diff --git a/tools/icons/icon.cc b/tools/icons/icon.cc
index b06463c0f4..584a9ebfc2 100644
--- a/tools/icons/icon.cc
+++ b/tools/icons/icon.cc
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@
 
 using namespace ArdourWidgets;
 
-static int wh = 64;
-static int sq = 1;
+static int  wh   = 64;
+static int  sq   = 1;
+static bool grid = false;
 
 static uint32_t bg_color = 0x3d3d3dff; // gtk_background
 static uint32_t fg_color = 0xeeeeecff; // gtk_foreground
@@ -119,6 +120,17 @@ draw_icon (cairo_t* cr, int pos, const enum ArdourIcon::Icon icon, const Gtkmm2e
 	int row = pos / sq;
 	cairo_save (cr);
 	cairo_translate (cr, col * wh, row * wh);
+	if (grid) {
+		cairo_rectangle (cr, .5, .5, wh - 1, wh - 1);
+		cairo_set_line_width (cr, 1);
+		cairo_set_source_rgba (cr, 0, 0, 0, 1.0);
+		cairo_stroke (cr);
+		cairo_move_to (cr, wh * .5, 0);
+		cairo_line_to (cr, wh * .5, wh);
+		cairo_move_to (cr, 0, wh * .5);
+		cairo_line_to (cr, wh, wh * .5);
+		cairo_stroke (cr);
+	}
 	ArdourIcon::render (cr, icon, wh, wh, state, fg_color);
 	cairo_restore (cr);
 }
@@ -129,8 +141,11 @@ main (int argc, char** argv)
 	const char* fn = "/tmp/ardour_icons.png";
 
 	int c = 0;
-	while (EOF != (c = getopt (argc, argv, "o:s:t:"))) {
+	while (EOF != (c = getopt (argc, argv, "go:s:t:"))) {
 		switch (c) {
+			case 'g':
+				grid = true;
+				break;
 			case 't':
 				if (!load_colors (optarg)) {
 					std::cerr << "Error: failed to load color theme.\n";
diff --git a/tools/icons/makefile b/tools/icons/makefile
index 4e8e1c4f05..695ad600db 100644
--- a/tools/icons/makefile
+++ b/tools/icons/makefile
@@ -7,9 +7,24 @@ LDFLAGS = -L $(AD)/build/libs/pbd -lpbd -Xlinker -rpath=$(AD)/build/libs/pbd
 LDFLAGS += -L $(AD)/build/libs/gtkmm2ext -lgtkmm2ext -Xlinker -rpath=$(AD)/build/libs/gtkmm2ext
 LDFLAGS += -L $(AD)/build/libs/widgets -lwidgets -Xlinker -rpath=$(AD)/build/libs/widgets
 
-LOADLIBES = `pkg-config  --libs cairo cairomm-1.0 libxml-2.0 glibmm-2.4`
+LDLIBS = `pkg-config --libs cairo cairomm-1.0 libxml-2.0 glibmm-2.4`
 
-icon: icon.cc
+icon: icon.cc libwidgets
+	$(CXX) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ icon.cc $(LDLIBS)
+
+libwidgets:
+	cd $(AD); ./waf build --targets=libwidgets
+
+show: icon
+	rm -f /tmp/ardour_icons-*.png
+	./icon -g -s 22 -o /tmp/ardour_icons-22.png
+	./icon -g -s 23 -o /tmp/ardour_icons-23.png
+	./icon -g -s 44 -o /tmp/ardour_icons-44.png
+	./icon -g -s 45 -o /tmp/ardour_icons-45.png
+	convert -append /tmp/ardour_icons-*.png /tmp/ardour_icons.png
+	display /tmp/ardour_icons.png &
 
 clean:
 	rm -f icon
+
+.PHONY: show libwidgets clean