Ink stain help.

[LabelKing]

I spilled a rather sizeable amount of blue-black fountain pen ink on a pure white Les Hommes military jacket's sleeve and it won't come out.

Are there any products to help?

I'm afraid this jacket will end up looking like a Margiela piece.

 

[jpeirpont]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I spilled a rather sizeable amount of blue-black fountain pen ink on a pure white Les Hommes military jacket's sleeve and it won't come out.

Are there any products to help?

I'm afraid this jacket will end up looking like a Margiela piece.

Not sure if this is helpful, as it is for ballpoint ink.




1. Apply lukewarm glycerine. If fabric is strong enough, TAMP with brush or spoon. BLOT, pressing
hard on stain. Keep stain moist with glycerine. Continue as long as stain is being removed. FLUSH
with water.
2. Apply mild detergent solution with several drops of ammonia. Continue to TAMP. FLUSH with
water.
3. If stain remains use chlorine bleach. Apply bleach solution with MEDICINE DROPER. Do not use
chlorine solution on wool, silk or spandex. Do not allow bleach to remain more than two minutes.
FLUSH with water after each bleach application. Apply vinegar solution to remove excess chlorine,
then FLUSH with wate

 

[drizzt3117]

The jacket is pure white, not off-white at all? Spot test this before you do it, but you could try 15-30% hydrogen peroxide if you can get your hands on it (no, don't literally get this on your hands heh)

 

[LabelKing]

Yes, it's a pure white.

A last resort might be to bleach it since the sleeves unzip from the jacket to create a vest-like item.

Another product I found was this:

http://www.amodexink.com/

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

Yes, it's a pure white. A last resort might be to bleach it since the sleeves unzip from the jacket to create a vest-like item. Another product I found was this: http://www.amodexink.com/
Well H2O2 would do a pretty good job of bleaching it, I think. I'm pretty sure it has higher efficacy than over the counter bleach but I'm not sure how easy it is to get. Edit, looks like it's about $18/bottle if you can find it at a chemical supply shop. http://www.h2o2-4u.com/price.html

 

[Lucky Strike]

You could have the whole thing dyed, of course?

 

[Nantucket Red]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

Yes, it's a pure white.

A last resort might be to bleach it since the sleeves unzip from the jacket to create a vest-like item.

Another product I found was this:

http://www.amodexink.com/

I've used Amodex and found that it works very well, but don't know if it will be adequate in this instance.

My pen recently malfunctioned and leaked blue-black into the pocket of one of my shirts, creating a nasty stain. Laundering it at the cleaner reduced it to the point that it's now nearly imperceptible.

The beauty of fountain pen ink is that, unlike oil-based ballpoint ink, it can be washed out of garments.

 

[Full Canvas]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I spilled a rather sizeable amount of blue-black fountain pen ink on a pure white Les Hommes military jacket's sleeve and it won't come out.

Are there any products to help?

I'm afraid this jacket will end up looking like a Margiela piece.

In our laundry room is Stain Buddy. You could try: http://stainbuddy.com
__________

OR:

From: http://members.tripod.com/~Barefoot_Lass/index-2.html

Kay from Reading, Pa. sent in this tip; "First, put a paper towel or a rag under the stained area to absorb the excess ink. Spray on a non-oily, alcohol based
hair spray. Saturate the ink stain with the hairspray. Blot with a rag and repeat until the stain is gone. Apply prewash stain remover and launder as
usual." Thanks Kay! Also, C. Pillot sent in this dandy tip; "Try milk! Yes, put the piece of cloth into a cup with milk and you'll see it vanishing... then wash or dry clean as usual." Great tip! Thanks! Seroja from Malaysia says, "For ink stains, rub with salt and wash with bath soap. It works!" Thanks Seroja! Last but not least... Nancy writes; "Use simple rubbing alcohol to remove ink stains. Take some alcohol on a rag, dab on the ink then wipe with a soft rag or paper towel. Works like a charm! This isn't like sticky hairspray." Thanks Nancy!
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From: http://www.doityourself.com/scat/cleaningstainremoval

