While attending church services in the church, you often pay attention to how beautifully decorated the icon of the holiday. Usually this image is framed by a beautiful crown of fresh flowers and greens. But other icons both in churches and in domestic prayer corners are often decorated in various ways. Which ones? We will tell about them in our article.
Of course, decorating the image of the Lord, the Mother of God or beloved saint with fresh flowers, is a very difficult and expensive task, which is best left to someone who is familiar with floristry. After all, not all flowers blend well with each other both in color and in physical properties. But do not forget that you can give the image a more solemn appearance yourself, using improvised and easily accessible materials. One of the most common ways of decorating an icon is by framing the image with your own embroidered towel . 
The tradition of hand embroidery is known in Ukraine for a long time, and basically it is based on the technique of embroidering a cross rather than smoothness. As a basis, previously used a good and thin homespun canvas. Now find a similar material for embroidery is difficult, because most often the mistresses use the usual canvas, which can easily be found on sale. Multicolored thread-floss and embroidery patterns can also be easily purchased or downloaded on a global network. Choosing the color range for embroidery, we recommend that you pay attention to the style and elements of embroidery adopted in your region, since in each region of Ukraine they are different. Although, in this case, it is more a matter of taste. Also, it should be noted that many of the patterns that have been adopted are not traditional Ukrainian, but are connected with such a phenomenon as brocade embroidery.
The fact is that in the XIX century, entrepreneurial entrepreneur Brokar began producing a penny soap, which he made out in wrapping paper on which he placed various patterns for embroidery. Brokar's soap was very popular among the people, thanks to quality and cheapness. And the wrapping paper was preserved and the patterns depicted on it begin to be used as patterns for embroidery. Therefore, if you want to decorate this or that image with a towel with traditional folk embroidery, then it is necessary to take seriously to the search for a pattern, so that it really conforms to folk traditions.
Another way to decorate the icons is to weave the robe from artificial multicolored flowers, made of dense bright fabric. As a basis for such a salary, a frame of metal wire is used. For the flowers themselves, it is best to use bright and dense fabrics that can be easily fixed both on a wire basis and with a thread. How to make a similar salary, you can easily look on the Internet, using various video lessons on YouTube.
In our time, small flat icons on a cardboard basis, lithographs or simply laminated images of a small size are very common. For these icons, frames are usually not accepted, so they can be made from a beautiful cardboard or colored paper. It is especially good to make such decor elements together with your children. Little boys and girls will be interested in doing something with their own hands for the icon of their beloved saint or their heavenly patron. From beads, they can weave artificial flowers that you can put in small vases near the lamp near your favorite image.
Summarizing our small survey, we can conclude the following: there are a lot of ways to decorate your favorite icon yourself. The main thing is your personal desire, plus a little patience and perseverance. We wish you success!
