Important: Safety Warning
This page describes practices involving highly flammable materials in ways that create a serious risk of fire or explosion.
This page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
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Removal of Spots and Stains: Silk
To Clean Silk with Potato Juice. -Grate two fair-sized clean raw potatoes into each pint of water used and strain through cheese cloth. Let the resulting liquor stand until the potato starch it contains settles to the bottom, then pour off the clear liquid and bottle it. Lay a washboard down flat, spread over this a clean cloth, and lay the silk upon it. Apply the potato juice with a sponge until the silk is clean, and afterwards rinse it in clear cold water.
To Clean Silk with Gasoline. - Gasoline and benzine may be applied to silk with a sponge, but this should be done by daylight and never in the vicinity of an open fire or flame of any kind. These liquids are highly volatile, producing a gas which will ignite and explode if it comes in contact with an open flame. After cleansing with gasoline or benzine rinse the silk in alcohol, Cleansing Mixtures for Silk.- Make a soap jelly by dissolving pure castile or other hard white soap or toilet soap in about four times its bulk of water. Take 1 pound of this soap and add 4 ounces of ammonia, the white of an egg, and a wineglassful of gin or tablespoonful of brandy. Mix thoroughly and strain through cheese cloth; dilute with a small quantity of soft soap. Spread the silk smoothly on a flat surface and apply the mixture with a sponge or nailbrush to both sides, taking care not to crease or wrinkle the fabric.