Custom Designed Door Hardware some common misunderstandings

During the Covid lock down and after weeks of cooking and reading many turned their energies to drawing designs on their mobile devices and in their sketch pads.

This explains why there has been a flood of emails from consumers and the occasional designer who have an idea for a custom door handle they would like made. In the next few posts, I will be tackling the progressive stages involved from taking a design idea to creating a functional door handle or door pull. These 2 types of hardware are not synonymous as a door handle needs to be designed and engineered so that the knob or lever parts can turn and latch whereas a door pull has no moving parts.

So, let’s begin with the design process and see what needs to be considered.

One design still on the drawing board

Martin Pierce is constantly drawing ideas for door pulls and these typically start with a doodle or sketch done old style with a pencil and sketch book. Many of you will be equally skilled using your mobile device to create a digital drawing and we can consider these provided they are either pdf or jpegs. Regardless of medium the sketch will only be useful if it includes a profile or side view that shows the shape and curvature of the piece and whether it is suitable to work as a grip or pull for your hand (see the palm tree design above) . If you can’t visualize and accurately draw the profile, then it is time for you to re-think your hobbies. However, if you think your design does have potential then please make sure to copyright it even if this is the home version of mailing yourself a copy noting the date and with your signature.

For the ambitious who set out to design a handle they must also design the rose or back-plate. If the handle is to be fixed, then the task is easier as the rose/plate simply must be wide enough to be fastened to the door with screws that will attach both the rose and the knob or lever that will be welded to it. The back-plate and knob/lever are separate castings, and I will explain in a subsequent post why they cannot be created as one casting as well as what additional design drawings are required for a functional door set.

The scale and dimensions of your handle need to be added to your design including the depth for your profile. The depth or thickness of your design will have a direct impact on the weight of the cast handle. The heavier the piece the higher the cost as more bronze or stainless steel will be used in casting.

Making a door handle black - patination versus powder coating

Alloys like steel and bronze can be colored by immersion in a chemical patina such as the M20 chemical from Birchwood which is suitable for bronze or by baking on a layer of pigment powder to the surface of the handle. Neither method is superior to the other, but both have different benefits.

316 Stainless steel is better suited to powder coating as this type of steel is hard, dense and corrosion resistant making it difficult for chemicals to penetrate or to form a chemical bond with. Our Morphic and Ergo collections are typically cast in 316 stainless steel an alloy that lends itself to contemporary door handle designs.
Copper is the primary metal in bronze, and it will readily react and oxidize when exposed to acidic chemicals to form a new micro thin layer. The color that develops through this conversion of copper will depend on the chemicals used and the colors can range from blue greens to red browns to black.  To create black, we use M20 a product made by Birchwood Technologies and one that contains selenious acid which is the component that oxidizes the copper turning it brown or black depending on the number of applications and length of each treatment. As the depth of color can be built up over several immersions it is method well suited to a patina where you want a range of color and a more organic appearance. As the patina is micro-thin several layers can be built up and then sanded back to reveal a range of color. If a uniform effect is wanted then the handle can be immersed in a bath of this solution several times to develop an even color of the required darkness.

By comparison powder coating works well on 316 stainless steel as the pigmented layer is baked on to the surface of the piece and no penetration of the surface occurs. Powder coating offers a wider and more controllable range of color and luster with a wide range of standard colors and custom mixes available from companies like Prismatic who offer a choice of over 6,000 colors. https://www.prismaticpowders.com

Slim but Strong – using Cabinet Pulls for Closet Doors

The Ergo 12” cabinet pull is a slim curvaceous and very strong piece that belies its delicate features. It is cast either in 316 stainless steel or silicon bronze and both alloys perform well in terms of tensile strength. In other posts I have described how the chemistry of each, and the method of manufacturing impacts the strength, corrosion resistance and malleability of each alloy.
Tensile strength is measured in terms of yield strength and ultimate strength. The former indicates the metals’ ability to be stressed to the point where it is distorted or does not return to its original cast shape. Ultimate strength refers to the breaking point of a metal (see footnotes at the end of this post).
Recently the Ergo cabinet pull has been specified for use on closet doors and the customer needed reassurance that the pull was strong enough to act as a door pull. To demonstrate this, I used a heavy display board laden with several pieces and weighing a total of 40lbs and easily lifted it using the Ergo pull.

