Thursday, September 2, 2010

The wonders of White Vinegar!

White Vinegar, such an unassuming, quiet little thing, yet with so many talents!
Use it for household cleaning,  window cleaning, deodorizing, toilet cleaner, as a rinse aid, to kill weeds, and slugs, discourage cats from using your flower bed as their private toilet, get rid of ants, as an antiseptic for grazes, removing rust, keeping flies away... and after that lot, have a well deserved sit down with a bowl of hot chips sprinkled with vinegar!
These are just some of the uses I know of and use, there will be many, many more, what do you use white vinegar for?
You will notice that my bottle is empty, I'm sure the supermarket must think I drink it, or own a chip shop, I seem to buy a bottle every time I go near the place!
The reason it is empty today is that I have been trying out an exciting new use for it, which I read on Dolls And Daydreams Blog after reading their post on Facebook. Setting ink after printing with an ink jet printer onto fabric!!
You may remember that I have been experimenting with this, using Jac paper when I had no freezer paper to attach the fabric to, and printing my desgins and the images I created for my wall graphics onto fabric to stitch onto the pile of bags I have sitting here patiently waiting to be used. All went well until it came to setting the ink...
...the chemical laden products that you can buy are not only expensive but hard to find, so I was really excited to see this post, claiming that good old White Vinegar does the trick!! Needless to say, I dashed off right away, grabbed my faithful bottle, a bowl and my images and set to it soaking them one by one.
They are now all hanging up to air dry.
No I'm not trying to prove how patient I am, believe me the idea of using the hairdryer as suggested by Sarah on the blog, is more than appealing, but sadly my hairdryer blew up, quite spectacularly actually, with an odd bang-pop-whoosh sound and a big flash,  a few days ago when my daughter turned it on, so that option is a no go. (Oh yes, she's fine, thanks for worrying, it shorted out, gave her a fright but no electrocution!)
So now I wait, hoping that the sun will come out and trying to resist the urge to take the fabric outside onto my deck and dance around waving it in the air. Once they are dry I'm going to set to it trying to get the ink out, wash it, scrub it, put it through all the rigorous tests I can think of, and see what happens!
I have some cards to collect from the printers so I might go and do that to take my mind off the waiting. Funnily enough the printers is right next door to the chip shop and all this playing with vinegar has left me hungry...!

8 comments:

  1. Well, surprising enough, I have never used white vinegar, I now will get a bottle and attack everything in site with it, cheers Marie

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  2. Lol Marie! Well please don't blame me when your family ask what the smell is! ;) Actually it doesn't seem to leave a smell when you use it for cleaning. I use it instead of rinse aid in the dishwasher too, and everything comes out sparkling and not smelly!

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  3. Hi Marie, so glad you're giving it a shot! I have no idea if it's the combo of the high heat and vinegar or if it's the vinegar alone :) I guess we'll find out!

    Take care and stay in touch!

    Sarah

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  4. Yes, it is great too for using in the washing, cheaper than nappy san and it removes those awful underarm stains. I also used it to remove some of those old stains on my doilies and it worked a charm! Will definitely go out and invest in a few bottles for cleaning with. I know it is a great cat pee deterrent!! and helps remove the smell if they have sprayed. Have fun xx

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  5. Oh! I'm so glad that you posted about white vinegar. We go through at least 2 liters a week! Vinegar and baking soda -- they truly never cease to amaze me. I've never heard of this use for it though -- I'll definitely check out the article and am curious to hear how it turns out for you. ~ Jen

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  6. The smallest one is now dry, so I'm going to iron it on hot setting to try and aid the setting process, then give it a scrub!
    Yes Jen we go through packets of baking soda too, and borax but not as fast!
    I'll take some photos when I'm done scrubbing!

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  7. I am inspired to go and buy white vinegar - it sounds fantastic. I had no idea it could be used for such a vast array of things. Brilliant!

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  8. OMG - who knew (probably everyone except me)?! I will be making a trip to the supermarket to buy some today :) And I can't wait to hear how it works as a setting agent.

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