Help! Ink Spilled On My Hands And Desk.

[Kuss]

Hello! as I'm writing this, I need help for cleaning ink of my hands. and the ink is a Pilot iroshizuku Asa-gao ink. i like the blue-ish color on paper but not on my hands or all over my desk. it has been tough to remove it from my hands and I tried the following:

 

Clorox: Not quiet efficient: 3/10 + bad odor

 

Laca thinner: not recommended. efficiency: 3/10 + sting badly and hurts and let you skin dry.

 

Ethyl alcohol: still lots of rubbing and not so efficient: 3/10

 

Isopropyl alcohol: good ol' rubbing alcohol. but still rubbing needed: 4/10

 

Water: what do you expect? 0/10. note: at first remove the easy part but still don't do anything after 2 seconds.

 

Water + soap: I don't have millenniums for this: 1/10

 

Shampoo: really? this just simply don't work: 1/10

 

Nail polish remover(Not pure acetone + A ton of other eter and alcohol families and perfume chemicals): this is the best i found so far but still, lots of rubbing on skin and I want something that works: 5/10

 

Baking soda (NaHCO₃ or bicarbonate of soda) + some water and trying to remain more pure as possible: 4.5/10. safest chemical to work with so far. just letting it sink into the solution and. seems to work to a point, but still some blue-ish remains.

 

Milk: To Be Expected.

 

Gasoline: To Be Expected.

 

Borax: To Be Expected.

 

And during the apply of these possibles "solvents" I found that this ink got oily when trying to clean it from clorox and thinner. I suspect that this ink is iron - gallotannic based ink. because one thing that let me thinking is when this ink I let it on my pilot metro for a long time and it got a black-ish blue. and then when recently refill it, it got the lovely blue that I like.

 

So any suggestion to find the perfect solvent of this? keep in mind it had passed 24Hrs since I tried this possibles solvents. so is more difficult to remove it.

 

My priority is my hands first, then the desk.

Edited June 13, 2017 by Kuss

[LizEF]

Ammonia. Either diluted with water (I use 10 parts water, 1 part ammonia, but you might need more ammonia than that) or in something like Windex that has ammonia in it (it's possible not all Windex has ammonia, you'll have to read the ingredients).

 

IMO, if all that didn't get the ink off your hands, you need time. In all cases, scrubbing is necessary to a degree - e.g. it's not shampoo alone that does it, it's washing your hair...

 

If the desk is wood, it may never come out - wood is like paper and soaks the ink in...

[inkstainedruth]

For hands, the best I found was Ink Nix. It's not made any more, but Indy-Pen-Dance carries something similar. I suspect, that since Ink Nix had an abrasive in it, something like Lava soap or the industrial version of Go-jo -- both of which have pumice -- might work.

As for the desk? It might be too late, but in future? Maybe Amodex. I haven't tried it on hard surfaces, but it works well on fabric (it just takes a lot of elbow grease and a lot of blotting).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Plexipens]

I get ALL of Asa-Gao off my hands using foaming Windex and a Scotch-Brite. Even worked when stain occurred early in a bulk clean and fill session. Don't scrub too hard .....

[tamiya]

I've learnt to ignore blue fingers... common ailment, it'll grow out.

 

You haven't said what your desk is made of.

 

Blue ink stains on manufactured surfaces like laminate or Formica, i use bleach.

 

You say Chlorox... i assume this is the clothes washing type? Makes your whites whiter? Yeah that's bleach, but its weak... way weak as a minimum i use Domestos, its a thicker hospital grade chlorine bleach... splash any of that on your clothes, you've got either spotty white dots or it'll eat thru cotton like moths.

 

If that's not enough, get peroxide - hydrogen peroxide! Doesn't stink like chlorine, you can barely smell it... plus it offgasses oxygen, that's good for you right?

 

And again, not the weak 3% stuff sold for antiseptic cleaning of wounds. You want the strong stuff, like 35-50%...!! that stuff is bottled power... get any on your skin, you'll go white too! (even more impressive/scary if you're not of anglo white descent... like, i'm not.) Cut it by 2-3X and it'll still be effective at bleaching out blue ink. Fun watching it fizz like sodapop as it works.

 

Serious grade peroxide can be found in haircare shops, kitchen suppliers (used in food prep) or agriculture suppliers.

[webgeckos]

Bartender's friend gets out everything (I wouldn't use it on wood, incredible on counters.)

[Sasha Royale]

Nice color. Sure you don't want to keep the stain ? Clorox strips the the stained (and unstained) skin cells. It works. I use it. I follow with a thorough soapy wash. Don't like the smell ? You are pretty picky, for someone with ink all over everything.

 

Nitril gloves are inexpensive. I use them. I work in a plastic serving tray from the dollar store.

