If you get a spot of ink on a shirt you can sometimes get rid of it. Screenprinters have different names for it, you blast it out, you shoot it out, you use spot remover, you use dry cleaning fluid…

See the label of many of your shirts, “Do Not Dry Clean.” That’s because dry cleaning will remove most inks from shirts.

We use a professional spot removing device and we pay extra to use a chemical mix that doesn’t contain any chemicals that have a cancer warning (that doesn’t mean I think you should even breathe a little of it.)

A few things to remember:

• these chemicals are generally heavier not lighter than air. You need a strong fan to exhaust them outside and DO NOT vent them out with any kind of vent over your head. That will pull the fumes up in front of your face. WRONG WRONG WRONG!  If anything have fresh air blowing down and then either make a vent or buy a good venting system. I love having a blog not writing for a magazine, I can tell you that Albatross makes a good one for a reasonable price.
• Wear goggles. Threaten your employees to make them do it or something, but make sure everyone does. I saw someone get hit in the eye. Not a rumor, I saw it. Not a good thing, it burns your eye.
• DO NOT put the fluid in another container. I knew someone (Peter Schonn from Portland, ME) who had someone put some in a water bottle and he drank it. He did not die from it, but it was ugly.
• besides the safety issue, the fluid works better in terms of getting ink spots out and in terms of not leaving a ring if you have strong suction under the fabric you are cleaning.
• Hey dirt dog, don’t be a mess and keep your press, your clothes, your hands, and everything clean that you can. Avoiding getting spots of ink and fingerprints of ink on the shirts is the best way to deal with unwanted spots of ink on your shirts. Also don’t be a pinhead,  coat and expose your screens properly to avoid pinholes.
• the dye of some shirts (garment dyed in particular) will come out of some shirts as well as the spot. Some inks won’t come out. Test anything you aren’t used to in terms of ink or shirts.