Don't cry over spilled wax! We can think of many wax spills we've seen that have people picking at the hardened wax long afterward. Even if it's spilled on something as tough as carpet or velvet, though, there's hope for cleaning it up properly. Just give it a try, using this tried and true advice from Apartment Therapy reader, Sisero.
Last night, while vacuuming, my sister knocked over a candle that had been burning for about two hours, spilling hot wax all over my velvet ottoman and the carpet. After trying to pick it out for a half an hour she guiltily fessed up and asked for my help. I turned on the iron to about medium heat, I laid sheets of paper over the wax and ironed over it. The paper soaked up the wax - I had to use quite a big stack of paper to get it all - it even cleaned every ounce of wax from the velvet.
Thanks, Sisero!
Originally published 11.12.2007 - AA
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Now you tell me.
Ooh. Is this tip just for cloth? The other day, I spilled wax all over my wood floors and a pair of patent leather shoes. Haven't even tried to get it out yet because I had no idea how to get it off the shoes.
I think you can put your shoes in the freezer for a bit and the wax should come right off (I've heard this tip but have never tried it). good luck!
That is the technique I always use too!!
Kitchen towels work as well as wax paper, I've also used this on a wooden table. Scraped as much as possible off with a plastic spatula first.
worked perfect, no stain....
Though a different type of surface, this might be of interest to this thread. We had party wax spilled on our porous terrazzo stairs. The ironing trick did not work completely. The folks at stonecare.com recommended D-limonene, a natural citrus solvent, to take up wax from stone and terrazzo. I tried a bit of De-Solv-it that we had in the house, also a citrus cleaner, and poof, the candle wax discoloration finally disappeared without harming our terrazzo.
Yes, the wax was having a party! To clarify, it was a wax mess left over from our fun housewarming party. ;-)
NicoleMarie. For the hardwood floors use your credit card to scrape it off. For the shoes - freeze as recommended above and very carefully push it with the corner of the credit card. Stay close to the wax and away from the patent leather. As a shoe lover I feel your pain. Hope this helps
very simple.....get some wax paper and an iron. Put the wax paper on the wax, turn on the iron (non-steam) and put the warm iron on top of the wax paper. The warm iron will melt the wax and the waxpaper will absorb the wax.
I use this method every time candle wax drips.
Don't turn on the heat very high, especially since your are dealing with velvet. Also, dont push the iron around. Press and lift....
you can also use a blow dryer to heat it up.
I had this happen to my velvet couch too. All you have to do is boil some water pour it all over the spilled wax (it melts the wax) than clean up the water. Worked perfectly:)
NicoleMarie - I know this may sound crazy, but get your hair dryer out for those hardwood floors. I lived in an old house with textured wallpaper and old old old hardwood floor. One afternoon, I knocked over a BRIGHT RED candle. It splattered across the wall and on the floor. With a friend, I used the hair dryer and wiped as it melted. I couldn't believe my eyes - the wallpaper was ivory and the red came right off. I believe I used a paper towel for the wiping. Good luck.... There's a lot you can do besides just scraping. Scraping is tedious and it doesn't even get it all....
Wow! Using the warm iron with the piece of paper was awesome! My boyfriend spilled wax on his brand new DC shoes and we tried to scrape them and it wouldn't work! The paper and warm iron made his shoes look brand new again...thanks.
I find that brown paper grocery-type bags work best for this. Periodically reposition the paper so that, after one section gets soaked with wax, you apply a fresh surface. And don't let the iron get too hot. I also find that sometimes, even though all the wax gets absorbed by the paper, a small stain can linger (in the case of colored wax).
I don't understand how wax paper would work in this context... wouldn't the warm iron melt the wax from the wax paper INTO the fabric, making matters worse?
For items that can fit into a freezer, the freezer trick definitely DOES work! I use it on our menorah all the time.
Ahhh! Thank you!! The previous occupant of my room left a major wax spill in the carpet and I had no idea how to fix it. I will be trying this out!
I also did this about 4 months ago. My cats knocked over a candle and wax went all over my beige carpet. So I also googled to clean it up. I used a spoon to scrap all the large bits, then using brown bags and a iron. I did this until no more wax was coming up on the paper. Now 4 months later dirt has attracted to where the wax once and now there are spots/stains. Any suggestions of what to do about those?
This has always been my favorite way to fix something you think is just ruined. My husband spilled a bright red candle all over the carpet a few years back, put some paper towels over it, irons and gone. GONE. not a trace of red or wax or anything. It really is neat. Almost makes you want to pour wax on your carpet...almost.
This is a great trick - my mom taught me how to do it on clothes when I was still a teen. I just had to do this to my carpet a couple of weeks ago, too (darned cats!) - it works wonderfully.
Oh thank god! I spilled wax on my carpet a week ago and haven't figured out how to get it out!
THANKS!
Agree with Pippa- don't use wax paper as it is already coated with wax. Different waxes melt at different temps, so a hairdryer might not work where an iron would definitely do it. Use newsprint or other absorbent paper, lots of it.
RobinCharlotte, try the citrus cleaner to remove the remnants that attract dirt but be sure to rinse with clean water afterward so you don't eat into the floor's finish.