A mahlstick (or maulstick) mostly handmade is an essntial tool for painting icons. It allows working on vertical surfaces without touching the fresh colors, but it also keeps the (shaky and tired) hand firm and rested in the long hours of icon making- and finally it helps drawing the long smooth lines that are so required in icons.
A humble -as the majority of byzantine iconography materials'- thin and fairly light wooden stick measuring about 1m or 3ft long that is has a padded"edge to touch the outer area of the icon. All you will need is:
A wooden stick 1m-1.20cm long, a piece of soft cloth filled with cotton, a lof tape to connectand secure the two
Ready to use it , as my teacher, Antonis Theodorakis, does in the picture!

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