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Kalambaka, Greece: icon construction crafts shop We had lunch at a taverna in Karambaka, and paid a visit to a craftshop that paints icons. The paint is composed of pigmented minerals in a vinegar-egg yolk suspension. The canvas is prepared with gesso and stretched an baked in a kiln. Then it is pasted on the prepared wood. The outline is drawn, and the gold leaf is carefully pasted on. Then the dark colors are painted in first, with the lighter colors last, and highlights at the very end. Hammered silver is applied over all if wanted. In order to control their brushes for fine work, the artists used a ball covered dowel on which to rest their wrists.