Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Ink Stains

***UPDATED***
The alcohol is working, it takes a while, but it works!!

This is my first Works for Me Wednesday post, and here I am asking for help since it's backwards day!


I need to know how to get ink off of a couch. Not a spill, but writing from a ballpoint pen. Any ideas?

The backstory is here:


We had Tim's parents over for dinner on Sunday and Tim was going around and turning on some lights downstairs and picked up a blanket off the couch Eli naps on to see this:


And this:
Needless to say, we were angry.


So I asked Eli about it. He blamed in on some of the kids in our Bible study group. However I knew that was a lie-they were never in the Library, and I doubt they would have written Eli's name on the couch (although that would be the smart thing to do to throw the blame elsewhere).


He not only wrote on the couch-something he knew was wrong, he lied about it-something else he knew was wrong.

He's grounded from TV, movies and playing outside this week and he's not allowed to nap unattended until further notice. Which is apparently when it happened.


If we can get the stains out all will be well, but if we can't and I have to spend Christmas money on a couch or cleaning then he's not getting Christmas presents. I hate to do that, but he needs to learn that disobedience and lying aren't acceptable in our home. Plus I don't want to penalize the other kids and skimp on everyone's Christmas if we end up having to spend our Christmas money trying to fix Eli's mess. Parenting is hard!


I've heard hairspray and rubbing alcohol, but haven't tried either one yet.


For other Works For Me Wednesday ideas, head over to Shannon's.

4 comments:

Jessica said...

I posted about this earlier in the year when my 2 yr old decided to create a beautiful piece on my couch. There was ink all over 2 of the cushions. I used rubbing alcohol and an old rag and just blotted for hours, but it came off. You might do a spot check first to make sure that you don't stain the couch with the alcohol. Hope this helps!

Amy said...

I was going to say hairspray, too... the nurses at my work swear it takes ink out of scrubs.

I've also had great success using a baking soda paste to get ink off of tables and laminate floors-- but I've never tried it on fabric.

Have you tried a damp Mr Clean eraser?

Good luck!

T with Honey said...

Rubbing alcohol worked for getting pen out of a shirt for me. It's worth trying on the couch.

Truth said...

Straight alcohol. Years ago, hair spray worked because the alcohol content was so high-but most hair spray no longer contains alcohol so it will only serve to set the stain.

Alcohol works best applied ASAP. It breaks the ink down, so it will run. So using a rag to soak it up is just as important. It may take several applications/scrubbing to remove it.