Candle wax is something that party rental companies that rent out event tablecloths have to deal with on an ongoing basis. Candles and tea/votive lights are an event staple that adds great ambiance to the event – but can be a huge pain to remove – and can potentially stain. We had a customer let us know our spandex cocktail tablecovers had been stained by candle wax so I thought I would test to see whether I could remove the candle wax from spandex tablecovers without staining. Here are the steps I took below:
Before Picture of Candle Wax on Spandex Cocktail Tablecover
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Here are the items you will need to remove the candle wax:
- A–Paper Towel
- B–Cardboard
- C–Iron with multiple temperature settings
- D–WD-40
- E–Baking Soda
- F–Dawn
- G–Toothbrush
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Place the cardboard and a piece of paper towel under the stain between the table and the fabric
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Place a piece of paper towel on top of the fabric
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Heat iron on low-medium setting and then press the iron on top of the paper towel. The wax will reheat and melt into the paper towel.
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Here’s what it will look like after the wax has been melted into the paper towel – like you have an oil stain now.
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Squirt WD-40 onto the oil stain. If it is a small amount of candle wax, you may prefer to put a little WD-40 into a bowl and use a q-tip to put WD-40 onto the stain.
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Sprinkle a liberal amount of baking soda onto the WD-40.
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Use the toothbrush to brush the baking soda into the stain. You will notice it clumping as it pulls up the WD-40 into the baking soda. Once it has clumped, discard the used baking soda.
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Keep sprinkling on baking soda and brushing it until there are no more clumps.
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Put Dawn on the baking soda and use the toothbrush to rub it in. Then let it sit for a bit to pre-treat.
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Throw the spandex tablecover with baking soda and dawn into the washing machine with lukewarm water and regular liquid detergent. Tumble dry on low.
Voila! Good as new!
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