Symbol rust and dust questions

[Taxel]

I picked up two ponies with rusted symbols at a flea market recently, and I don't really know what (if anything) I can or should do about it. One is Majesty without too much rust, and it looks very old and faded. The other is Starshine, with lots of little rust dots. One side feels sticky on the symbol, but she's still drying off so I dunno what's up with that. Is there anything I should do to their symbols? I don't mind the rust at all.

And dust! The place I'm living now is absolutely INSANE with dust. On July 17th I spent around 3-4 hours cleaning off everything in my room and completely reorganizing all of my displays entirely. About three weeks ago everything was so dusty it looked like I hadn't touched it in over a year and was dustier than things I literally didn't touch at all in years where I used to live. I'm trying to work something out with my dolls because that's so aggravating with their hair, but I don't know if I should be worried about the ponies. Most aren't mint so I'm not too worried, but I'd rather be safe than sorry (and there are a few I'm very paranoid about for silly sentimental reasons, of course). I cannot afford glass display cases or anything like that, or I'd just get some immediately. Can this extreme amount of dust harm ponies? I do clean them when it gets out of control, but 3-4 hours is a long time and a lot of work so I can't do it like daily or weekly.

[hathorcat]

Dust...*sigh*...the bane of my pony collecting existence! I have seen people who lay saran wrap over their ponies individually or as a group and then replace that every now and again to prevent dust reaching their ponies. Cool idea but not going to suit everyone who wants their ponies on open display.

I dont think dirt will out and out harm them per se but allowing it to collect for too long could make it a pain to remove and clean up - depend on the nature of the dust it could also settle into the plastic pores [kind of like pindot] or even cause minor discolouration BUT that completely depends on what kind of dust we are talking about as well as the humidity/temperature the ponies are stored in.

Personally its not something I would worry overly about as long as they are wiped down and brushed through with reasonable regularity.

On the rust and stickiness unfortunately there is nothing you can do with the rust on the glitter - its caused by the plasticiser leaking and getting the glitter, which does have a metal content of course, wet and it then rusts. You cant convert the glitter back. However, you can try removing the stains caused by the glitter - this will only work on the areas where there is no glitter present - so the sections the red rust stain has seeped into the plastic - your best bet for this is sun fading.

[kellyponyfeathers]

And Starshine almost always has symobl rust; that's very common with her.

[Oneleo1]

I use the Swiffer Duster every now and then to pick up the dust on the ponies Works pretty well! But you have to dust at least once a month.

As for the symbol rust, sadly the ponies with glitter symbols are prone to it, and it can not really be fixed

[Vintergatan]

When I used to live in Belgrade I had huge problems with dust and smog to the point where even the ponies I kept in drawers were dusty :S (so glad I moved!) even now I would never display them in the open though - I think I have a phobia of dust on ponies So I have them all stuck in the one big cabinet I bought for them ^^ at least they are clean and pretty But I do think that it might be enough to make some sort of transparent curtain over them. You can maybe have it open during the day and close it when you're not around or when sleeping?

As for whether they can destroy ponies, I would argue they can Some of my ponies that I had back in Belgrade have changed colour slightly. For example Baby Cuddles and Pictured are not the bright minty colour anymore, and many of my white ponies are now greyish. I guess these could be fixed with sunfading, but not if you live in Iceland
This said, of course, it could also be the smog and the fact that I washed them every few years at best, so it's a pretty extreme case, but I guess this is as bad as it gets (and t's not all that horrible)

[mlp4me]

Starshine is a tricky pony. I'd get her cleaned up the best you can, let her dry then give her a light cleaning with rubbing alcohol, it is supposed to help with plasticizer leak. Do not try to sunfade out any spots on this particular pony as she can sunburn.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I don't know about discoloration... but I do know that brushing dry pony hair that has dust in it, that's what causes the hair to snap and break.