Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tips & Tricks: Removing paint/stains without solvent

Sorry I've been so quiet here! The past two weeks have been super busy, and you'll see why before the end of the week. But for now, I'm going to teach you something I just learned! Ok, it was 2 nights ago... but I seriously lack motivation, apparently.

The gel stain that I use requires a solvent to clean (meaning it's not water-based). I typically have mineral oil (baby oil, actually) on-hand, and use that to clean the stain off of my hands. You know, because I'm too lazy to find gloves that I KNOW I bought. Anyhow, this particular night, I just happened to be OUT of baby oil. And covered in gel stain. And everything I tried (dish soap, bar soap and borax) wasn't helping.

Ugh.

So I went to my pantry and grabbed some vegetable oil! And you know what?!

IT WORKED!

And to replicate the test (because it couldn't be proven without it... it WASN'T because I was too lazy to find the gloves again. Totally...), I did it again..

Before





























Mmmm... Doesn't that make you hungry?

After!


if you had just finished scrubbing your hands as roughly as I did, they'd be pink, too. So HUSH!



































Now, don't worry if, in the cleansing process, you look like you're changing ethnicities. Actually, depending on the stain you use, you might actually start turning purple! Just make sure you scrub all of the stain 'til it dissolves, and wash the oil off with dish soap. Unless you wanna go around smelling like a restaurant all day. Not that I'd know...

This is obviously not the solution if you plan on thinning your medium with a solvent... but it sure works to clean up your mess!

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