While an alloys strength is important if a pull is to be used for a heavy door it is worth noting that the hinges of the door take the brunt of the heavy lifting and their number and strength will have a greater bearing on the pull’s performance.

The scale of a cabinet pull is equally important when assessing its suitability as a door pull. The closet doors in this instance were double doors each measuring 18” W by 90”H so worked well with a 12” pull.

Step by Step process till a sophisticated 2 tone gem is created;

1. Red Wax Replicas made in a rubber mold for every pull one wax will be made; each will be shelled then invested with 316 stainless steel

2. Once cast the pieces are ground to remove the gates, the pieces are cleaned and then each is polished on all sides

3. Top photo if you zoom in you will see how the pull is masked with blue tape - once in place the piece is sand polished with a fine grit of sand to create a satin finish. The end result is a 2 tone polished-satin finish.

To learn more about how metals vary in tensile strength.

Grand Entry Doors - Using Cremone Bolts to Secure Tall Doors

The Heroic Hedgerow door grip as is clear from its name is a substantial piece whose size, detail and beauty make it a perfect choice for large scaled single or double entry doors. For security, we recommend a mortise lock and use the American made Accurate mortise lock, an industry leader known for their superior locks. The lock is incorporated using an unobtrusive rose and a keyed mortise deadbolt whose size does not detract from the dramatic tree grips.

Large double doors can be made even more secure with a rod bolt that when engaged locks the door into the header and threshold. These types of bolt are often referred to as Cremone bolts or Espagnolettes and they have been used for centuries. The less mechanized form of this bolt is available for our Willow collection. We are currently developing a mechanized and long form of this bolt for both the Willow and Hedgerow collections.

Our motivation to extend the Cremone bolt collection stems from the limitations of the multi-point lock which is the modern-day equivalent to the Espagnolettes. Multi-point locks are designed to be concealed within the door stile and usually function with an exterior lever. Door levers are necessarily small in scale as they need to be easy to grip and depress by even the smallest of hands. The escutcheon needs to be proportional to the lever and the result is a handle set that is overshadowed by the door. Some multi-point locks use a knob to activate the lock but again the scale of this is inappropriate for larger doors. While certain manufacturers appear to offer a multi-point grip.

Seagulls and Bears – unusual Hollywood neighbors

Unlike much of the country winter in Hollywood is usually warm and sunny making it a good time to enjoy a long walk to the historical Lake Hollywood aka the Mulholland dam.

Spending more time at my home-office I have become aware of the variety of birds who visit ranging from the melodious bulbuls and song sparrows to the deep throated sonorous crows and ravens. While seagulls may not be gifted with such distinctive voices, they make up for this with their sheer numbers and easy to follow daily trajectory to the small lake nestled below the Hollywood sign.

Hundreds of Seagulls resting in the morning sun on Lake Hollywood

The Mulholland Dam was constructed as a reservoir in the 1920’s and was named after the historical legend who is associated with its beleaguered history. The dam was almost identical in design to the St. Francis dam that sadly collapsed and killed hundreds of residents in the area we now know as Valencia or Santa Clarita. The St. Francis tragedy caused a public outcry and demands that the new dam be scrapped. As an alternative the water level of the dam was permanently limited to well below design capacity and the area south of the buttress was backfilled with vast amounts of soil and vegetation that now conceal the damns presence. The result over 90 years later is that dam no longer functions as a reservoir but as a lake that is home to thousands of seagulls and other water birds. The area south of the lake has beautifully matured with native shrubs and tall pines all guarded by a row of bear gargoyles in honor of our state residents.

 To see examples of how birds inspire our work.

