Gessoed Boards

At St. John’s Workshop, you will find a broad selection of gessoed boards to choose from, made in the traditional manner.

On a solid 1” thick northern grown, locally sawn Linden Wood board, slots are made to insert red oak braces to help keep the board from later warping.

To begin the process of applying gesso, two coats of rabbit hide glue are soaked into the board on all sides. Next, a linen cloth is soaked in the glue and smoothed over the surface of the board. After waiting about eight hours, the linen cloth is dried crisp over the board and the edges can be trimmed off. Once again, another coat of glue is brushed on, this time with a small amount of chalk added to the mixture. Now the board is ready for the application of twelve coats of true gesso: a mixture of rabbit skin glue, chalk, and marble dust. A space of one hour is given between each coat to allow good drying and after another twelve hours of final drying time, the gesso has a very hard surface, but not quite as smooth as desired. Fine sanding with many different grits is the final step. The end result is a beautiful white surface as smooth as glass, ready to soak up color.

All our gessoed boards come with Oak braces included in the price.

Choose from boards with a raised border and ones without.