Hello Everyone,

I am enrolled in an iconography class that will be taught by a monk from a Monastery. His approach is traditional with it all being hand painted, but I was hoping to get some help.

I’m reaching out to the community for advice on transferring drawings onto prepped wooden boards for Christian Orthodox iconography. We've been prepping a wooden icon slab using rabbit skin glue (about 12 layers so far), and I’m trying to figure out the best process for transferring a design onto the board before painting.

I’ve seen tattoo transfer paper being used on skin, but I’m wondering if it could be used on the board or if that will even work especially when working with the smooth surface we've created with the glue and sanding.

My goal is to hand-paint the icon, and I’m looking for a method that will allow me to get a crisp, precise outline without damaging the prep work that i can basically paint within.

Some options I’m considering are tattoo transfer paper, graphite transfer, or the pouncing technique, but I’d love to hear if anyone has experience or preferences for something that would work better on wood with this prep.

Additionally, I’m also interested in learning how to work with agatestones or geode-sliced stones for icons. From what I’ve seen, many people print the image, put it on the stone and then apply resin over it, but I’m more interested in hand-painting the icon on the stone and then glazing over it instead. If anyone has advice or resources on how to approach this, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Any advice on transferring designs onto the wooden boards, particularly for Orthodox iconography, or painting directly on agate stones would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time!

Would love feedback as I haven’t really painted for years. Acrylic on very cheap gessoed 4”x4” board.

Egg tempera on gessoed basswood with olifa varnish. 21cm by 28cm approximately.

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Took me about 3 days to finish

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