Inky Tod: Leaving No Evidence Of Smurf Violence - How To Have Clean Hands And Clean Pens

[Icywolfe]

No matter how careful I am. And how much paper I use. It gets on my hands. Because I tend to use a lot of blue inks now-a-days. Everyday my hands looks like I just killed a smurf.* The only way I found a way to prevent this is to wear the same gloves that doctors use to do prostate exams. It's like 10 USD for a box of 50. Not cheap. So any hints to not look like a smurf murderer is very helpful.

 

 

*I do clean my pens every day. But not the same pens every day. I tend to write with a single pen until that goes low and I put that pen in the bucket. Some time in the future I pick up that pen and it's dry. My lazyness is making me clean pens on a daily basis. Kon-Peki is the biggest offender for this.

 

 

(Thank you for helping me clean up my evidence. =P)

[AllenG]

Kitchen gloves are reusable.

[ac12]

Depends on the pen.

Used pens with dried ink from eBay are usually the worse for me to clean.

My own pens with liquid ink are much easier and cleaner to clean.

If you use a bulb syringe, make sure that it fits well.

I clean over a 1 gallon tub, so the ink that is washed out is contained and does not stain the sink.

Watch your hands, if you are careful you can hold the pen/converter such that it minimized ink being flushed onto your hands.

 

Since you rotate thru pens, you could batch them up and clean once a week.

 

I get my gloves at Costco.

To minimize cost, I also try to reuse the gloves.

[Chi Town]

I have rubber/plastic gloves that i get at Harbor Freight......My mistake is that I just plain forget to wear them sometimes :-)

[phonelady61]

I buy my latex gloves at the dollar tree where all is 1.00 also rinse and reuse them if you can .

[inkstainedruth]

Another suggestion is that after you're done cleaning your pens, clean your hands with a little Ink Nix. It's available from a number of the reputable online sellers (don't remember exactly where I got my container of it, but if I did it would be a case of "no affiliation except for being a happy customer").

Stuff works amazingly well, and you only need a little bit.

I had to use some yesterday at DCSS because a pen that I thought was repaired then decided to leak. Susan Wirth's table had a "cleaning station", which was a container of Ink Nix, a bucket of water, and a towel. Sadly, I didn't have time to go back there at the end of the day when I made a last-ditch pass at the ink testing table while the show people were cleaning up and put the bottles away, and I have a smudge on my left forearm of what I *think* is either Waterman Havana Brown or Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown (had not *really* planned to use my arm as a blotter... ; it was a case of wet ink out of a dip pen on Rhodia paper).

Fortunately, if it doesn't come off in the tub I have a container of Ink Nix on my bathroom vanity....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

Here's a different side to the question. What if you forget to flush the pen? I got a Levenger True Writer on eBay. Had to buy the converter. Finally decided to ink it before a trip. The ink was De Atramentis Mint Turquoise. When I wrote with it, it was black.

 

Rinsed the nib in the hotel sink many times. Got a dark green before it reverted to black. So I suppose I should dump the ink, flush the pen and converter and try with the Mint Turquoise again. Does that sound right?

[Sasha Royale]

Reputation as a " Smurf kille " is not so bad. How manny pens do you clean at one time ? Everyday ?

I, too, wear rubber gloves when inking and cleaning my pens. When all is done, I wash the gloves before taking them off.

[ac12]

 

Here's a different side to the question. What if you forget to flush the pen? I got a Levenger True Writer on eBay. Had to buy the converter. Finally decided to ink it before a trip. The ink was De Atramentis Mint Turquoise. When I wrote with it, it was black.

Rinsed the nib in the hotel sink many times. Got a dark green before it reverted to black. So I suppose I should dump the ink, flush the pen and converter and try with the Mint Turquoise again. Does that sound right?

 

Sounds like you have a mix of old ink in the pen.

If you never used, it, then there is remains of dipping/testing ink in the pen which needs to be flushed out and the pen dried, before you get the true color of YOUR ink.

[Komitadjie]

I wear my smurf-murderin' hands with pride! Of course, if you don't want to look like a SMURF murderer, just add some red to it!

[Icywolfe]

I wear my smurf-murderin' hands with pride! Of course, if you don't want to look like a SMURF murderer, just add some red to it!

What if the smurf police comes after you?

 

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My mind always gets confused why does Konpeki stick on skin stronger than some other infamous ink?

[Komitadjie]

They're smurfs. No bag limit, I'd guess small-game tag... lol

[Misfit]

Lava soap works well on ink stained hands. I don't buy any permanent type inks, but it works on Waterman, J Herbin, De Atramentis, Pelikan Edelstein, Diamine ink stains on my hands. I did an online search and found where to buy it in my area. Of course it won't help if you're not at home, but I love it for getting ink off my fingers.

[spotted and speckled]

Alcohol hand gel dulls the colors on your hands petty good.

[Kosmic-kowgirl]

well, you need to catch 6 smurfs to make gold so no more catch and release lol. there are cheaper boxes of gloves in the household paint and woodstain depts in most stores that carry paint and such. You can also get them cheap from a vet clinic

[Runnin_Ute]

Clorox disinfectant wipes help in a pinch. Even the most stubborn inks come off when I wash my hair in the morning.

 

I tend to flush/clean on an as needed basis. Rarely is it daily. More like weekly. I may have two or three I do at a time.

[SeeksAdvice]

I used to worry about keeping hands clean. Now, I really don't care unless I have a jury trial or state supreme court argument coming up.

Many of the Noodler's "Bulletproof" inks don't stick to my hands much at all. The "warden" ones on the other hand stay for days.

All my other inks are somewhere in between, with perhaps MB Royal Blue and QSH being the most difficult to remove.

[Cyber6]

I wear my smurf-murderin' hands with pride! Of course, if you don't want to look like a SMURF murderer, just add some red to it!

 

LOL... me too....

 

 

And just cause I love color.... most times my hands are blue, red, green, amber, purple, pink.. etc... and most times more than one color (especially if I clean several pens... ) Is my trademark.

[Ragwort Fairy]

I gave up trying to avoid the stains, but I find moisturizer helps remove them. I use moisturizer to take off makeup, so it made sense to try it on my stained hands. That, or wear gloves afterwards so no one can see them, so what if it's August!

[Algester]

me I just use a black towel to clean off excess ink... I do get ink during very messy inky situations... stuck cap so on and so forth