Sun fading question PICS ADDED!!!

[Safflower]

I'm not sure where to find photos, but the sunfading section on the Preservation Project states that aluminum foil can have a yellowing effect on their vinyl.
http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/body.html#SunFading
And I haven't heard of paper towels for sunfading not blocking the sun completely.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Never trust a website that endorses acne cream as a 'presevation' method. 
We know it's horribly detrimental to ponies, proven to cause irreversible, long term damage.  And cling wrap?  Oh heck no.  That's one of the worst materials you can put next to anything.  One of my AMS professors had us wrapping pencils in cling wrap and leaving them somewhere warm for a week, after which the paint literally falls off the pencil.  It was horrifying.  There's always an inherent risk to doing restoration or conservation, but it's something that should be warned about clearly up front.

That said, nothing's impossible when dealing with plastics, because 'plastic' isn't one material.  It's hundreds of thousands of different composite recipes with wildly differing properties, and what works on one given blend may not work on another.  But I'm not inclined to believe one person says aluminum foil yellowed a pony without any sources, proof, or knowing what other variables may have been involved, when many others have used it and not experienced any problems.  That strongly suggests there's something else going on.  Commonality doesn't always equate to causation.

If you can see light through a material, it's not going to block UV. Paper towels are not effective.  It needs to be opaque.

[Safflower]

Wait, you are saying that we shouldn't trust the Preservation Project because it still has acne cream as a method? That is a little unfair for all the other perfectly fine methods Far Dreamer has gathered and put on a website the rest of us can view for free.

About cling wrap, I doubt it would be unsafe to ponies. It is food safe, so if the food is ok to eat after being exposed for a while, porous vinyl and nylon should be okay too. Ponies do not equal paint. Also, there are no reported cases of anything happening if you use cling wrap.

While you could double the paper towels, I think you are right. Some are pretty thin. And until we get more proof that aluminum foil stains, it is probably fine to use it. But no one has said paper towels haven't done their job either. And if people are still worried, they could try parchment foil like glitterball recommended

[Baby Sugarberry]

Ponies have paint on them.  Are they affected by cling wrap?  I don't know; and I doubt anyone's done the comprehensive testing needed to find out conclusively.  The fact remains the material is known to be volatile and there are safer alternatives.

I don't trust the 'preservation project' for the following reasons:

- leaving the cautions and warnings mostly buried in links to offsite threads that many people won't check
- recommending unsafe materials / processes known by the general community to be harmful
- the use of 'preservation' when in fact what they're advocating is 'restoration'
- problem materials without sources/citation/proof - ex. aluminum foil. 
- other materials / methods given without mention of their dangers/drawbacks

When you put up information of this nature, you assume a duty to be forthright about the risks and outcomes, and to maintain up-to-date information if you can.  The fact that the acne cream section links to topics where multiple people vehemently refute it as a treatment method tells me the author is aware of the problem yet still decided to endorse it.  That is unacceptable to me as someone who has studied conservation and museum science; it's unethical. 

I laud the initiative and purpose of helping others, but I cannot condone the methods.