Swallow cabinet pull

https://www.martinpierce.com/unusual-cabinet-pulls-insect-collection

To read more about the history of Lake Hollywood please visit:

https://la.curbed.com/2019/2/5/17434640/william-mulholland-dam-collapse-water-los-angeles-history

https://waterandpower.org/museum/Mulholland_Dam_and_Hollywood_Reservoir.html

New Cabinet Pull Direction for 2021

In 2021 we will be gradually be re-formatting our website so that our unique cabinet knobs and pulls can be viewed in greater detail and from different perspectives. This project started in 2020 and it has been quite an undertaking requiring each piece to be photographed several times, then clearly outlined in Photoshop and re-created as a dimensional diagram. We hope the result will allow viewers to appreciate the beauty of each pull and see how each is installed with either a single mount or double screw mount. The new pages will go live when all 70 pieces have received this attention so these posts will be a preview of what is to come.

Our cabinet pulls have been reorganized according to their style and on the number, we could fit onto one page for each collection. The size of the page did present a real challenge when it came to plants and creatures with somewhat arbitrary collections for flowers and plants and animals and flying creatures, but our hope is that viewers will be sufficiently inspired to browse all pages and not be deterred by categories.

The dragonfly is the piece we chose to represent our flying creatures and he/she is attached to with a single screw from the back of the cabinet drawer into the center post which is pre-drilled and screw ready, yes, all of our cabinet pulls come with screws.

The Hedgerow branch pull is attached with 2 screws also applied from the back of the cabinet drawer at a distance of 3 ½” between the centers of the screws. Many of our cabinet pulls can be adapted for surface mounting from the face of the piece but you will need to check with us to see if this is possible for the piece you are considering.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

In these dark times we do see some light at the end of the Covid tunnel and used our hopefulness and playfulness to create an imaginary tunnel with our real butterfly cabinet pulls.

May 2021 be a HAPPY YEAR for EVERYONE.

The small butterfly used here is one from our collection of flying creatures a rather whimsical and artistic collection of animal cabinet pulls. The patina used was a hot amber patina with black spots decorating the wings.

A New Angle on Cabinet Hardware

We are adding new pieces to our Morphic collection of cabinet pulls and will soon be launching new pages on our website to include these new additions. However, the Covid-19 challenge and the resulting home- work environment has hampered our progress so we will be releasing a preview of these new pieces as they are cast and photographed.

Morphic Corner Cabinet Pull

The new Morphic corner pull was designed as a 90° angled piece  that can be positioned at the top or bottom of upper or lower cabinet doors. The pull was designed to be non-directional and the 90° angle means that it will work on left or right-handed doors to form an easy to hold ergonomic pull. Math savvy readers should not confuse the handing of a door with the angle of the pull which is always a 90° right angle regardless of the way it is positioned on a door. Apparently, even if the pull is positioned at a 9:00 clock position and therefore left facing it is still a right angle! Thankfully doors have an easy to understand logic, if the hinges are on the left as you face the outside of the door then it is a left-handed door and vice versa.

 Process

The piece began as a sketch and from there it materialized as a three-dimensional pattern. The pattern was used to create a one-part rubber mold and   melted wax was poured into it  to create wax facsimiles. From here the waxes were shelled, fired and finally invested with molten metal. When cast in stainless steel we will be offering this in a brushed durable and easy to clean 316 stainless steel. We will also be making it available as a bronze casting for those seeking a warmer look for their kitchen cabinetry.

Hawaiian Theme Door Handle

Now that we have designed and carved the patterns for our new Orchid Door Pull, we have moved forward to create 5 molds and have used these to create the wax replicas of the patterns. The waxes will be shelled in a ceramic coating and once fired the wax will be removed so that the hollow shells can be filled with molten bronze.
The new door handle has been designed so that the flowers and stem can either be upward or downward in direction, for as orchid enthusiasts know, this is indeed the way they grow in nature. To accurately depict the flower buds the stamen will be pointing downwards, as in nature, regardless of the direction of the plant the bud is always upward with the stamen downward so that bees and other pollinators can fly into the flower and gather pollen to perpetuate the reproduction of the plant.
While it takes more time and material to create 5 molds this enables us to cast the sections separately thereby determining the direction of the handle when the bronze castings are welded together and the location of the decorative supporting leaves is decided. The supporting leaves will always be welded at the “top” of the orchid handle or put another way at the point where the stem begins its growth.

