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Cleaning Ink Out of a Load of Laundry?

October 6, 2003

A woman holding a basket full of laundry.I was wondering how to get ink out of a load of lights.
It is on every piece of clothing.

Thanks,
Sasha

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Answers

October 7, 20031 found this helpful
Best Answer

As long as it is not ink from a gel pen, rubbing alcohol should take it out. Be sure to test in as inconspicuous area first. And definitely wear rubber gloves, because the rubbing alcohol will severely dry out your skin. Pour the rubbing alcohol over the stain and work it in by rubbing the fabric together briskly. Continue until you get as much of the ink out as possible, then pretreat it and throw in the wash. Since it is a load of whites you may want to throw some bleach in to the load as well.

 
By Lori In Waukeshs, WI (Guest Post)
September 8, 20041 found this helpful
Best Answer

I had an ink pen get ink all over my dryer and took advice from another site. I put two cups on bleach to 1/2 bucket of water. I soaked two towels and put them through the spin cycle just a bit so they weren't dripping wet. I did this twice and got the majority of the pen spots out of the drum of the dryer.

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I will have to work on some spots but the majority is gone-My laundry room smells of bleach but saved me going out and getting a new appliance (it is 12 years old so it would not have been tragic).

 
January 30, 20072 found this helpful
Best Answer

I just had this happen, it was a gel pen, and I didn't notice until I pulled the clothes out of the dryer. I used rubbing alcohol on the inside of the dryer, it took a little elbow grease, but it took it all out. For the clothes, I put a cup of baking soda, and 4 scoops of oxy clean and a full cap of liquid laundry detergent in the washer. I filled the washer with hot water and let it agitate for 2 minutes.

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I then added the clothes and let them agitate for a few minutes to get them completely mixed. Then I let it soak for 30 minutes and then washed as normal. I took the clothes out and all the ink was gone except for on one shirt. I am going to try soaking that again in a bucket for a longer time, it was a gift from one of my kids to my hubby, so he really loves it. I hope this helps!!!

 
By Kevin (Guest Post)
February 5, 20080 found this helpful
Best Answer

As for getting the ink out of a dryer drum, I took an old hand towel and soaked it in rubbing alcohol. I had pretty good results, and had all the ink out in 5 minutes.

 
By Jessica (Guest Post)
June 28, 20080 found this helpful
Best Answer

Hey guys! Bad news... The idea behind a gel pen is that the "ink" is a fully synthetic material that isn't soluble in alcohol or water so if you have a good quality gel ink in clothes... that isn't coming out.

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Regular ink is usually water or alcohol soluble so it should come out with some elbow grease and the right detergent. You'll want to be careful though that whatever you use won't ruin the dye or the fabric in your clothes.

GOOD LUCK!

 
By Sarah (Guest Post)
July 28, 20080 found this helpful
Best Answer

My fiance just washed and dried a load of clothes with an ink pen! I used hairspray (NOT aerosol, just the cheap old pump bottle) on the clothing and treated each spot by spraying on hairspray and then rubbing together. Then I re-washed the load of clothes. I used a hot water wash and let 1 cup of baking soda, 4 scoops of oxy clean, 1 cap of liquid tide agitate for 2 minutes; then agitate with the clothes for 2 minutes; then soak for 30 minutes; and wash.

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I was completely floored even ink stains on his white tee-shirts came out!

As for the inside of the dryer I unplugged it and used a washcloth and rubbing alcohol to get all the spots out.

 
By zoombug (Guest Post)
November 8, 20081 found this helpful
Best Answer

Fifteen minutes ago I looked up how to get ink stains out of clothes. Someone mentioned Borax and several mentioned hairspray (key ingredient being some sort of alcohol). I had both at home, so I put the stained portion in a little bowl, poured on some ethanol (rubbing alcohol would probably work just as well) and then put borax on as an abrasive. I just scrubbed it around for several rounds. And amazingly, it came out. This stain had already been washed and DRIED. It had been on this piece of clothing for at least 3 weeks. Try it! I literally just worked for me!