[RonLyke]

Our tastes in furniture run toward the primitive. We have a nice desk--secretary from the mid 19th century with a big ink stain on it. Adds character.

Think of what you're depriving your great grandchildren of. :-)

[CAG_1787]

Maybe try some Amodex?

[tamiya]

Maybe try some Amodex?

Bought a tube of that stuff... doesn't seem to do anything for me wasn't cheap.

[ParkerDuofold]

Bought a tube of that stuff... doesn't seem to do anything for me wasn't cheap.

Hi Tamiya,

 

Did you scrub, too? With Amodex, the chemicals alone aren't enough; you also need the mechanical action.

 

What ink(s) were you trying to remove from what?

 

- Anthony

[graystranger]

Shampoo works well, but only if you get in the shower and shampoo your hair. The scrubbing of the hair against the grooves in your skin does a great job of removing just about any ink. There might be a bit of residual color left, but most of it will be gone.

 

Light scrubbing with an abrasive (like a stone used to remove callouses) works too. Just don't abrade away your skin's outer layer. In the US we have Lava soap, soap with pumice powder in it. You need some mechanical scrubbing in addition to soap or detergent. A good stiff hand scrubbing brush is pretty good by itself.

 

Many of the chemicals mentioned in the comments above will remove too much of the oil in your skin - ammonia, strong bleach, etc., making your skin very dry and somewhat damaging it. If you get bleach on your skin you can remove the odor by rinsing in household white ammonia. Kills the odor (and the slimy feeling) instantly. By the way, the slimy feeling from bleach or strong alkalis is the natural fat/oil in the skin being dissolved by the chemical.

[tamiya]

Hi Tamiya,

Did you scrub, too? With Amodex, the chemicals alone aren't enough; you also need the mechanical action.

What ink(s) were you trying to remove from what?

- Anthony

think it was Red by Waterman or Pelikan, on skin & white cotton t-shirt

 

yeah we scrubbed a fair while

 

(by "we" I meant the Mrs... )

[ParkerDuofold]

think it was Red by Waterman or Pelikan, on skin & white cotton t-shirt

 

yeah we scrubbed a fair while

 

(by "we" I meant the Mrs... )

Hi Tamiya,

 

Sorry to hear that... but I think the problem was the red dye, it's easy to figure that red is gonna be a problem. Still sorry to hear it didn't work for you. I think my tragedy involved one on my blue-blacks or dark blues.

 

If that ever happens again, (hopefully not), and you can stand the odor- maybe ammonia would work; since aniline dyes are supposed to be ammonia-based. Just a thought; no experience.

 

- Anthony

[amberleadavis]

Bartender's friend gets out everything (I wouldn't use it on wood, incredible on counters.)

 

 

Sheesh, you think a Bartender would keep 'em coming back.

 

Asa Gao for me washes off the hands after a single shampooing (I have long hair).

 

Getting off the desk has worked with Lysol spray, but getting out of wood that has lost its finish is not doable.

[KKay]

Permatex 23218 Fast Orange Smooth Lotion Hand Cleaner

or GOJO may do the trick for you. (for your hands anyway)

[Honeybadgers]

get a bottle of noodlers bulletproof ink or another bottle of the iroshizuku and ink-stain the whole desk. it'll look cool.

[Chrissy]

Whatever you do don't use bleach then hydrogen peroxide as mixing them produces dangerous fumes.

 

I've recently bought some Lava soap from Amazon and find that works very well on skin. Even before I bought that, I found that bar soap worked much better than liquid soap for removing ink from my hands.

 

It depends on your table surface, but Bartenders Friend should do the job.

[graystranger]

Many of the chemicals mentioned in the comments above will remove too much of the oil in your skin - ammonia, strong bleach, etc., making your skin very dry and somewhat damaging it. If you get bleach on your skin you can remove the odor by rinsing in household white ammonia. Kills the odor (and the slimy feeling) instantly. By the way, the slimy feeling from bleach or strong alkalis is the natural fat/oil in the skin being dissolved by the chemical.

 

I just read my old post, I meant to say WHITE VINEGAR WILL REMOVE THE FEEL AND ODOR OF BLEACH FROM YOUR HAND, not white ammonia. I think ammonia will too, but it will also remove the oils in your skin and may cause contact dermatitis.

[Chrissy]

 

I just read my old post, I meant to say WHITE VINEGAR WILL REMOVE THE FEEL AND ODOR OF BLEACH FROM YOUR HAND, not white ammonia. I think ammonia will too, but it will also remove the oils in your skin and may cause contact dermatitis.

 

I didn't know that about white vinegar, so thank you. What do you then use to remove the smell of the vinegar?