Remove plasticine: Get rid of plasticine from clothes, carpet and sofa

• preparation
• Remove plasticine - methods
  • Cold Method
  • Heat Method
• Remove color or oil stains
  • Carbonated mineral water
  • upholstery foam
• Remove dough from clothes
• Remove clay from the carpet
• Important hints and tips

When hilarious crafting with plasticine you can never rule out that sometimes a piece goes wrong and gets stuck on the clothes, the carpet or the sofa. Find out how to remove plasticine so that your textiles look flawless afterwards.

Children love to play with clay. They conjure up the mass of all kinds of shapes and figures. Now it can happen in creative zeal that a piece of plasticine ends up in clothing, on the carpet or on the sofa. Unfortunately, clay not only has the property of sticking well in your hands, but also on some other surfaces. The question arises as to how you can remove the glued plasticine. Our guide will show you the best ways to get your clothes, carpet and sofa reliably kneading-free and clean!

preparation

Regardless of whether the clay adheres to the clothing, the carpet or the sofa, the first step is always the same. You must first roughly remove the clay.

You need this:

• Spatula, dull knife or your fingernails
• Caution and patience

How to proceed:

Pick up your favorite tool and scrape off as much plasticine as possible. Especially with clothing, it is important that you do not work too vigorously - otherwise you will do more harm to the fabric than to clean it.

Remove plasticine - methods

After the first step, which applies to all textiles, kneading material usually remains on the respective fabric. To get rid of the leftovers, there are several methods to choose from. Below we introduce you

• the cold method and
• the heat method

in front. Both work across the board - in terms of clothing, carpet and sofa.

Cold Method

You need this:

• freezer
• freeze bag
• spatula
• brush

Step 1: Make one or more small ice cubes - for example, by pouring cold water into a freezer bag, then tightly seal it and place it in your freezer for a few hours.

Step 2: Bring your cooling element out of the freezer and place it on the remaining kneading patch on the clothes, carpet or sofa. For clothing, there is also the option of placing the garment directly in the freezer.

Step 3: Let the cold "work" for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Note: Due to the cold, the clay cools down and becomes brittle.

Step 4: Remove the now crumbly clay with a spatula and a brush.

Tip: Using a coarse textured rug may help to use a clean, thick cork to remove the frosted and thus hardy kneading parts. Just use the cork like an eraser.

Heat Method

You need this:

• Hair dryer or iron
• Kitchen paper or other absorbent cloth

Step 1: Plug in and turn on your hair dryer near the element that is contaminated with plasticine. Try it with a medium heat setting (set hotter if necessary).
Step 2: Heat the plasticine on the clothes, the carpet or the sofa with the hair dryer.

Note: The heat melts the clay. It gets softer and smoother.

Step 3: Soak up the modeling clay with kitchen paper or another cloth.

Tip: As an alternative to the hair dryer, you can also use an iron. It is important that you place a handkerchief on the kneading surface and then iron it with light pressure - again over medium heat. As a result, the handkerchief absorbs the melting clay.

Remove color or oil stains

Whether you use the cold or heat method to remove putty, it often leaves behind a stain of paint or oil. Of course, you also want to banish them from clothing, the carpet or the sofa. You can do this with carbonated mineral water or, if necessary, with upholstery foam, which you can buy for example in shops with car accessories or online.

Carbonated mineral water

You need this:

• carbonated mineral water
• clean, dry cloth

Step 1: Sprinkle the stain with a little carbonated mineral water.

Step 2: Dab the area with a clean, dry cloth.
Step 3: Repeat the procedure a few times until the color or oil stain visibly fades and finally disappears.

Note: You may be wondering why you should use carbonated water. The answer: Sparkling mineral water has a blistering effect without attacking the material in question. Incidentally, the method works well with wallpapers.

Only if the treatment with the mineral water does not have the desired effect, it makes sense to try a classic stain remover such as upholstery foam.

upholstery foam

You need this:

• Stain remover (upholstery foam)
• clean, colorfast cloth

Step 1: Generously apply the cushion foam to the paint or oil stain.
Step 2: Let the medium work for a few minutes. The exact exposure time can be found in the instructions of the respective manufacturer.

Step 3: Remove the foam with a clean, colorfast cloth. Is the stain still visible ">

Note: If the treated element is a washable garment, put it in the washing machine and clean it as usual.

Remove dough from clothes

You need this:

• Stain water (for clothing)
• absorbent cloths

Step 1: First, roughly scrape the dough off with a spatula, a knife or your fingernails (see basic preparation).
Step 2: Place an absorbent cloth under the garment.
Step 3: Soak a second cloth intensively in stain water.
Step 4: Thoroughly rub the kneading patch with the soaked cloth.

Note: It is important to rub in the stain remover until hardly any traces of the modeling clay are visible.

Step 5: Rinse the garment thoroughly with warm water.
Step 6: Wash the clothes as usual in the washing machine.

Important: For sensitive, non-washable textiles 70% cleaning alcohol is recommended. The normal methods presented here are NOT suitable in this case.

Remove clay from the carpet

You need this:

• Lighter fluid
• Brush or cloth

Step 1: Once again it is important to roughly scrape the plasticine.
2nd step: Drizzle the kneading with a few drops of lighter fluid.
Step 3: Let the product work for a few minutes. Please note the information provided by the manufacturer.
Step 4: Remove the decomposed clay with a brush or cloth.

Caution: be careful not to soak the carpet with lighter fluid - otherwise the gas will leak out at the back of the carpet.

Important hints and tips

Regardless of which of our described methods you use to remove putty, be sure to test the effect in a PREVIOUS place on the item being treated (garment, carpet, sofa). How to prevent damage to sensitive materials. If you notice unwanted changes, you should of course not use the respective variant.

Tips for preventing plasticine on clothing, carpet and sofa

In order to reliably prevent kneading in the clothing, the carpet fibers or in the sofa fabric during crafting, you should take precautionary measures:

• Put a kind of "painter's smock" on your child. If it is mainly about protecting the beautiful clothes, you can also put old clothes on it.
• Cover the carpet or sofa extensively with foil.
  So your offspring can let off steam with the play dough without having to do any extra work afterwards or the worry of not getting rid of the kneading patches.