Painted

January 5, 2008 7:24 AM

Problem: bored artisticly inclined teenage daughter on school holidays til end of January. I handed over my tin of 72 Derwents but it wasn't enough.

So I handed her half a dozen little glass bottles and a set of Decorfin glass paint.
We now have 2 pretty arty painted bottles, and a 13yo with her hands covered in glass paint.
I've lost any instructions that came with the paint kit, and everything on the bottle is written in miniscule french that I can't read.
Please help to unpaint my baby's fingers.

Also: Should I have made her wear gloves? The stuff smells horrible. How bad are the chemicals in this particular paint? Shoud I fear for the health of my potential grand-children?

posted by goshling to media & arts (8 comments total)

Those particular paints are solvent (oil) based. Try olive oil or baby oil to remove the paint from your daughter's hands.

As for the chemicals, this link might help answer your question.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 8:03 AM on January 5, 2008

I don't have that brand, but my glass paint is like nailpolish, and comes off with nailpolish remover.
posted by xo at 9:09 AM on January 5, 2008

Well, when I was a kid my dad would use turpentine (paint thinner) to wash off my hands when I got paint on them, but I wouldn't suggest doing that. Turpentine is a eye and skin irritant, and regular exposure to it can cause health problems.

Like Fuzzy Monster said, the paint is oil based so it will tend to stick to any kind of oil. In addition to olive oil and baby oil, you can also try cooking spray.

One other one that works surprisingly well is hair shampoo. It works better than soap for removing paint from hands, especially if its the kind of shampoo made for greasy hair.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:35 AM on January 5, 2008

the instructions indicate that you should clean up with white spirit/odorless mineral spirits, which, although not too too toxic, probably isn't something your daughter should be washing her hands with. i mean, i use the stuff on my hands, when i paint, but i know that it isn't a good idea.

if the paint is still wet, then baby oil might work. if the paint is dry, my suggestion would be to get a hand soap with ground pumice in it (Lava is the most common brand, in the US; i'm not sure about australia). the stuff will eventually come off with a good scrubbing.

gloves are never a bad idea when using solvent- or oil-based paints.
posted by wreckingball at 9:39 AM on January 5, 2008

If you'd like to try something milder first, I've always found full strength Dr. Bronners liquid soap good for getting stuff off my hands.

As for gloves, you can find charts online like this one about what rubbers resist what chemicals. You need to know what's in the paint and get the right gloves.

I paint with enamel sign paint and use blue exam gloves made of nitrile, which it good at resisting solvents like turpentine.
posted by JulianDay at 10:02 AM on January 5, 2008

I think using turpentine would be fine. Some projects while she's home do not count as "long-term exposure."
posted by desuetude at 10:32 AM on January 5, 2008

As an alternative to pumice, anything borax-based (Boraxo is what I use) will strip away just about anything you could possibly have on your hands. I think it may take some skin off with it, though.
posted by devilsbrigade at 2:07 PM on January 5, 2008

I know it's well-intentioned and yes, one time won't hurt, but before you use anything harsh, please try some olive or canola oil. The printmaking studio at my graduate school switched to corn oil for cleaning hands of printer's ink and it worked quite well for oil paint, too.
posted by Slothrop at 5:43 PM on January 5, 2008