We get a lot of phone calls from friends and family asking how to care for specific garments and fabrics as well as how to remove difficult stains. Our main experience is wedding dress cleaning, but the knowledge we have in removing wedding gown stains can be applied elsewhere. We are always happy to share our knowledge and always thrilled to learn something new.
One common questions is how to remove ink stains. We all get them. From ball-point pens, ink toner, sharpie markers, etc. Our world is inundated with ink! So we are bound to slip up now and then and find ink on a favorite garment. Argghhh! But don’t stress too much, you can remove most ink stains.
First of all it’s good to understand what ink is composed of. Ink is a composition of a base with dye. Usually the base is an oil base. So removing the stain is a two step process. First remove the base and then remove any residual dye. This is what we’ve done in the photo illustration.
For removing the base you can try hairspray or a de-greaser. We recommend a de-greaser, although hairspray is popular. Use any cleaner formulated for removing oil based stains. We love Awesome Orange. But there are many on the market. To remove any residual dye, we recommend Oxy-clean. Follow directions on the box making the water as hot as possible without damaging garment (depending on the garment fabric.)
Steps to Remove Ink Stains
- Apply a de-greaser on the stain first.
- Blot up stain using clean cloth.
- Reapply the degreaser if necessary and continue to blot up as ink stain until no more ink is transferring to clean cloth.
- Launder as usual – air dry.
- Soak any residual stain in oxy-clean to remove excess dye.
- Wash as usual.
If you follow this approach you should be rid of your ink stain.