;
- Drawing;
- Gilding;
- Preparation of paints;
- Revealing the icon;
- Preliminary painting;
- Personal painting;
- Drying.
Making a board
To make boards for icons, the following types of wood are mainly used: linden (the most common), beech, cypress, larch, pine. To make icons, only well-dried boards are used. If the icon is wide, then several boards are connected along the width using dowels (transverse boards embedded completely or partially into the boards).
On the front side, along the perimeter, of the icon board, a flat recess is made - the ark. Between the ark and the fields there is a ledge called husk. It is of practical importance for preparing the surface of the icon and painting the image. The decorative value of the husk is to create the effect of a “window” into another world.
It must be said that at present not all icons are made with husk.
Surface preparation
In order for the image not to crack, to hold firmly, and to be durable, it is necessary to prepare the surface of the icon board. To do this, its front part is notched with small grooves using a scraper or knife. Next they are covered with a special layer liquid glue and then primed gesso - special composition. gesso apply several times. After final drying gesso smoothed and polished. Often, fabric is glued on before applying gesso (“ pavoloka" or " serpyanka"), which also protects the image from cracking and ensures a tight connection gesso with a wooden icon board.
Drawing
The drawing allows you to reflect on the surface of the gesso the outline (contour) of what will ultimately be depicted in the icon. It can be applied both by hand and using aids - draw(contour drawing from an already written icon). To make the kennel visible in the future, when one layer of paint after another is applied, the design is scratched with a thin line, which is called Countess.
Gilding
If the icon requires gilding (in whole or in part). Most often used for this Gold leaf- a thin layer of gold on a small sheet. The gesso surface for gilding is treated with a special compound. The required shapes are cut out from sheets of gold. Then the gold layer from the sheet is transferred to the gesso surface and polished. The top of the gilding is covered with a layer of varnish for protection. This is one of the most difficult stages of creating an icon, since the gold is very thin and if you move or sigh incorrectly, it flies wherever it wants. In addition, you need to do everything so that dust does not get on the layer under the gilding.
Preparation of paints
Making paints is a separate “science”.
In general, paints are: mineral and organic, and are also divided into natural and artificial. Natural paints are used to paint icons. Most often, different types of paints cannot and cannot be mixed with each other. The paint consists of two parts: it is pigment- which creates desired color And tempera- This binder(as well as the method of mixing pigments). Most often, for writing icons, used egg tempera.
Revealing the icon
This involves applying monochromatic (without shadows and halftones) solid colors on the icon area. The background of the icon and the area of preliminary writing are also covered with paints.
Prelicious painting
Dolichnoe- these are the elements of the picture’s design other than the background and the personal. Personal include: face (face), arms and legs. Examples of pre-personal are: clothes, landscape (in the background), etc. First, the areas of the preliminary area are outlined, then other lines of the drawing are drawn up in these areas. Next, along the convex places of the figure, a space is applied several times. At the same time, each subsequent time a lighter tone is used.
Personal painting
Drying
When the image is completely ready, it is covered with a layer of drying oil (or varnish), which protects the icon from damage (including dampness and scratches on the paint), and also gives the colors brightness.
And of course, we do not forget that the finished icon must be consecrated.
The icon is directly related to the life of the Orthodox Church, which mysteriously participates in the work of the icon painter. Jesus Christ himself pointed out to us the possibility of icon painting when, for our salvation, he came down to earth and became a man. He showed us the image of God in human incarnation. While serving people, He preached about the Kingdom of Heaven, and the icon for the believer is a window into this kingdom.
