Eyedropper Hack: Cleaning Silicone Grease From Threads

November 8, 2015

Hello, just sharing a little trick I just used to effectively clean stained silicone grease from the threads of my demonstrator eyedropper pen.

I have a Franklin-Christoph Stabilis 65, which is clear acrylic throughout.. except for the threads, which were a beautiful shade of Tsuki-yo blue! Cleaning these of silicone grease was really difficult - an old toothbrush couldn't access them very well, whilst a soggy cotton bud just smeared it all around.

Then inspiration struck! (or perhaps it was wind..) Anyway, I rummaged around in my bathroom drawers for an old mascara tube, and scrubbed the wand under running water until perfectly clean. The soft wand bristles are firm enough to poke into the threads but not stiff enough to scratch, and they did a marvellous job of clearing all the old silicone out in just a minute or two!

Hey presto: clean demonstrator. *beams smugly*

November 8, 2015

Eawakings has 100 mascara wands for sale for just under $3. Item number is. 281740006117

November 8, 2015

November 9, 2015

Thanks for the tip! I have the same pen so this really useful to know.

November 9, 2015

How weird. I read the header for this topic just now -- and "mascara brush" is the first thing that popped into my head....

Glad to know it really works. Thanks for the tip.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

November 9, 2015

Awesome! I've never much liked the idea of demonstrator eyedroppers because of the inevitable gross sludge which becomes a chore to clean. I might give it another go though, knowing now there is a much easier way

November 9, 2015

Glad this is of help to people! The wands are really perfect for the job, it's just so easy. I've tried cleaning using other methods before and have always ended up leaving a bit of coloured sludge in there.. it stains to the new ink colour in time, but darker due to the colour mix, and I just don't like the inefficiency and impurity of this.