The paints of the ancient iconographers

Today artists have the opportunity to use a wide range of paints and materials. This is the only thing that differentiates contemporary icons from their past archetypes. Now they can easily achieve the right thickness of the paint and the necessary shade of color but in the past this was part of the secrets of the craft. Today’s icons with almost no exception are painted in oils. Oils were used by the Samokov and Bansko iconography schools. The iconographers from Triavna used gouache paints for a long period of time; after the icon was finished they laid a second thick layer of varnish to refresh it and give an oily look of the icon. In order to preserve its smoothness the masters used very thin paints mixed with boiled linseed oil.

The oil paints were prepared by rubbing the oil and dust of a marble plate. In order to preserve the colors fresh for a longer period of time they put the paints in pig’s bladders or guts.