Sunfading questions

[Sukey]

I haven't sunfaded yet, but have some candidates who could use some work.  Please explain ways to do this and if there are certain ponies or certain colors that this should not be tried on. Thanks!

[Safflower]

The first thing you need to do is cover the symbols, blush, and eyes (all the paint.) You can use paint directly like this or you can saran wrap your pony and paint over that. I've also heard of people using tape like this. You can use tinfoil or paper towels to cover the hair. After that you can put her in the sun for however long it takes!

Some ponies can burn in the sun. Gingerbread, certain Starshines, and a few others tan and discolor. Who all do you have?

[Sukey]

The one I that made me want to try sunfading is a stained Oakley. I didn’t want to discolor him.  How long do you leave them in the sun\window?

[Safflower]

I haven't heard of Oakley discoloring. How long will depend on how much sunlight the area you live in gets and the stain. Sometimes it takes a few months, especially if it's cloudy, but if you have intense light it will go much faster. It's probably best to check on your ponies every week

[Haruna]

Yes, I agree with Safflower that the amount of time will just be however long it takes to get the stain out. For some reason I have this thought that lavender ponies like him might discolor during sunfading, but I'm not sure that will happen with yours because I've never heard of someone sunfading him before as he's so rare.

I've always sunfaded ponies outside in the Florida sun and that goes quickly (usually a week), but when you want to be careful of course less light plus more time is the way to go. Like Safflower said, keep checking on the pony you're working on

[Sukey]

The Oakley I found has a dark stain shaped like some sort of water mark. I've tried magic eraser and nail polish remover on the spot and neither did anything.

Is there a list of known ponies that cannot be sunfaded? I've read Gingerbread, Cherry Treats, and Starshine should not sunfaded.

Is there a list of good candidates? I've heard some say you can sunfade Quackers and some say you can't. I have a bunch of ponies that I would consider baity, but I would try to restore them if I could.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

There's a thread floating somewhere about ponies that are known to sunburn. Here's one that I found, but it looks like whether some ponies burn or not is not easily determined.
Do you get quicker results by sunfading outside versus in a window?

[Safflower]

Some Starshines can be sunfaded. Generally, the ones with white, harder, more opaque plastic can be while the ones with squishy and slightly translucent plastic cannot. There are a few threads like this one and this one but it's not a hard rule that a certain pony will tan (the exceptions being Cherry Treats and Gingerbread, it's a good idea not to sunfade them no matter what.) You can get vastly different results from pony to pony. If a pony is truly bait and/or you have heard none to few cases of them sunburning it's not too much to worry about

@tailrustedtealeaf I would think it would be quicker outside because the light is more direct versus being filtered through a window?

[Sukey]

Thanks, everyone for the post links and advice! I went back and read them all links. Wish me luck!

Edit* saw some posts about acne cream. Is that only on white ponies and can that be left on during sun fading? Is there a certain kind to buy?

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Thanks, everyone for the post links and advice! I went back and read them all links. Wish me luck!

Edit* saw some posts about acne cream. Is that only on white ponies and can that be left on during sun fading? Is there a certain kind to buy?

NO Acne Cream! NEVER apply acne cream to ponies, I assume the thread linked must have been from before people knew about the consequences of it? Acne cream really screws up ponies, it seems fine initially, then years down the road bleaches color out of their plastic. Never use it on ponies and disregard any recommendations that you use it (I know of at least one person who still uses it, don't do what they do). Don't use it, not worth the risk.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Acne cream has actually been shown to be very dangerous to ponies, so I'd recommend skipping it entirely.
In ponies with color, it has been known to leech the color out over time even after thorough rinsing. Even in ponies that can't show this damage, it can still spread to other ponies. It's not worth the risk.
Good luck on your sunfading! It's nice because it doesn't need any sort of creams on the pony-just make sure you protect the paint and hair.

[Sukey]

Ok thanks for the heads up!

[Safflower]

Yeah, never use acne cream. It can bleach the spots you applied it on, bleach spots you didn't apply it on, and if the treated pony comes in contact with others they can bleach too. It does more harm than good. This is a good thread with examples of damage.