Let's try to help Michelle out. We've probably been her predicament. She writes:
Okay. Breathe. My three-year-old aspiring artist has taken a permanent Sharpie to our light carpet! Surely, I'm not the first mama to experience this...does anyone have recommendations on a cleaner - store bought or home creation? I am open to ANY suggestions!
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i have had success on wood or smooth surfaces with rubbing alcohol....not sure if it would work on carpet.
my son's 1st and 2nd grade teacher swears by using a dry erase marker OVER the sharpie marks and then wiping both - but that is on smooth surfaces too, not sure about carpet... backout is pretty amazing stuff, in terms of sprays. i'd probably try that as well...or what about nail polish remover?? just shooting in the dark! good luck!
Posted by: Lyla | May 24, 2007 at 07:50 AM
OH NO!!! Try Oxi Clean. It works on Red Wine in an amazing way! You might want to test it out first by using the marker on a rag & trying to remove it in various ways.
Posted by: Melissa | May 24, 2007 at 08:20 AM
Folex is an AMAZING carpet cleaner but I've never tried it on sharpie!
One of my favorite mediums for aspiring artists is chocolate and vanilla pudding - makes great finger paint. :-)
Good luck!
Posted by: Melissa | May 24, 2007 at 09:19 AM
Hairspray? I hear it works for ink stains on clothes.
Posted by: Debby | May 24, 2007 at 09:24 AM
Try baby wipes. I use baby wipes for any spills on our carpet. Baby wipes also take Sharpie marks off skin and tables. It takes some elbow grease, but it does come off. Hope it takes it out of your carpet.
Posted by: Hope | May 24, 2007 at 09:54 AM
I love Folex for everything on carpets, but have yet to try it on a sharpie (I'm sure that's in my future!). Call Stark's - the vacuum store. They usually know good stain removal remedies.
Posted by: Laura S. | May 24, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Yikes! I second the hairspray idea, though I'm not confident it would remove the stain entirely ...
This won't necessarily help your current problem, but it's a great time for me to recommend a product we've recently fallen in love with. We just got done installing Flor carpet tiles. They have many, many styles, textures and colors (including some cute kid prints), it can be installed over hardwood or cement or pretty much anything, installation is super fast (it took us about 3 hours to do two large rooms, from opening the boxes to moving all the furniture and final cleanup), AND when you get a stain or mess, you can pick up that single tile, wash it in the sink, and put it back down!! If stains don't come out - you can have a couple of extra tiles on hand or order more rather than replacing an entire room - they range from $9 to $16 per tile, and are 19 x 7 inches square. You can use them to create area rugs or go wall to wall. They are also low-VOC, made from recycled materials and recyclable. http://www.flor.com
Posted by: Amy | May 24, 2007 at 11:00 AM
I havent been there, but I've heard that the Sharpie website has info about removing product from various surfaces...you might try there. Good luck! Sounds horrifying... :)
Posted by: NoPo Mama | May 24, 2007 at 12:46 PM
**!!Before you try anything else!!** Here is the link to the stain removal product recommended by the Sharpie company:
http://www.amodexink.com/
Posted by: AHT | May 24, 2007 at 01:40 PM
my husband had a suede shirt that a sharpie leaked in the front pocket...i used a stain remover called Soilove...i can only find it at albertson's in the laundry aisle. i put it on, let it soak overnight, rinsed/flushed it out, did that about 10 or more times in a week and it eventually came out...very faint trace left. this Soilove is one of the best stain removers i've used. i had to get black car oil/gunk out of white shorts years ago and it worked like a charm.
Posted by: shannon | May 24, 2007 at 10:07 PM
After the exact same situation with our three year old, I got Sharpie ink out of our light colored carpet with the Rug Doctor rentals at Fred Meyer.
Good Luck!
Posted by: Cindy Scott | May 25, 2007 at 08:31 AM
While I haven't had to remove sharpie marks from carpet (yet!), I did discover that a Mr Clean Magic Eraser will remove it off a computer screen without scratching.
Posted by: Marsina | May 25, 2007 at 03:27 PM
I second the Mr Clean Magic Eraser for sharpie marks on other surfaces at least (play table, wall and door.) Haven't had to try it on the carpet yet!
Posted by: wendysuewhoo | May 25, 2007 at 08:42 PM
Amy, those flor carpet tiles look fantastic! Are they cushy enough for toddler crashes?
Posted by: catmom | May 26, 2007 at 12:21 AM
you might want to try givig away your 3 year old he an idiot
Posted by: kili | February 28, 2009 at 01:44 PM
you might wanna try getting rid of your 3 year old he a sucky artist anyway ha ha lol i hate littlep unk %#@ moms like you
Posted by: kili | February 28, 2009 at 01:47 PM
Permanent markers are really hard to remove and once you start removing it, you'll surely get stressed. I remember when my youngest daughter played with our permanent marker and drew on the floor. I really had a hard time cleaning it. It's a good thing that there are solvents that we can buy for removing the stains.
Posted by: Kathy Carbone | March 28, 2011 at 04:40 AM