An artist, working on a painting, feels like the creator of a new work, a creator. He looks for original ways of self-expression, uses various materials and techniques. The icon painter sees himself as a part of the universe created by the Lord. The Creator of the world is one Lord. The isographer only fulfills the Divine Will. Therefore, for his works he takes materials created by God during the creation of the world. They are the most practical and durable. Natural clays and minerals are used in icon painting. The master prepares paints from them, using egg yolk as a binder. An egg is the beginning of a new life. God created man "from the dust of the ground." Adam translated means red clay. There is a wide variety of clays in nature. From these the icon painter makes ocher: light, golden, dark, red. As in former times, their names are associated with the color and location of production. So there are Kaluga, Kolomna, etc. ochres. Medieval Italian names have become widespread: sienna, umber. Burnt sienna can be obtained by calcination. The color scheme of the icon is based on earth colors.
Thus, traditionally, the master revealed the background of the icon with yellow or golden ocher, symbolizing gold - the Divine Light, the fields of the icon - with natural sienna, the maforium of the Mother of God - with burnt sienna, and the shirt of the Savior - with pink or red ocher.
To obtain paint, clay is removed from impurities: placed in a jar of water, stirred and drained, then allowed to settle. This is repeated several times. The resulting pigment is dried and ground first in a ceramic mortar, and then on glass using a chime.
You can make it yourself by gluing it to a small piece of round or square shape approximately 10*10 cm wooden handle. PVA glue is suitable for this. When grinding on glass, you need to add a few drops of water to the pigment. The ground pigment should be dried, for which we use a hairdryer. Then, using a razor blade, we collect from the glass into wooden spoon, in which we mix the pigment with the egg emulsion, rubbing with a finger until smooth. It is convenient to store the prepared paint in ceramic salt shakers, each color in a separate cup. If the paint cannot be used immediately, then it can be filled with water and left until the next day (paints are not stored for more than three days).
The emulsion is prepared as follows: the egg yolk is separated from the shell, for which it is dried, transferred from one wiped hand to another, and carefully pierced. Add distilled or boiled water to the yolk (1 teaspoon yolk, 2 teaspoons water) and 1-2 drops of vinegar. A good emulsion is obtained if, instead of water, you take beer (preferably draft from a barrel, which does not contain preservatives); vinegar is not added to such an emulsion.
When an icon painter prepares an egg emulsion, he remembers that water sanctifies objects of church art from the worldly and vain. Vinegar reminds us of the Lord’s suffering on the cross for all humanity. The yolk is about the turtle dove, which “is distinguished by its purity, gentleness and does not resist its enemies” - a prototype of the innocent sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Russian artists learned the language of icon painting from Byzantine masters who created mosaic ensembles. The mosaic was assembled from multi-colored pieces of smalt, creating a play of light in churches, making believers visible participants in gospel events. When adding minerals to the palette, we use their crystalline structure as a kind of smalt.
Minerals, bright semi-precious stones are Divine rewards given by God to the saints for their exploits. For example, cinnabar - scarlet clothes - a flag of victory over death. The red color also speaks of the New Testament: that is why the mandorla of Jesus Christ and the edge of the Gospel are often made red. Red is the color of royalty; red slippers in Byzantium could only be worn by kings. On icons, such slippers are written on the Mother of God, emphasizing her chosenness of God. Seraphim are depicted in red, flaming with love for God. The chemical composition of cinnabar is mercury sulphide, be careful when working with it. Cinnabar color is deep and light. Its bright, solemn light cannot be imitated with artificial pigments. Although non-toxic red cadmium has been appearing since the 21st century, icon painters still prefer natural cinnabar.
Hematite is a red iron ore, its properties are called bloodstone or sour cream. Bloodstone has a redder tint, which appears when the mineral is ground. The root of this word is also in the word Hematology, which means the science of blood. The maforium of the Mother of God is written on the icon in this color, in memory of the fact that with her flesh she gave the body to Christ.