 
Anonymous
April 11, 20160 found this helpful
Best Answer

It depends a LOT on the type of pen. This happened to me today with a high-quality rolling ball pen. I thought these would be the worst to get on clothing. It turns out that these pens are actually water based.

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After trying a bunch of scrubbing methods in the sink, it turns out that getting rid of them only took this:

Pot of boiling water
Pour in a few scoops of Oxiclean
Put clothing in boiling water for 5 minutes
Take out - done - stains completely gone

I thought I ruined almost $1K worth of work shirts and pants. (Ruined one shirt using other methods actually.) Figured this out not long after and it worked perfectly. Shirts had been washed AND dried with rolling ball pen, also.

 
By citecr (Guest Post)
June 10, 20040 found this helpful

Help! Had a pen get loose in the dryer.

 

Diamond Feedback Medal for All Time! 1,023 Feedbacks
June 11, 20040 found this helpful

We created a new request for citecr so that it will get noticed. You can find it here:

www.thriftyfun.com/tf300135.tip.html

 
By Michele Cramer (Guest Post)
February 19, 20060 found this helpful

I used nail polish remover to take the ink off my dryer drum...worked like a charm, and I had tried EVERYTHING suggested.

 
By (Guest Post)
April 7, 20060 found this helpful

spray hairspray on an ink spot it will come out

 
By Samantha (Guest Post)
April 7, 20061 found this helpful

Try WD40... it will take it out

 
By kristine meechas (Guest Post)
April 8, 20060 found this helpful

how do you get pen ink out of clothes

 
By (Guest Post)
April 8, 20060 found this helpful

WHat about if it IS a gel pen.... now what??

 
By Bonnie g. (Guest Post)
May 19, 20060 found this helpful

Regular ink pens are easy to get out of clothes, but what about liquid black gel pens? I wonder what the Pentel Company has to say?

 
By Jeannie (Guest Post)
June 24, 20060 found this helpful

I did not notice the ink on the clothing (whites, of course) until I pulled them out of the dryer. Can anything be done to get the ink out of clothing once it's been through the dryer?

 
By Christine (Guest Post)
September 2, 20060 found this helpful

Absorbine Jr!!! Takes ink right out, use on each drum and wipe with a cloth until all ink is removed
air fluff with fabric softner sheets until smell (of absorbine jr ) is removed! Works like a charm!!

 
By ANGELA (Guest Post)
September 15, 20060 found this helpful

PLEASE I DONT HAVE ANY ADVICE I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO GET THIS INK FROM A GEL PEN OUT OF MY WORK SCRUBS!! :(

Editor's Note: www.thriftyfun.com/tf272293.tip.html

This reader had great luck by soaking in oxiclean and hot water.

 
By alena (Guest Post)
April 11, 20070 found this helpful

a cheap bottle of perfume got 2 pens out of my dryer. on the load of lights, I am still trying.

 
By Jenni Baker (Guest Post)
May 29, 20070 found this helpful

The bleached towel worked on the first try, great idea! Sent hubby to the store for baking soda and peroxcide (cheap oxyclean) gonna try to get the ink out of the clothes now...Thanks a bunch!

 
By Terry Wangsness (Guest Post)
October 10, 20070 found this helpful

Somehow my husband's ball point pen got into the dryer and exploded all over the drum, he got the dryer totally cleaned up with pine sol, as for the towels, washcloths, they still have strong ink spots on them, I have washed them four times. I'm rather worried that hair spray and perfume are both flammable, I don't want a fire, is there something safer to get the ink out of the clothes? Thanks. TW

Editor's Note: Spray the ink stains, let sit and try to brush a little, then wash again in the washer before drying. It should no longer be flammable.

 
By (Guest Post)
March 22, 20080 found this helpful

Carburetor cleaner in the drum of the dryer, wipes right off!

 
By gracie (Guest Post)
March 24, 20080 found this helpful

I washed a load of blues and grays last night and this morning found that i had a pen in one of my pants that got all over all of my clothes. I really do not want spend more money to purchase new clothes to replace the ones that got damaged.

