Mrs. Bluepony is out of town so I tried doing some household chores like operating washing machine and doing some laundry.
I left a pen in one of my pants and it put some ink spots on one or three of her favorite cotton shorts. Is there a way to get ink spots out? Please feel free to assume that I have absolutely no domestic engineering skills at all, and explain to me in simple, basic sentences and words. Thanx.
…send lawyers, guns, and money…
Warren ZevonHave the clothes been put into the dryer yet?
Work is fine for killin’ time, but it’s a shaky way to make a living.
As Grace suggests, if you have already run them through the dryer, you may just want to leave Mrs. Bluepony a note and go take a nap on a busy railroad track.
You’ll have a much better time removing stains that have not been baked in.
That said, Carbonara (usually available at Jo-Ann Fabrics, sometimes at the supermarket) makes a number of specialty stain removers, including one just for ink. I have used it a couple of times successfully. (It wasn’t able to handle the ball-point cartridge that one kid broke in half in bed, then covered with a sheet each morning for three days, but smaller stains have come right out.)
Tom~
I use the blue Dawn dishwashing detergent on all stains. Just put it on the spot, rub it in with finger or brush. Then wash…I’ve always had good luck…
Girlbysea (AKA: ChiefScott’s GBS)
…send lawyers, guns, and money…
Warren Zevon“Removing ink from fabrics can be a frustrating experience. Many of you have tried the hair spray method I’ve suggested
without success, because it just spread the ink. Rubbing alcohol fails part of the time, depending on fabric type. Here are some new, Queen-tested ways to remove ink from fabric.”
Bluepony,
Here’s a copied-and-pasted remedy from “The Queen of Clean” http://www.azfamily.com/gmaz/queen/archives/19990301.html :
“The following methods are for washable fabrics only. For dry clean-only pieces, see a professional dry cleaner.”
“Ballpoint Ink
Soak the stained area in warm water containing laundry detergent. Mix in 1 Tbsp. per quart of warm water. Let sit on stain for 24 hours then launder as usual.”
“Soft-tip Pen Stains
First, find out if the ink is washable or manent. Many pens have this information written right on them. If no information
is available, use the washable method first. If that doesn’t work, then use the permanent ink method.”
“For washable ink, run cold water through the stain, rubbing vigorously with bar soap for about 15 minutes. You need to remove as much of the ink as possible. Treat the remaining
stain with the ballpoint-ink method listed above.”
"For permanent ink, pretreat the stain with Lestoil (because it contains petroleum distillate), testing an inconspicuous area of
the fabric first. Place the stain face down on a pad of white paper towels. Blot with a Lestoil-soaked sponge, starting around the edges and working inward. The cleaner will transfer the stain to the paper towels, which you will need to replace frequently. After blotting the whole stain, rinse thoroughly in
cool water and launder using fabric-safe bleach. You may have to do this more than once – in one test I treated the fabric three times before the entire stain was removed. In another, I treated it four times, but all the ink did come out with persistence. "
“If you are unable to find Lestoil, Energine Spotting Fluid is a good alternative used the same way.”
…Or, if all else fails, sacrifice a lamb and begin chanting…
Portwest
Er…
I guess I goofed up with my copy-and-paste, but hope you can figure it out anyway. Good luck.
Praise for the Carbonara stuff. (I tried it because anything named after my favorite pasta dish deserved my consumer dollars.)
Don’t think they sell it anymore because it caused cancerous growths, gills and odd appendages, but carbon tetracyline does a fine job on stains. Dab on a little carbon tet and if the stain didn’t come out, you’d just cut it out anyway to make a hole for tentacle you just sprouted.
Hate to tell you this, but if you already sent the stained clothes through the dryer, you’re in deep weeds, pal. Once the heat of a dryer or iron hits a stain, it’s there forever. The garment itself disintegrates in time, but the stain will remain.
I don’t suggest buying a coordinating packet of Rit dye and trying to blend in the spots either. Mrs. Bluepony will notice that her white shorts are now slate blue with darker ink spots.
Back up to a defensible position, pal. Look virile, loving but domestically inept, and offer to buy her new shorts. Hey, you tried and that’s worth a lot.
And stay away from railroad tracks.
Veb
Well good luck Bluepony. You may be able to find something to get the stain out. I use an [don’t laugh] Amway [/don’t laugh] product on spots. The sister of a co-worker is an Amway rep and I buy stuff from her occasionally and have it delivered to my office.
What can I say? Amway Reps and missionary Mormons scare me.
Work is fine for killin’ time, but it’s a shaky way to make a living.