Excluding the artist’s painting time, the entire sequence of drying, polishing, and lacquering typically requires a minimum of 45 days and can extend up to 75 days.

Shaping & Initial Treatment

The primary ingredient is cardboard. Thin sheets are cut on a specialized machine to precise dimensions, then glued and pressed together.

While still tacky, the glued sheets are wrapped around molds of various shapes—rectangular, square, round, or cylindrical—to create long tubes that become the boxes.

Once the material dries, it is immersed in a hot linseed‑oil bath for roughly 20–25 minutes. Afterwards, the pieces go into a sealed, electrically heated “oven” where they are slowly brought from room temperature up to about 100 °C and then cooled back down. This gradual cycle lasts about 30 days and requires skilled supervision.

After removal from the ovens, the tubes are cut with a circular saw to the exact dimensions needed for the final boxes. Joiners then assemble the components, adding tops, bottoms, hinges, plates, and occasionally locks. Because papier‑mâché is a tricky material to work with, the joiner must also be adept with metal fittings.

Surface Build‑Up & Finishing Layers

The semi‑finished pieces receive three layers of a black paste. Each layer is cured in an oven for a day at 90 °C before the next coat is applied. The pieces are sanded smooth, then sprayed or brushed with two or three coats of black lacquer, allowing a day of drying after each coat.

Inside the boxes, two to three coats of red lacquer are applied, again with a day of drying between coats. Several layers of clear lacquer are added to both the interior and exterior, each followed by a drying period.

Artistic Decoration & Final Polish

At this stage the article is handed to the artist. The artist outlines the design on the surface, applies a thin metallic coating of zinc or titanium, and then proceeds with the color work in a prescribed order. After the paint dries, the artist crushes gold leaf by hand, polishes the surface with a specially smooth “wolf’s tooth” tool, and creates the final luminous effect.

The completed piece moves to a polishing department where it undergoes additional hand‑polishing and lacquering steps, using progressively finer cloths.

Why Papier‑Mâché?

Although wood is abundant in Russia, papier‑mâché is chosen because, once fully treated, it behaves like wood but remains stable under fluctuating humidity. Wood can take a year to revert to its original shape after being exposed to moisture, whereas treated papier‑mâché does not warp, crack, or craze, providing a perfectly smooth base for fine painting.