Um guys...how do you get ink out of an entire load of LAUNDRY!?!?!

Jan 20, 2007
5,588
2
So my husband just dried an ink pen in an entire load of towels. It's the loose, liquid ink.

WHAT DO I DO??? It's all over the inside of my dryer!!! Can I rewash the towels? Do I even bother? Will it run everywhere?
 
Try a Mr Clean Magic Eraser for the inside of the dryer

is the ink DRY on the towels? If so, then the ink is set into the fabric and you will have a really hard time getting it out.

I hope the towels were not expensive-- you can now use them for drying the car after you wash it or for use after you work in the yard. I have a few of these myself. They are in the garage with Mr Roo's stuff on the shelf by his tools. I also use them for art projects and when I am working on refinishing furniture... don't have to worry about them getting stained.
 
We got the dryer...now I am scared.

I can buy new towels. But I have two worries.

1. Could there be ink hiding in the dryer somewhere that we could not find or see? O s-word. The white pants got washed with the laundry that had the pen, but thank GOD I hang those. O s-word. And what if I try and wash those towels in hot, will the ink come out and get in my washer?!?

Can you tell laundry is very by-the-book, no exceptions??
 
If the towels have been dried, you likely will not get the ink out. You can try washing them by themselves and see if it helps. It won't hurt your washer since the ink is probably already set into the fabric.

As for the dryer, place a preferably old all white sheet in there and run it. In case there is any ink left (which i doubt) it will go onto the sheet. You can then bleach the sheet.
 
Oh, thank you so much for helping. We just tried to blast one of the washclothes with hot water...no use. One of the towels was my son's Thomas the Tank Engine beach towel...ouch. That one hurt a little! Hopefully I can find another one...

I mean it though. Thank you SO much for all of your help!! I appreciate it!!
 
No problem. Kids really don't mind stuff like this, your son will probably like the towel better now :P. I raised two and we had many "accidents" with paint, ink, food etc., so it can be interesting!
 
That's awful!! I had that happen to me once. It ruined my favorite pair of jeans! Now I always wash my clothes seperate from everyone else's, LOL!!! MY husband clothes seperate and my kids clothes seperate. I cleaned out the dryer with awesome and then threw in a white towel for about 30 mins there was STILL ink in there!!!
 
Oh no! Alcohol takes out ink stains. A high percentage of EtoH, preferably. But if you do not have any handy, spray Aqua Net or some other hairspray on the stain and rub, rub, and rub. And then wash.
 
Hi,
I found this information from the WikiHow website
How to remove ink from dryer:

1)Unplug dryer
2) spray cheap aerosol hairspray on rag or on ink and rub
3)Make sure to wipe surfaces after cleaning to remove residue and fumes. I would probably try with a damp cloth or baby wipe.
4) Tumble damp towel in dryer on low heat to remove any remaining hair spray and smell.

You might also try to spray some hairspray on the towels that got ink on them. I do remember people saying hairspray removes ink on clothing.
Good luck.
 
I was going to suggest hairspray to clean out the inside of the dryer but it makes me nervous, especially if she is using a gas dryer, since it's so flammable.
 
My BF got a pen in with a load of my laundry once. The dryer was completely blue. I just used bleach and cleaned the inside then just put wet white towels into the dryer to try and "mop" up what remaining bleach I hadn't gotten off after doing the bleach treatment to the dryer barrel.

My huge tip is since I bought about 10 different products trying to find something to get the ink out of all of my clothes. I found this product at an Ace Hardware - Mostenbaucker's 3 (sp?). It is specifically for ink (there is a Mostenbaucker's 1 and 2 for dirt, grass, etc). It worked great - you just spray and dab the ink spot.