Macrame Art by Vladimir Denshchikov

Ukrainian artist Vladimir Denshchikov creates these mind-blowing religious icons made by tying millions of linen thread knots, using a knot weaving technique called macrame.

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Vladimir Denshchikov paints his icons with the blessing of the clergy; many of his artworks were blessed by the Metropolitan of Simferopol and the Crimea Archbishop Lazarus and his spiritual father, Rev. Sergius, arch-priest of the beacon church of Nicholas the Wonderworker. Before painting an icon, Vladimir Denshchikov keeps a fast.

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Vladimir Denshchikov’s icons are hand-knotted with linen threads (0.5-2 mm), with each knot being tied in hand, without needles and crotchets.

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An icon of 40 x 50 cm in size takes the artist from 3 to 6 months to execute. The saints’ faces are painted in oil on the linen canvass.

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In 2007, Vladimir Denshchikov suffered a stroke. While recuperating from this terrible condition, the artist continued working on an icon for the church of Malorechenskoye village, and as he struggled to weave little knots, he felt his partially paralyzed hand moving ever more freely, as if God was guiding it Himself. The artist made a miraculous recovery and continues to create wonderful macrame artworks.

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