Sponge Question?

I hope this isn't a dumb question:-)
I was just wondering, when you wash your sponges in the washing machine, do you use laundry soap or just hot water? I've been washing mine w/ soap(just a little).

Oh crap I just throw mine in with my regular laundry. (In a mesh bag of course). Hmmm....

I will be interested to hear what others say.

I used to wash them on the washer machine with reg. soap, until I noticed that they were leaving tiny crumbles on the mesh bag. After that I wash them by hand using a reg. hand bar soap. I soak them on hot water first and let the colors run..

I either soak them in hot water the wash them with soap by hand. Or I've just recently washed them in the washing machine in a net bag on a hot cycle with my towels that I use for face painting. Both seem fine to me.

Machine, soap and a lil bit of bleach on warm

I can attest to the fact that DFX/TAG black will horrifically stain a certain type of microfiber (that nothing can get out or even "soften": bleach, OxyClean, GooGone, stain remover). Most clothes are not made out of this microfiber, but a few details might be. I would not recomment putting it in with your clothes! Towels yes! Maybe sheets...

I once threw a bag of sponges in the washer and had a film of paint in the bucket of the machine... I've washed them by hand since.

I've always washed my sponges by hand...until I heard of the mesh bag method. I threw them into my washer with some dark dirty towels once, but they didn't come anywhere near as clean as when I wash them by hand.
I used to use Ivory soap, but have just recently discovered the BEST bar hand soap for brushes & sponges.
It's called Purity and is sold online at www.ReefBotanicals.com
It's cleaned some old stains from my sponges (not perfectly clean mind you, but cleaner than with the Ivory.)
And my brushes, better than Masters Brush Cleaner, it even does a great job taking the Wolfe black out of my Royal Majestics....seriously!

I handwash with Ivory or Purity (only if they are badly stained cause it is $5 a bar!!!) and then into a mesh bag in a regular load of laundry...

I find that if you leave the sponges to soak, after washing and rinsing, for a day or so that almost everything comes out...

I wash mine w/ ivory & then was rewashing in the machine w/ laundry soap, but they're still stained. I know they're clean & sanitized, but still... they look so bad. I think I'll try the soaking method.

When I'm painting the used sponges go into a bucket of water, and I dump my "dirty" water in the same bucket.

At home I wash them with Ivory, and rinse them a couple of times, squeezing them repeatedly... until the last rinse is pretty clear. Then fill up the bucket with hot water and let them soak. I use ice cream buckets and fill them to the brim then force the lid on so all the sponges are submerged.

Overnight at least, or a few days if I forget about them, later I wil dump out the water which now has turned greyish and there is often some paint residue in the bottom of the bucket. Another rinse with clean water and they are pretty much done (just a tiny trace of Grimas purple on the soft white sponges, the tack sponges are spotless.)

I have always washed my sponges by hand....don't wanna risk staining any clothing in the machine.

I second Shannon's soaking method.

although Shannon, you know what was staining my sponges the worst?.
Bach Blue.......seriously!
(it's all but gone now)

Linda... No?! Seriously? I've never had Bach Blue linger or stain anything.

And you rinse out the sponges at least before putting in the washing machine! Otherwise, yeah, you'll get some interesting effects on your other fabrics!

Yep...nice lovely turquouse stains on my Wolfe sponges.
Maybe it's just those sponges, or because I let it dry on the sponge before I washed them (this was before I started tossing them in a bucket of water.) The more I wash them the lighter the stain gets though.

HA!~ you should have seen me at FABAIC at the Kryolan booth.....
"Which one is closest to this...um, piece of Bach Blue I have left?"
HAHAHAHA!~