The issini black mineral vivianite is very good. This deep color, similar to the night sky, speaks of the incomprehensibility of the Divine, of His Mystery. It is used when writing a mandorla. Christ or Our Lady. Mandorla is the impregnable radiance of Glory. But why do they paint a bright glow with such dark paint? To understand this, we can remember: when Christ appeared to Paul, a strong light blinded him so much that he did not see for three days. Moses, talking to God, could not look at Him. Man is unable to see the Super-Light Light, to cognize the Divine Essence. That’s why we paint the cloak that covers Jesus Christ with this paint. We use it in writing the tunic (underside) of the Mother of God - the mystery of the incarnation of the Lord is incomprehensible.
All colors are blue and blue flowers in Rus' they were called “stuffed cabbage rolls”. Azurite is a basic copper carbonate. In the 21st century, it began to be obtained artificially and produced under the name: "English mountain blue", "Mountain blue": Ultramarine, obtained from lapis lazuli, or lapis lazuli - a mixture of soda-alumina silicate with soda-lime sulfate. The mineral has a heterogeneous color and the yield of bright blue pigment is small. Blue paints were of great value to ancient Russian masters, so sometimes they had to be replaced with green ones, which acquired the same meaning on iconographic images.
Green paints were called greens. Yar was known in Rus' - verdigris, the main copper acetate. But from contact with drying oil, its upper layers darken over time and now this paint has been replaced by others. Malachite green is obtained from the mineral malachite - this is the main copper carbonate. By grinding the mineral volkonskoite, you can get chrome green - this is anhydrous chromium oxide. Paint with this name is well known to artists, but obtained artificially, it is inferior in strength to natural paint. Beautiful colour has the mineral glauconite. But in order for the paint from it to be sufficiently opaque, it is necessary to add a little white. Traditionally, the cloak of John the Baptist is green on icons. Saint John preached baptism for the remission of sins and Eternal Life. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” he said. How water gives life green plants, so baptism gives a person the path to Eternal Life.
Orpiment, realgar (yellow, orange) - poisonous. This is arsenic sulphide. The personal part is written on the icons with this paint. Unlike painting, where the artist, when drawing a human body, darkens it in light, showing its volume and shape, on the icon the transfigured flesh of the saints is painted by lightening, illuminating, using a dark layer. There are no shadows on the icon, and human flesh is gradually filled with Divine Light, which sculpts the form. Orpiment has a strong glow and is best used to paint the faces of saints.
The padding under the faces is called sankirya and has a dark earthy color. In Byzantium they liked to make sankir in green, but in Rus' it was warmer, brown. On icons of the 21st century. sankir is often made by mixing yellow ocher and burnt umber, sometimes with the addition of soot. We prepare sankir based on natural umber with the addition of olive ocher and small amount whitewashed From the 17th century book “Herminia”: “On the preparation of the composition for laying. Take white paint one drama, ocher, the same amount of green paint as is used for wall painting, one drama, and black paint a quarter of the drama, erase all this together on a marble board, collect it in an inkwell and use this mixture to cover everything on which you will paint a flesh color.”
Artificial ocher marses have appeared in icon painting since the beginning of the 19th century. They come in various shades from yellow to dark brown. Their chemical composition is very pure. The colorful layer of mars is more transparent than that of natural ochres, although it is not inferior to them in strength. Marses are used as glaze paints.
You can make your own lead white paint. To do this you need to take the one placed in three liter jar mushroom and, adding more sugar, wait until it sours with excess vinegar. Then, you need to add sweet tea and put in a piece of lead, twisted in a spiral so that the acidic solution can penetrate everywhere. Without removing the mushroom, you need to put the jar in a warm place (on a radiator) for 2 months. After the first month, you need to change the sweet tea in the jar, leaving a little starter. The finished white should be dried - the pigment flakes will fall off, but the lead that has not reacted will remain. For icon painting, you can also use PVA tempera from the St. Petersburg plant, mixing it with egg emulsion. But paints prepared in this way under drying oil have a thin PVA film, similar to cellophane. Under certain lighting, for example, by candlelight, icons painted in this technique are illuminated and the colors seem dark and dull. The St. Petersburg plant also produces natural pigments in cardboard boxes. All of them are very good for working, but require additional grinding in a ceramic mortar and on glass.