 
By Elaine M. (Guest Post)
July 31, 20080 found this helpful

I had a plain old regular ink pen explode in the dryer. Surprisingly it only got on my boyfriend's favorite pair of shorts. I took the shorts and soaked them with nail polish remover, scrubbed the heck out of them and put them to wash in HOT water. Most of the ink came out, now I am on round two, scrubbed them some more with the nail polish remover and now they are back in the wash. Let's hope it works! Now, as for the dryer, I need to get the stains out of there! The nail polish remover is NOT working on the dryer stains. Any ideas? Thank YOU!

 
By (Guest Post)
August 23, 20080 found this helpful

brake cleaner

 

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November 23, 20080 found this helpful

(sent by email)
I just left a ink pen in my pocket and it exploded all over the clothes and dryer I got really up set cause my mom got mad so I tried out a couple of cleaning agents and I found that Purell works the best all you need to do is squrt it on the spot and let it sit for 30 sec and wipe it up with a little elbo grease it comes right off. (This is only for the inside of the dryer.) Matt from New Jersey

 
By Nelly P. (Guest Post)
February 24, 20090 found this helpful

I gave up on the clothes BUT did use Parr's Painter's clean hand cleaner on the drum. It was AMAZING. I squirted it on a towel and wiped the drum. It came right off.

 
February 28, 20100 found this helpful

I used LA's Totally Awesome spray- degreaser spray- I found it at Dollar Tree- I washed and dried some light jeans and realized after that there was a purple gel pen in the clothes- Ink spots all over everything! I sprayed the degreaser and rubbed with a wet towel- wahsed again and the stains are out! This stuff is totally awesome!

 
October 3, 20100 found this helpful

I can only tell you that this happened to me this morning and I was freaking out. I had all darks and a big load and a Gel ink pen was all over everything after I had just washed and dried it I tried Kramer287's advice (up top) and every item looks good as new! It totally works and it saved everything. Thanks so much, again Kramer287.

 
November 28, 20100 found this helpful

I just had this happen on Thanksgiving (gee, thanks!). The pen exploded in the dryer over my light clothes, so it was already set in. After dinner, i tried the hairspray and it worked only on synthetic materials, not 100% cotton. Washing with regular stain remover and soaking didn't seem to do anything either. I kept the clothes wet in a trash bag so they wouldn't dry out. The next day, I went to Lowes and got this spray called Goof Off, The Miracle Remover (heavy duty spot remover and degreaser). it was next to the paint thinner, but is safe on clothes. I also got at Meijer (local grocery store) though Wal-mart may carry it not sure, called Tech Stain Remover which says it works on ink.

I also picked up some rubbing alcohol. The two sprays worked the best. You have to use clean blotting towels under the stain and to "press" it out...believe me, it does work, but it took me 4 hours standing at the sink to get all the spots out out of every piece of clothing in the load. With the combo of the sprays, and washing with a little dish soap (non-bleach) in between sprays and scrubbing, I got everything out. After spraying and washing by hand, I also soaked in Oxyclean in HOT water for about an hour, then regular wash, looks like the pen never exploded.
Good luck!

 
Anonymous
February 7, 20160 found this helpful

I started to use nail polish (acetone) and it was just too strong so I got my MD. Clean Magic Eraser and it did the job. A bit more elbow grease but we'll worth it!

 
January 30, 20200 found this helpful

Thank you so much for this comment! I just had the same thing happen & it looks like I was able to save everything except one top. I'm going to repeat the process with a longer soak time in hopes of saving the last top, but I'm thrilled that I was able to save as much as I did. This works!!!

 
February 2, 20200 found this helpful

This solution was an amazing surprise! My daughter had left a pink gel pen in her scrubs shirt and I didnt notice until I pulled all the whites out of the dryer. There were some of our nicer shirts as well as sock and other garments in there. I followed the directions with the baking soda and Oxy Clean - nearly all of the clothes were rid of the gel pen stain. Thanks to the person that posted this solution!

 
October 31, 20220 found this helpful

Why not just pour a bottle of alcohol into the washer

 
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