Frogs are one of 3 creatures in our door hardware collection that spring to mind as spooky Halloween draws near. Our Raven and Bat sculptures will make their appearance in later posts but now the spotlight shines down on our amphibian friends of the warty and smooth varieties.
Our frog doorknob bears warts that are more typical of their dry skinned shorter legged toad cousins. When Martin modelled the frog doorknob, he wanted to add a textural element that would also give the frog a grumpier persona and for the naturalists amongst us it should be noted that in nature quite a few frogs do have bumps.
The Halloween connection for Frogs is attributed to Shakespeare’s song of the witches from Macbeth where this ill-fated creature is added to the cauldron for the witch’s brew. In folk lore, contact with the bumpy epidermis of frogs when accompanied by the right spell could inflict warts on one’s victims.
The frog doorknob shown hear is mounted on a wreath of entwined willow leaves and being cast in bronze can be finished with a simple oil rubbed patina or with a hot patina to create verdigris.
Our smooth skinned frog cabinet pull is equally versatile and with the right hot patinas can be transformed to look like the poisonous dart frog found in the rain forests of central and south America.