Sunlight and Taxidermy Fading

[Hoopi]

Hi: I am hoping that a taxidermist will chime in on this thread. I have a bunch of mounts done in Africa and I want to put them on the wall. The problem is they will be near a south facing window which may let in direct and indriect light that could damage or fade the hair on my precious taxidermy.

Can I by a film to put on the widows to protect them or should I put up a block-out blind to filter all the sunlight entirely? I found kits on line that block out 99% of the UV...will this be enough?

Will indirect light from a window damage the hair colour on my trophies?

Thanks,

Hoopi

[HELL]

I'd call Shadow Tint in Calgary they have window applications that protect from UV rays etc

[motox208]

Blinds work good. That's all I use. If room allows set animals where they will not sit in direct sunlight for all or most of the day.

[SugarCreek]

I'm not sure what would be effective for your windows.....the safest thing to do is to keep the mounts away from any direct sunlight or heat (fireplaces, heat registers, etc).

I once saw a mount that was hanging in living room beside a small, tall, but narrow window. You could draw a line down through the center of the mount as the sun completely bleached out all the paint on the eye, part of the nose and all the hair...pretty wild...but definately hit home how strong the sun is and how damaging it can be.

Food for thought.......Marco

[Hoopi]

Hi: I have no choice, it has to go near this window. I am going to buy a blind for it.

Thanks

Hoopi

[Pudelpointer]

Reflected (indirect) light can damage and bleach hair as well. One of my uncle's had a large MD mount in his front room for decades. It was hung quite high on the wall and placed so that it would never receive direct light, but it bleached out to a uniform color.

Of course it didn't help that him and his wife smoked.... A LOT, and the smoke stained the hair very badly. No amount of washing / cleaning could fix it. I think my cousin still had the mount in his garage or basement. Too bad, as it is one of the biggest MD bucks I have ever seen taken in BC.

[Roughneck Country]

Was in Cabelas in Gonzalez (SP?) Louisiana and they had massive sky lights above their center mountain with all the taxidermy on it the mounts were all bleached almost white. I couldnt believe the color of the elk and Grizz was almost completly white. the big Horn mount had virtually no color left either. The only animals that still looked good were the dall sheep, mountain goat, and polar bear. I couldnt believe something would sun bleach that bad!