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/ballpointink

New Method
Motsenbocker's Lift Off #3 is a new biodegradable and water based product and is designed to remove most inks, including: indelible ink, permanent markers, fountain tip pens, surgical markers, roller ball pens and ball point pens. It can also be used to remove stains caused by nail polish, blood and hair color. The product can be used on carpets, fabrics, wall covering, metal, formica, clothes, vinyl, plastic, countertops, tools, tile and upholstery. It works better than existing products; it works in the same reactionary time; it is safe on all surfaces; it costs the same or less than other products and it is safe for the user.

Old Method
Ballpoint inks, especially blue, consists of so many, various "ink recipes" that it is impossible to know the various solvents, resins, and oils consisting in just one. With patience and persistence, most of these inks are removable through experimenting with different solvents. Others are indelible, and your situation may be hopeless leaving permanent stains. However, the methods below will either remove or lighten these ink stains.
Apply (do not rub) a solvent type cleaner by blotting it onto stain with a clean, white terrycloth washcloth. This type of cleaner should lift up the stain. By loosening stain and immediately blotting it up, the stain should not spread.
1.\tTreat a thickly folded absorbent white cloth or towel with Hair Spray, dab the affected area with cloth, and blot with dry towel simultaneously
2.\tTreat a thickly folded absorbent white cloth or towel with Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, dab the affected area with cloth, and blot with dry towel simultaneously.
3.\tTreat a thickly folded absorbent white cloth or towel with Nail Polish Remover or Acetone, dab the affected area with cloth, and blot with dry towel simultaneously
4.\tTreat a thickly folded absorbent white cloth or towel with Spirits of Turpentine, dab the affected area with cloth, and blot with dry towel simultaneously
5.\tTreat a thickly folded absorbent white cloth or towel with AftaÂ

or CarbonaÂ

, dab the affected area with cloth, and blot with dry towel simultaneously
6.\tIf one solvent cleaner does not adequately solve the problem, move down to the next in the order these cleaners are given. NEVER apply solvents directly onto surface.

________________________

 

[Full Canvas]

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

You could have the whole thing dyed, of course?

Last summer, a local restauranteur in Cargese gave me a "handsome" ball point pen with his restaurant's logo. He insisted on putting it in the inner jacket of an ancient Dupioni silk Sulka odd jacket I was wearing. After dinner, when I removed the jacket at home, I noticed an ink stain about one centimeter in rough diameter. Stupidly, I allowed the local cleaners in nearby Ajaccio to try and remove the stain. The lovely tan jacket now has a black and white bull's eye as a result of the attempted cleaning.

To dye the jacket would mean removing and replacing the Bemberg lining while the Dupioni is dyed. However, the thread used in the jacket may take the dye differently than the cloth. If that occurs, an entirely new problem develops. I still don't know what I will do. The jacket is otherwise perfect despite its age.

____________________________

 

[Nantucket Red]

Full Canvas, that's a painful story. Sorry to hear about it. Incidents like this are one reason I don't carry ballpoints in my clothing or even use them that often. Using them occasionally is unavoidable in this day and age, but they are so ubiquitous that one need not carry one.

How hard would it have been to refuse, ever so diplomatically, the restauranteur's gesture?

In any case, there's nothing to be gained by hand-wringing.

Just curious, do you usually use a fountain pen?

 

[Full Canvas]

Originally Posted by Nantucket Red

Full Canvas, that's a painful story. Sorry to hear about it. Incidents like this are one reason I don't carry ballpoints in my clothing or even use them that often. Using them occasionally is unavoidable in this day and age, but they are so ubiquitous that one need not carry one.

How hard would it have been to refuse, ever so diplomatically, the restauranteur's gesture?

After far too many glasses of local red wine over a long dinner, I wasn't thinking too clearly. At least I wasn't thinking clearly enough to be a cautious diplomat!

