Best way to clean up Liquid Metal?

So I recently delidded my 9850x3d. It was my 1st delid and my 1st time using liquid metal. When using LM to dissolve some of the solder during the delidding process, I made a huge mess trying to wipe off the LM with a paper towel. I ended up using a bunch of q-tips to "suck up" the LM with moderate success. What is the actual best method for quickly and effectively cleaning off LM without spreading it around everywhere and making a mess. Thanks!