A question for those with an artistic eye
 

My wife's deceased grandfather was a gardener and a tinkerer. He was not really sophisticated but was a very happy and contented man. He made the wind chime below out of some very cheap materials – most notably 5 pieces of galvanized steel conduit. It fell apart many years ago but for we saved it out of nostalgia. I came across it while cleaning out the attic after Christmas and thought it would be nice if I could clean it up and surprise her with it.

That said, the steel doesn’t really want to clean up. I was therefore thinking of painting or powder coating it. Anyone have any suggestions on colors? I thought of:
- gold
- copper
- silver
- red

Any other thoughts. I can’t think of anything to do with the plastic except clean it.

TIA

David

Got any pics? I would lean towards just cleaning it and putting it back together, if you're trying to preserve the memory of a guy.

if you were to clean it, is it passable to anodize it? A shiny red, blue or green is pretty cool. Multiple colors for the different tones would be nice.

Here are the photos - d'oh!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263420406.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263420432.jpg

Nostalgia or not, it is almost too ugly to hang as is.

I would NOT paint it if he didn't.

Galvanized pipe is not mirror shiny anyway.

Scrub w/ a scruffy pad?

Polish/clean the plastic pieces.

Painting would change the tone anyway.

I'd keep the chimes the way they are (other than cleaning). If the plastic doesn't look what you'd consider presentable, you could swap that out for new pieces. I think that would preserve the spirit of what you're trying to do.

CONVERTIBLE WINDOW POLISH FOR THE ACRYLIC parts, green scrubbe for the galv, and maybe replace the chains

Agree with the others.

Don't cover the patina. Clean it as best as possible.

FWIW I don't think it's fugly and it has memories, combined with your desire to do something special for your wife.

That's it's real value.

Your Wife's memories are based on it's present look and condition. Assemble it salvaging as many parts as possible. When she hangs it in a prominent place and gives you that look, you'll know you did good.