Although the wood sculptures look delicate they are, in fact quite rugged. However they do appreciate some general care.
Dusting:
Feel free to dust regularly with either a soft cloth or feather duster. It is fine to use products such as Endust. Just spray it on the dust rag and not directly on to the sculpture. Be careful to not knock the belts or strings off their pulleys.
Moisture:
These kinetic sculptures are made out of wood and wood doesn’t mix well with moisture. Please don’t mount them where they will be exposed to weather or extreme moisture. Swimming pool rooms are not a good location.
Moving:
Allow your kinetic sculpture to totally unwind before dismounting from the wall. Do NOT take a sculpture off of the wall for any reason without first taping all strings and belts in place! Blue painter’s tape works well. All recent wall sculptures include taping directions in the packet of directions that original shipped with the sculpture however if you can’t find those just tape wherever you think the spring or string might slip off from. Remember, if you are going to be remounting the sculpture in a new location most require the template to get the angle correct.
Storage:
Don't leave the sculptures stored in a horizontal position for long periods without supporting their wheels. Crumpled newspaper stuffed around the sculpture and between patterning wheels in a box is support enough to prevent the wheels from warping. Also, don’t wrap tightly in bubble wrap. We have found that also can cause warping.
Lubricating:
All sculptures built since the late 1980's have sealed stainless steel bearings that are not supposed to require lubricating. However, after many years of use, it can help if a sculpture starts running very slowly. Do not use WD-40. My preferred lubricant is Tri-Flow teflon lubricant, available in most hardware stores or bike shops. It is also available from Amazon here.Drip small amounts into the axle areas while the wall sculpture is off the wall on a horizontal surface. A customer, Eric Moeller put together a great pdf document outlining how he went about lubricating his sculpture and sent it on for other owners. Click here to review his guidelines for lubricating a kinetic sculpture. Thanks Eric!