Nolangrams has its inspiration from an old dark-room technique called Cliche Verre where you stain a glass surface with sooth from a kerosene lamp. Then you use brushes or other tools to draw in it, before you expose light trough it onto photographic paper.
In the modern version, which was discovered by Nolan Preece, the dark room is swapped with a film scanner. In these experiments I've dripped kerosene onto the sooth and let it flow around to make the different abstract visuals.