Dragon

The first dragons have emerged from the fiery pit of the foundry and have matured into full fledged beautiful door handles. We have enjoyed seeing these fiery monsters take shape and hope others will enjoy the whimsy of this new piece. A new dragon page has been added to our website and the new family member takes the center spot on our Netsuke page where you will find other animal knobs.

All of our work including our  fanciful pieces must also meet the functional demands of door hardware. To make the dragon casting into a functioning door handle it was fitted with a pre-machined  ferrule that was welded to the open end of the dragon. The inner section of our ferrule is machined to fit an 8mm square spindle. The spindle serves as a connecting rod and allows 2 knobs to be connected to make an interior door set.

The dragon rose will be used as a cylinder, turn piece or knob rose and the center area will be machined according to the size of the center hole needed.

The rose uses scaly dragon knuckles to create 4 decorative rows that meet in the center.

 For the dragon’s turn piece we looked to the Willow collection and found the bundle of Willow leaves to be a perfect match. We were considering a turn piece shaped as a hooked dragon toe but think this may be too kitsch of a statement.

Dragon and Netsuke Door Knobs

Dragon and Netsuke Door Knobs

Dragons appear in fictional literature and are brilliantly described in the witty tale “Guards,Guards!” by Terry Pratchett. More recently they were portrayed as loyal protective demons in “Game of Thrones”. So, it will come as no surprise that we are adding a dragon door knob to our Netsuke collection.

Credit also needs to be given to Dr. Lisa Allen who ordered a Netsuke bumble bee and asked if we had plans for a dragon knob. We had not been planning an addition to the Netsuke collection so as an alternative, suggested Lisa order the lizard knob. If one looks at the portrayal of dragons in different times and cultures they range from serpentine winged creatures to horned scaly lizard-like creatures not unlike the Komodo “dragon” lizard found in Indonesia. Lisa was not to be persuaded by my lizard argument, so Martin turned to his sketch pad to wait for dragon inspiration.

Original Pattern Carved in High Density Foam - Finer Details then Carved into Applied Gesso

What follows is an account of how the dragon knob was designed, carved and by use of lost wax casting will soon take flight as a bronze door knob.

As the Dragon knob will become part of the Netsuke collection we used the compactness inherent in this collection as a focal point. This meant that the dragon had to fold in and around itself and cling tightly to the center of the knob to form an ergonomically pleasing shape that had few jagged protrusions. The tight compact and smooth design characterizes the bee, lizard, rabbit and frog knobs and is why the collection is named Netsuke after the early smooth animal toggles used as fasteners for garments and satchels in traditional Japanese clothing.