Iconography Workshop - Day 1

Last year, my Church had an Iconography Workshop and they put up a Facebook page, that showed some of the milestones of the project. At that time I said to myself that if ever it came back, it was something I might want to do. A few months ago, they announced the second workshop and that the subject of the Icon would be our almost "Saint" Kateri. It felt like the spiritual stars were in alignment. You can see the announcement and photos from 2011 Icon Workshop HERE.

Work was still a mess, but my boss and I took a leap of faith and she said yes to my request for time off and I somehow came up with the money, to make it happen. As I keep trying to tell myself, it's cheaper then a travel vacation. :-)

Day 1 saw us transfer the sketch of St. Kateri, onto the Icon Board. The board is a very thick piece of wood with many coats of some sort of white chalk like substance. After we transfered the sketch, we then etched the image with an etching tool, which you can see in the first photo. The thing with a piece of cork on it.

After that process was done, we began to paint the clay onto the halo (also called the nimbus) of the Saint. The clay is mixed with leather glue or rabbit glue and a little bit of honey and it is called clay bolo. You paint with large amounts (called puddling)and then spread it around. When you get to the end, you let it dry, sand it with 400 grit and then 600 grit sandpaper. The final step is that you burnish it with an agate, until it is smooth.

For now, my Saint Icon has its burnished bolo. The day just flew and this is where we ended at 4PM.

Tomorrow, we will begin our day, by adding gold leaf onto the nimbus.

You can read about some of the techniques I will be learning, during the next week, HERE. Though it seems to be much more complicated, then what my 6 day workshop will be able to handle, it does give you a clue to some of the steps involved.

I will not bore you with a post every day, but I will try to post the final product next Sunday.

Wish me luck.