Tue 22 Jul 2008
Never ever under any circumstances would I recommend you to mix the following items:
1 BIC ink pen + a load (or two) of wet laundry + a dryer
The results are disastrous for the pen, clothes and the dryer! And no, just in case you do try this even after my NOT recommending it, oxiclean does not remove set-in ink stains. Now we have two loads of laundry, one including mine and Andrej’s clothes and one including the kids clothes covered in dark blue ink splotches. Needless to say, I will from now on thoroughly check all pockets before laundering.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Augh. So frustrating!
OK — I’m sure you did a search, so you’ve probably already seen some of these solutions, but have you tried hairspray, nail polish remover, or rubbing alcohol?
For the clothes, see here:
http://www.ehow.com/how_13427_remove-ballpoint-pen.html
For the dryer, I read nail polish remover is the thing to use, and it’s easiest if the drum is warm.
Good luck!
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Thanks, Pam! I did try rubbing alcohol, which removed some ink, but not enough to warrant my blotting every single piece of clothing. I did read about hair spray and nail polish remover, but haven’t tried those yet. A friend also recommended a product called M30 sold at dollar stores, so I’ll keep trying. Andrej scrubbed the inside of the dryer with rubbing alcohol and it seems to be clean. I don’t how safe that was though, but thankfully he survived. Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll keep you posted. Jessica