Boiling Sponges?

I went to a clown jam once and a more experienced face painter told me that she boils her sponges and it gets everything out. Does anyone else do this? I want to try it but since I'm a Newbie I don't have extra sponges to spare. Any thoughts?

Yep. I wash sponges in the washing machine then I boil the water then put the sponges in it for a few minutes then line dry in the sun.. gets all the nasties out. Doesn;t hurt them if the sponges are good quality. I do one sponge per child and after a long festival day some of them have been sitting in the bucket all day so I want to be sure they are clean.

I will have to try that out!

Very interesting, I had never heard this. Gonna give it a try.

Does it remove the stains. I hate how stained up my sponges are. They look so dirty even though they are not.

Never thought to do this! I usually just wash them in the washing machine. I wonder if you could put them in a dish washer on sanitize?

hmm, I'll have to try this! I too usually just throw them all in a zippered mesh delicates bag and put the whole thing in the washing machine and then in the dryer and I hang the whole bag up to dry. I too only use one sponge per child, though I don't have much issue with staining as my sponges are all different colors to begin with. I use cut up peanut sponges like what you use for a car wash and have all kinds of colors. the sponges tend to look cleaner longer that way, especially since I try to match the paint colors to the sponges.

Yay can't wait to try this out. Thanks for the help JBM

I have a lemon like soap that gets pretty much everything out and then they go in the washing machine.

wmeventservices wrote:Does it remove the stains. I hate how stained up my sponges are. They look so dirty even though they are not.

Take your sponges, rub them on a wet bar of ivory soap... will take the stains away. What I do is take a plastic container with a bar of Ivory soap and some water, rub each sponge on the bar and squish soap into it. Then I throw them full of soap into the washing machine and they look good as new.

Never thought about boiling them. I do use hot water when I'm washing them. I buy a pink bar soap at the dollar store. It's really good and get rid of all the stains.
I hate carrying stained sponges.

SuzySparkles wrote:
Take your sponges, rub them on a wet bar of ivory soap... will take the stains away. What I do is take a plastic container with a bar of Ivory soap and some water, rub each sponge on the bar and squish soap into it. Then I throw them full of soap into the washing machine and they look good as new.

Even DFX and TAG stains come out this way? I wash with ivory soap the same way you do, but do not put them in the washer afterwards. Most stains come out but those pesky metalix and some greens stick around.

I throw my used sponges in a bucket w/ water at the gig. This keeps the paint wet & helps prevent staining(this bucket is also where I dump my old water). When I get home I wash the sponges w/ Ivory Soap & rinse them very well. I then put them in a mesh bag & wash them on hot in the washing machine. I air dry them. I'm curious about the boiling water... just to help sterelize?

Never boiled mine and they aren't stained.

Keep them wet after use, then wash with Ivory (or other glycerine soap) and hot water, then the machine and either dryer or airdry (depends when I need them again).

Depending on the size of the gig, I'll put them in the dirty water or in a plastic baggy to stay wet. Then I wash when I get home.