There’s something I’ve been worried about when it comes to pencil display solutions that expose them to sunlight: is there a risk that the pencils/paint jobs turn yellow over time? I’m mainly worried about white paints like a Rotring 600 Pearl White, Staedtler 925 Pearl White etc. Since in my experience white plastic is typically what turns into this ugly yellow under a few years, and that makes me worried about my white pencils, plastic and metal alike
For example if they’re stored in Muji Acrylic drawers or something similar in long term, would that have such a risk? They wouldn’t be hit by sunlight directly but they’d be in a naturally well-lit room. Or are they better off being stored in the dark?
Yes, it can happen, especially with white plastics, but direct sunlight is the real enemy .
If the pencils are in a bright room but not getting direct sun, I wouldn’t worry much. Painted metal pencils are generally less likely to yellow than white plastic ones.
For long-term display, just keep them out of direct sunlight and, if possible, use UV-filtering acrylic. Dark storage is safest, but you definitely don’t need to hide them away just to preserve them.
I wanted to display my Godzilla collection because I have them in a really nice glass case, but I was afraid of exactly what you’re talking about. My home office—and my house in general—is pretty bright, with lots of windows and skylights, so there’s quite a bit of UV exposure.
Because of that, I ended up moving my Godzilla collection to my office at work. It’s a good-sized office, but there are no windows, and apparently commercial fluorescent overhead lighting gives off very little UV. I also checked with the vendor of the LED lights I installed in the display case, and they apparently produce little to no damaging UV either.
So hopefully I’ve found a way to display them without slowly destroying them.
