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How Do You Remove Gel Ink From Clothes? Gel ink stains are tough. Simply put, they can be small, but mighty, and take hours to remove. If you fall victim to getting gel ink on your clothing try these steps to attempt removal. Steps: To show you an example of how this process can unfold we’ve included two pictures for reference. These pictures show the three original dots of gel ink and their size relative to a dime. The white towel shows you how much gel ink can come from those little spots! We used both sides of this towel to work this small stain!

How to Remove Stains on Clothing? Stain removal can be tricky when you try to work them yourself at home. Thankfully, our stain removal specialists have the experience, knowledge, ability, and technical skills required to do the task accurately and professionally. Where Do We Start? Our stain removal specialists will identify what the stain may be to the best of their ability. From there, we start by assessing if our cleaning agents are safe on the fabric. It is important for us to know that before beginning work on your garment so that we can safely remove stains without jeopardizing the integrity of the fabric. Next, we wet the fabric, apply a targeted treatment, and let the material dry. These techniques are designed to keep the stained area isolated during our removal process and help prevent fabric and color damage. How to Remove Stains? We start by letting the treatment agents do the work. Stains such as oils and greases are removed by cleaning agents classified as “solvent-soluble”, while “water-soluble” agents treat stains such as beverages and other water-based stains. Common examples of these stains are juices, alcohol, or tea. Other types of stains are removed by using cleaning solutions that chemically react with the stain. Another method is to remove by allowing for natural digestion by soaking the garments in gentle solutions. These solutions can slowly break down the stain through targeted agents that respond to the make-up of the stain. We will always try to treat stains before they are cleaned through dry cleaning or laundry. When you point out stains directly to us it is extremely helpful because it increases our chances of successful removal. The dry clean industry also runs into a special type of stain called the “invisible stain.” Sounds like a crock, right? They are very real and hard to predict. If these stains remain in the fabric for a long period of time, they can oxidize and become extremely difficult to remove. Even with proper pre-spotting, it can be difficult to remove this type of stain since the sugars settled in the fabric oxidize/caramelize. The most common example is when someone spills beer or liquor on their clothing. It often dries clear and then can appear brown-like after cleaning. Although it was not visible prior to cleaning, the sugar content in the alcohol caramelizes and causes the invisible stain to appear. A real-life example of this when you eat an apple. When you bite into an apple and then leave the apple exposed to air for a while, you will see that what was once lighter becomes brown. Same concept with invisible stains! What Tools to Use When Removing Stains? We use a spotting board that stores all our cleaning agents on it. It also allows for a hard surface for us to work on and effectively treat our stains with a variety of methods.  The board provides steam, a vacuum system, and compressed air for drying the fabric after the stain removal process is finished. In our toolkit we carry stain removal brushes, blotters, scrapers, and plastic files, which are extremely helpful in aiding in the stain removal process.

Instead of soaking clothes in water with soap or detergent, the dry-cleaning process uses chemicals that are safe for your clothes to eliminate stains. Because each method uses solvents, every piece of clothing that is dry cleaned will need drying to get rid of any solutions left behind. Dry cleaned clothes, bedding, and other items will feel softer than when washed in water. Dry cleaners use liquid chemical solvents to clean clothes without using water. Traditional washing uses water as a primary solvent for dissolving detergents, or soaps, which will, in turn, clean the garments. Since dry cleaning does not involve immersing your clothes to clean them in water, and it has a gentler process, dry cleaning has some clear advantages when it comes to getting your clothes cleaned when compared with the traditional washing machine. While both processes serve their purposes, overall, dry cleaning is better suited to clothes, particularly those that are sensitive, compared to regular washing in a machine. One of the popular reasons to dry wash clothes is the ability to keep clothes that otherwise would need to be hand washed looking and feeling good. Secondly, dry cleaning saves time. Handwashing garments is a time-consuming task, that also includes drying clothes. Therefore, using the dry cleaning alternative is a suitable substitute that allows you to spend your precious time on more stimulating tasks. While some fabrics can be washed at home, either by hand or by machine, fabrics such as rayon, silk, leather, suede, and velvet need to go to a professional dry cleaner. With some additional precautions, you can wash clothing made of acetate, velvet, wool, and silk at home without the need for a dry cleaning kit. However, one needs to make sure you wash linens in a soft cycle with only cold water. You should wash Wool with cold water and air dry it to avoid shrinkage and damage. However, fabrics like wool and very fine silk should go to the dry cleaners if they need cleaning; wool shrinks terribly when washed in the average washing machine (especially with hot or warm water), and fine silks may become damaged from agitation by the washer. Cotton, linen, cashmere, polyester, acrylic, and nylon can generally be washed at home, but keep an eye out for blend materials; and, when in doubt, bring it to the dry cleaner. Linen, cotton, and sturdy polyester items will stand up to the journey to the laundromat, using a mesh washcloth. You should always check a fabric’s colourfastness by rubbing some detergent and a bit of water in the garment’s inner seam; if it does not respond, you may want to consider washing it with cold water and mild soap or use a gentle/handwashing cycle on the washing machine. Now, not knowing how to wash delicate or complex fabrics at home, combined with brands protecting themselves by plastering dryer-only labels on an increasing number of items, we are finding ourselves running in search of the nearest dry cleaner.