Home : Laundry and Stains : Stains : A to Z of Stains : Grease : French chalk

French chalk to remove grease stains

To remove grease from silk, lay the silk on a table on top of a clean white cloth. cover the spot thickly with powdered French chalk. On this lay a sheet of blotting paper and over that a moderately hot iron. If the grease does not disappear at once, repeat process.

Visitors comments

excellent! Comments By: Pilar on 2007-06-17 Since I had no french chalk at home, I used some talcum powder instead, and the same procedure on an new ivory silk blouse. It worked immediately, no trace of the spot. Thank you!   Worked beautifully! Comments By: Gita on 2007-11-08 I was most dismayed to find two biggish spots of auto grease on my new silk sari. I tried the talcum powder treatment and the spots disappeared.   French Chalk / Talc Comments By: Roberta BSc on 2010-07-29 These are exactly the same thing. The name 'French Chalk' is an old one but a misnomer as, unlike ordinary chalk, it is not a form of Calcium Carbonate but rather Hydrated Magnesium Silicate which occurs in nature as the soft rock known as Talc. Presumably the name derives from the similarity in appearance of the two minerals. Chemically, they are easily distinguished by adding a dilute acid (eg 1 molar Hydrochloric Acid). If it fizzes (CO2), then it's chalk - if nothing happens, it's talc. Â