Soot Stamping

I had tried Soot stamping one time before and wasn't able to do it successfully but over at two peas there was a discussion thread for Stamptoberfest.. (Lots of challenges and lots of fun in October) Here is the link: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&forum_id=22&thread_id=2877853

Anyways... I digress... Someone mentioned they are going to do a soot stamping challenge. I took a look at the samples and they are gorgeous. So I decided to give it another try. There is a video here: http://stamptv.ning.com/video/soot-stamping by Gina K. She has some great video tutorials on different techniques.

I watched her video and created these hearts... Of course I started with a big sheet of glossy cardstock and used a votive candle. I created a big section of black sooty paper.




After I had this beautiful black background. (I burned a hole through once). I used my heart flourish stamp to stamp randomly over the entire surface.

You need some type of sealant to seal up the surface. Unfortunately I have none. So I tried two things. First I sponged my versamark ink pad (an old one) directly on part of the stamped area. This left too many lines from the ink pad as it pulled up the soot. I then brayered on versamark over the other side of the stamped area. This gave this very uneven background which I liked. I then embossed with clear embossing powder.

I repeated the versamark directly on the embossed background and heat embossed again with clear embossing powder.

Then die cut your hearts and use them on your card.

Godelieve had this beautiful Christmas card she made using this method: http://stampingmathilda.blogspot.com/2009/01/saturdays-workout-soot-stamping.html
which was what inspired me to try this technique.

Couple of key points:

1. Work in a well ventilated area... Make sure you don't breathe in all the chemicals.
2. Keep the glossy cardstock moving over the flame and keep going over areas to get a really dark surface.
3. Sealant. A good idea. Would have kept my stamping more visible.
4. Clean off your stamps in between stamping if you are repeating.
5. If you touch the surface after you have gotten your soot you will definitely have ashes on your fingertips so be careful where you touch! :)
6. Glossy cardstock. Need the finish so it will melt off and leave the soot.
7. The edges tend to burn easier than the centers so plan on burning a larger area than you want to use. (I always do this when trying techniques because I can use the scraps for other things and I can pick the area I like best to work with)

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz