I started on my icon journey roughly a decade ago - accompanying my mum to class, but my progress was stalled by - well life. I am back (with David - who is recording his journey separately and enjoying it). I have decided to record my notes in this blog - mainly because I have lost the ones I painstakingly made 10 years ago and do not want that to happen again. Besides, I thought I would share them with whoever is interested.
1. My first icon - that of Christ Pantocrator is complete. Thank you Rev Dr. Rob Gallacher and Rev. Dr Peter Blackwood for your guidance and support.
For any aspiring iconographer in Melbourne/ Victoria Australia, I cannot recommend the school we attend enough. For more details visit the blog:
Uniting Church Icon School, Melbourne. Also you do not have to belong to the Uniting Church to attend - people of all denominations do and given the culture of the school, I am pretty sure that you do not have to be Christian to attend either - all are welcome.
These are notes - and so are a bit disjointed - c'est la vie
Making the icon panels
1. The panels are made of premium pine. They were raw - ie not varnished. I am currently preparing six for future use.
2. I covered the tops of all the panels with different fabrics - to see which ones were easiest to work with. All the fabrics I used were soaked in water, rinsed, wrung and ironed before use - to remove the starch and fabric finishes.
Findings:
- Unbleached calico ("kora kapda" or कोरा कपड़ा ) was difficult to drape over the sides of the panel and only adhered to the panel after the third coat of gesso
- White lawn cloth worked really well (though I didn't drape it over the panel sides)
- Pure linen also worked well
- Egyptian cotton was the easiest to work with
Cut each piece of fabric to fit the top of each panel
3. The "Glue" was made by soaking 1 part of Rabbit skin glue (granules) in 13 parts of water, overnight and then heating the mix in a double boiler to roughly 50 degrees Centigrade (if the glue gets too hot it denatures and is useless ie it has to be thrown out). Btw the glue stinks (well I warned you).
4. Coat the underside of each panel with the glue - allow to dry overnight.
5. Coat the top of each panel with glue, then fix the fabric over it. Apply more glue over the top of the fabric (taking care to remove any air bubbles - this is very important). Allow to dry overnight
6. Re-heat the glue and add gilder's whiting to it (enough to make it resemble thick cream). I added 2 to 3 parts of whiting to the glue. This mix is known as the gesso.
7. Apply the mix to the top of the panels (using a large flat brush). Set aside until dry (minimum three hours - ideally overnight).
8. Apply the mix to the underside of the panels and let dry.
Repeat Steps 7 and 8 until you have between 7 to 14 coats. Use a spatula to smooth the last few coats after applying the gesso.
Yes it takes between 14 and 28 days to coat the panels - making an icon is meant to be a spiritual experience - to teach patience and perseverance (Practical tip: As I have very little patience and so pick up other projects to focus on during the "drying hours". You can also practice drawing the icon you wish to work with, onto paper).
9. Sand the dry panels with a sanding block and 180 grade sandpaper until very smooth.
Transferring the image onto the panel
10. Photocopy the icon you wish to work with or trace it onto strong tracing paper.
11. Coat the back of the photocopy or tracing with red ocher pigment, using a towel or cotton pad, then attach it to the prepared panel with masking tape. Trace the image onto the panel using a stylus or a 3H pencil (basically a sharp point that will not puncture the photocopy/tracing).
Preparing the egg emulsion
You need egg emulsion to make the paint.
12. Separate 3 to 4 eggs.
(Hot tip: Use the egg white to make meringue or pavlova or souffle or .... yes, I am hungry right now).
Make sure that you "wash the yolk" to ensure that all the albumen is removed.
For details on how to do this see: How to prepare egg tempera. This video was made by Peter Blackwood (who runs our Icon School). Check out his YouTube channel at Peter Blackwood - Icon diaries, which has a range of very comprehensive videos on iconography and is a very practical, useful resource for beginners and more experienced iconographers.
Next, cut the yolk sac (and collect the yolk contents). Mix the yolk with an equal amount of white wine (I added a few drops of lavender oil) to disguise the odor. Your emulsion is now ready for use and can be refrigerated for a few months.
Paint the outline of the icon
13. Mix a small pinch of burnt umber pigment (we use a range of pigments at the school but the main brand in use seems to be Langridge pigments) with a few drops of egg-yolk emulsion (use a pipette to transfer the emulsion). Grind the pigment into the emulsion using a small ceramic pestle. This is the paint for your outline.
14. Use a size 0 brush (ideally squirrel hair) to paint in the outline.
15. Once the outline is complete, dilute the paint with water and use it to shade the relevant parts of the icon.
This process is more-or-less common for all icons to be "written"/painted using egg tempera on panel. There are a wide range of procedures (and products) used by different iconographers world-wide. Many encourage experimenting and are very helpful in sharing their research and techniques.
I am currently working on an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. I will document my journey with that icon in a separate post, but here is my icon as is.
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