Traditional & Reverse Soot Stamping Techniques
By Evelyn Kennedy Duncan

The soot stamping techniques are a fun alternative to play with when you do not want to stamp with traditional inks.

Please remember SAFETY FIRST, since you are playing with fire and paper.  I like to do mine over the kitchen sink since this gives me quick access to lots of water.  I place a damp paper towel in the bottom of my sink to catch any candle wax drippings from my taper candle, so I don't have a big mess to clean up.

I like to do duplicate pieces when I soot; creating one in the traditional and one in the reverse technique so I can see them together. They just seem to look so much more interesting side-by-side than having one card alone.  I especially like the negative film look of the traditional technique, but the reverse soot image also has a cool foggy look to it.  I think most people find it to be the easier of the two stamping methods. Since no two pieces ever come out exactly alike, I never tire of these techniques.

Traditional Soot Stamping Technique
This creates a finished image that is similar in look to a film negative.
The stamp line areas appear as white and the blank areas of the stamp image are colored with soot. 

Supplies:

1. Take a piece of glossy white cardstock and invert it (glossy side down) over an open candle flame until it is mostly covered in soot (Fig 2).  Believe it or not you actually let the flame touch the paper but keep your paper moving so it does not stay in one spot too long and catch on fire. (I do this over the sink and slightly raise the paper above eye level so I can see the flame and the amount of soot on the cardstock).

2. When the piece is well sooted, flip it back over, soot side up. Avoid touching the soot since it can easily be removed at this stage (Fig 3).

3. Stamp the paper with an un-inked rubber stamp and lift the stamp straight up (Fig 4). The raised parts of the stamp that normally would put ink onto paper are actually removing the soot from the paper, leaving you a very cool negative image, as if you were looking at a film negative (Fig 5).

4. Sealing your work is an important step in this technique. Spray your soot art with two or three light coats of a matte spray sealer; allowing each coat to dry in between.

Reverse Soot Stamping Technique 
This technique is similar except in this version your stamped image is inked with soot.
The finished image is similar to a traditional stamped image except the colorant is candle soot and the background is left with a foggy look.

Supplies:

1. Start by stamping your image with VersaMark Water Mark ink on a piece of glossy white cardstock (fig 6).

2. Take the cardstock and invert it (glossy side down) over an open candle flame until it is mostly covered in soot (fig 7).  The soot adheres to the VersaMark ink.  The result is similar to stamping with ink, except the soot provides a variety of color intensity throughout the piece.

3. Once your glossy cardstock has been sooted to your liking, flip it over soot side up and allow it to cool just a minute. Then lightly sweep over the entire surface with a dry cotton ball to remove the excess soot (fig 8).  Don’t scrub at the paper with the cotton ball, just lightly dust off the soot.

4. Technically the soot is set into the VersaMark ink, but I like to give it a few coats of matte spray sealer just to make sure everything is good and set.
    

Image used: FA-226-I, Owls on a Fence

Image used: FT-311-J, Sultan al Salam

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