A question for those with an artistic eye

[daepp]

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

[Noah930]

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.

[M.D. Holloway]

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.

[daepp]

Here are the photos - d'oh!





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

[tcar]

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.

[Noah930]

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.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

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

[stomachmonkey]

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.

[craigster59]

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.