An Icon is a doorway to heaven. The process of painting an icon is actually called writing, so the iconographer is said to be writing the story of the image. Since every aspect of an icon has a corresponding theological meaning there is a whole language that the writer must learn. It takes anywhere from one to six months to complete an icon and part of the daily process includes fasting and prayer before each session. Special tools and boards are used and gold leaf is employed in the originals.
Once the icon is finished, the final process is the blessing of the icon with holy oil before it spends forty days in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
Transferring the image 
Floating first layer of colors 
