We sure felt like manual labourers as we hosed down and scrubbed the canvas sheets that we are going to ship to Australia as the country has a strict import policy to prevent foreign soil contamination. But it didn’t work as the mud stains couldn’t be removed. So, we added some liquid soap in hope that it would do us some good. It did, with some hard scrubbing, but the most stubborn of stains still refuse to go away.

Then we tried thinner, which is commonly used as paint remover, and of course that went horribly wrong as the paint came off with it too. We thought maybe a little high-pressure water jet could make the difference but apparently it didn’t. Even using kerosene had no effect. They will look good initially but after leaving them to dry in the sun, they always end up looking unwashed.

We had been working on these sheets for hours during the week and seeing no progress just deflates our drive and optimism. It’s almost impossible to get them looking spanking new especially after so many years of usage. We’re just so tempted to light a match, torch those canvases, and buy some new ones. Now, if we could just get some funding…