Here is an easy way to make lasting impressions of your own and your friends' finger prints and hands.

Take a sheet of heavy glazed white paper, say 5 x 7 inches, and hold it over a kerosene lamp with the chimney removed and the top of the burner thrown back so that the flame will smoke like a locomotive.

Fig. 53. A Lasting Carbon (Soot) Impression Of Your Hand

Keep moving the paper about to make the soot, which is simply particles of nearly pure carbon, cover the surface of the paper as evenly as possible.

Lay the smoked paper on a table and then press the palm of your hand flat down on it; you must be careful not to press your fingers down too hard or the sharpness of the fine lines will be destroyed. To get a clear impression of the lines in the hollow of your hand press down on the back of it with the fingers of your other hand.

After you have made the print, as the impression is called, pour on some flint varnish, which is the kind that photographers use to cover the films of glass negatives. You can buy it at any photo supply house.

Pour a teaspoonful on one corner of the paper and let it flow down and across until the whole surface is evenly covered. As this is a genuine carbon process the prints cannot fade and they will last as long as the paper lasts. A print of this kind made by the author 18 years ago is shown in Fig. 53.