I paint icons in egg tempera on traditional linden boards, with 23 (or higher) karat gold leaf background and a walnut frame.

These are just examples, I don't produce them in series and I work alone (this is to say it takes a lot of time). Everything is hand made (painted and carved), and everything is unique. There are no standard sizes or prices. I currently charge 15 $ per 1 hour of work so you better hurry to the order page. There's a special discount for Church officials. We'll negotiate the details.

Check this page from time to time, the row below should get longer! I just transferred to a new server with a lot more space, so I added some of my older icons that I had to omit before due to the lack of space.

Name written in red indicates that the icon is still available.

In short, this is how I do it: I go over the board with rabbit skin glue, usually three times. When it's dry (the next day) I use the same glue to glue down a cotton cloth over the future painting surface. When that is dry I apply the gesso (levkas) made out of Bolognese chalk and the glue mentioned. It takes about 15 layers of it. When that is dry (in a few days) I use sand paper to make it as smooth as possible. Then comes gilding, a few layers of shellac over the gold, painting with egg tempera, drying for a minimum of one month (I recommend six, but some people don't want to wait), and varnishing. In the meantime I carve the frame and that's about it! I frame my icons because I'm basically a carver, and I like how it all looks, like a part of an iconostasis.

If you want to learn the traditional icon technique go to ''ATELIER SAINT ANDRE'', one of the best sites on the subject, created by the community of traditional byzantine iconographers.

If you're an advanced iconographer, you must see ICONOFILE.COM . It'll take you a few weeks to go through all they got there, but it'll be worth it.