Originally Posted by Nantucket Red

Just curious, do you usually use a fountain pen?

No. Not recently anyway. I haven't used a fountain pen since grammar school. We actually had inkwells in each desk!

Only in past year or so, my long dormant lust for fountain pens has begun to heat up. I must look in all the desk drawers and little nooks in each of our homes. I know that some of my old fountain pens must still be around somewhere. Now I have another item on my to-do list!

I specifically recall having a Parker and a Pelikan. They were nothing extra-special or exotic. It's likely that each pen was quite basic. However, the ads for the Pelikan "cities" series reawakened my interest in fountain pens. I really like the Shanghai model's colors. I know it's not the finest pen around. The colors simply caught my eye and got me to thinking about fountain pens for the first time in more than thirty years.

For Christmas I purchased several fountain, ball-point, and roller-ball pens with the caduceus emblem on them. Mrs. FC is an endocrinologist. My research is slowed by other activities. The PenPorn sites below are the ones that I peruse to stimulate my growing interest. I don't want to hijack this thread . . . I simply am slowly, inexorably drawn to pens again.

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/
http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/
http://www.hisnibs.com/
http://www.joon.com/index.php
http://www.giardino.it/pens/marlen/_cadran.htm
http://www.mppens.com/categories.cfm?id=2
http://www.nakaya.org/eindex.html
http://www.namiki.com/
http://www.nibs.com/
http://onebeagle.net/oscarbraun/special.htm
http://www.penbid.com/Auction/XcAuctionPro.asp
http://www.pendemonium.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/mac/penguin0/
http://www.penseller.com/
http://www.pentrace.net/
http://www.richardspens.com/
http://www.tiffany.com/shopping/item...=148207&menu=4
http://www.vintagepens.com/index.shtml

______________________

 

[sjmin209]

Try amodex--it works fairly well. As someone noted above, fountain pen inks are water-based and therefore differ chemically from ballpoint ink (which is actually a paste).

I once spilled an entire bottle of bright turquoise ink on a white shirt, & it all came out in the laundry machine--not an option for you, I know, but that suggests to me that you shouldn't give up hope, and shouldn't have to resort to harsh chemical treatments.

 

[Earthmover]

While it's a fountain pen, I think this is pretty much a lost cause. On white, ink stains are pretty much impossible.

If you are willing to ruin your clothes forever (and let's hope that the jacket is Cotton, Linen or Wool), try this, in succession:

As for home remedies, I would just wash with superhot water as much as possible so that the stain is rather faint, then bleach (clorox, applied in full concentration with a q-tip, then washed away, then reapplied, rinse repeat...) the living daylights out of the area. It may turn yellow at this point, since the flourescent dye use to make the white whiter may rub off and/or mix with the inkstain to create some ghastly color.

If you have access to a competant drycleaner, ask them to use their steamgun on the spot (with an absorbent material underneath) and get out as much as they can. (now, when they steamgun it, it should be with the stain to the surface, so that you're blowing the steamgun from the inner sleeve out (this prevents from the lining from getting stained via redeposition). After that, find a competent drycleaner that has a heavy duty dye stripper in their arsenal (The fact that they have a dye stripper is a good sign in the competancy of the cleaner; this is pretty dangerous and serious chemical*) and ask them to remove the stain using it (it may turn yellow at this point; because it removes most dyes, but leaves certain colors behind). See how it fares.




Sorry to hear about your tragedy, Full Canvas, alas, on silk, an ink stain of any size is usually a death sentence if you try to remove it. Even the best silks will bleed under extreme duress required to essentially remove a dye stain because silks just simply doesn't accept dyes as well as the heartier natural fabrics.


*Other chemical that indicates competency of the drycleaner is an enzyme-based stain remover. Also known as a digestor -- it removes stains via organic "digestion" of food stains. This is pretty hardcore, and I know of no one that actually use these; I'm sure the best ones do, however.