Recently, pigments in plastic jars from Gamma have gone on sale. They have a finely dispersed structure and can be used immediately by mixing with egg emulsion.
But when using well-ground, high-quality modern paints, always remember that when the icon painter himself collects the clay needed for the work and grinds it, he puts his work and his prayer into the future icon. This cannot be made up. Now that a drawing has been made on the icon board and gold has been placed, when the paints are ready, you need to lay them out on the icon, sometimes they say: color it. For this we use squirrel brushes of various sizes. To make the paint adhere better to the gesso, you can rub it with egg emulsion diluted with water. Two icon-painting traditions of roofing have reached us. You can gradually pour liquid paint, spreading it evenly. The tip of the brush leads to a drop of paint, which must be removed at the end of the filling so that there is no dark spot left from it. Or there is a method of multiple glaze coating, when much attention is paid to the pattern and the shading, as it were, emphasizes the volume of colors and its other subtleties. The layer of paint on the icon should not be very thin. Open colors look good on the icon. But for unity of color, some icon painters add ocher and a little burnt umber and soot to all the paint. If an isographer does not have the skill to lay the paint evenly, then he makes the lower layers with white, and the upper layers with pure color.
Unlike painting, where the artist draws objects as he sees them and builds the work in the process of work, sometimes changing his ideas, an icon painter immediately reveals the image, showing its color. An icon painter paints objects as they really are in the world of ideas. Therefore, the color is distributed locally on the icon. Color reveals the true meaning of objects. When all the colors on the icon are laid out, there is no place for white gesso. Now all that remains is the impregnation of clothes, slides, architecture, work with the faces of saints, signatures, etc. But a lot has already been done: the icon has been revealed, revealed to us. Bright colors natural materials and the clay already enchants the eye, and the heart rejoices, anticipating the appearance of the Good News of Eternal Life.
In our workshop we always painted with mineral pigments on egg yolk.
But in last years low-budget orders began to appear, and we began
Save. First of all, we decided to save on boards, since they are very expensive.
There is information about this on our website. Then we decided
Try to save money on paints, since mineral pigments are also expensive.
For one-time orders, all this is not relevant, but when it comes to the iconostasis in
20-40 icons, you start to think.
So, let’s immediately say that acrylic and acrylic are different. Domestic paints like
St. Petersburg ZK (Paint Plant) is very difficult to work with, they are very non-opaque and
mechanically weak. The Italians are a completely different matter. acrylic paints Maimeri
Polycolor. They are of courseabout 4 times more expensive per can, but paint consumption is less and covers
She's much better.So, in the end, it’s more profitable and easy to paint with Maimeri paints
nicer. Italianthe paint is mechanically very resistant, but the St. Petersburg paint can
And roll under your hand,if it's not dry. In general, the choice here is obvious, but... For
Last 2 yearsItalian paints have doubled in price, up to 700 rubles!
For example, the jar itselfpopular light ocher will cost 650 rubles. For the same
Money can be about halfbuy a kilogram of dry ocher! Of course, cinnabar or
Lapis lazuli will cost a lotmore, but here the quality is completely different. How much
Mineral paints are obviously more beautiful. And how much more convenient it is to work with them,
after all, they are often used openly, which is convenient when working with iconostases.
Paints such as cinnabar, malachite, azurite, lapis lazuli and others do not need to be mixed,
They are beautiful in their own right. And to make some semblance of cinnabar using
Even Italian acrylic will break your head.
And most importantly, the mineral pigments themselves form a special iconic palette.
Acrylic always needs to be adjusted to this palette, to extinguish the unnatural brightness.
We started working with acrylic to save money, but even if we managed to save money, we didn’t.
Significantly, but the quality is certainly not the same. The only good thing is the experience of working with new ones
paints.
(The icon in the photo is painted with acrylic paints)