The patterns were carved in basswood and then sprayed with a grey primer to fill in the grain of the wood so that successive versions would be smooth

Red wax replicas made from a silicon mold that was filled with hot wax, the wax once cooled is removed and the process is repeated to create a batch of flower buds. The stamens will be made separately using another mold and the process will be repeated to create as many stamens as there are buds. Once cast the bronze stamen will be inserted into the bronze bud and welded in place.

Early Designs for A New Entry Door Pull

In May of this year we began to extend our orchid collection of cabinet pulls to include corner pieces and taller vertically positioned pulls and these can be seen in an earlier post. These earlier pieces work well as cabinet pulls and for interior doors but for an entry door we felt their scale was too petite and so began designs for a new door pull that would be substantial enough both physically and aesthetically for larger and heavier entry doors.

We wanted to continue the orchid collection using the same type of orchid bud but designed 2 leaf components for strength and also for style. The leaves are a departure from our other orchid designs and their fleshy appearance and channeled surfaces will provide a finishing point on the door face.

Carved in basswood, Martin sculpted a total of 5 orchid parts as patterns for his latex molds. The flower bud was carved in 2 parts, one part for the petals and one for the stamen. The petals and stamens will be cast separately and only later will they attached when the bronze castings are eventually welded together as a sculptural orchid handle.

The images shown here are scans of drawings from Martin’s sketch book which he keeps on hand at home to jot down ideas as they develop. By drawing a front and profile view Martin is able to plan how to deconstruct the design so that each section can be finely carved and so that each pattern can be easily molded with well positioned gates. The location of the gates will be critical if the wax is to flow easily without bubbles creating small voids.

The Urban Forest of Los Angeles

Before the city of Los Angles was veiled in a thick blanket of smoke from the Bobcat and other countless regional fires our daily walks would take us through the urban forest that beautifies this densely populated city. The rich variety and density of the tree population provides more than aesthetic relief but is a powerful tool in the fight against green-house gas pollution and rising temperatures.
The urban forest in Los Angeles is estimated at over 1 million trees, many are in the parks in and around the city but an increasing percentage are being planted and nurtured in streets within neighborhoods.
Organizations like our local Tree People work with tree deprived neighborhoods in planting and maintaining young trees during the first few years of their growth and the trees planted around our studio over 15 years ago are now vibrant and mature.
The well-being and continued growth of this forest benefits all who live here as the trees absorb carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and ground level ozone converting them through photosynthesis into oxygen making the air breathable at least some of the time. In Los Angeles County from Los Angeles city to Pasadena our current level for these pollutants is running from 165 to 279 on the AQI index or from poor air to hazardous air depending on proximity to the burn zone.
The tree canopy of our urban forest also helps mitigate some of the heat gains of global warming by providing shade and thereby reducing our energy consumption.
The Jacaranda tree we planted on our sidewalk and the succulents that surround it were one of our earlier investments into creating a small drought sensitive and shady sidewalk space.
The vertical wall that separates our studio from our neighbor became a vertical garden when we planted a ficus vine. This rampant plant has clung to the face of the concrete wall adding color to a boring grey backdrop as well as filtering the surrounding air.

Hedgerow Bronze Trees using the Ficus Vine at our studio as a canvas

The Camphor tree has powerful roots but a more creative approach to sidewalk repairs and new sidewalk planning can incorporate tree roots through with sidewalks that meander around the trees root berm.

A fifteen year old Jacaranda tree helps provide shade

Creative Ideas For A Sunroom - How to Make Cabinet Pulls Work for French Doors

A tropical plant and bee enthusiast reached out to me recently to see if we had any ideas for handles for her sunroom doors. The customer was on a limited budget and did not need or want operating door handles and had been looking at our “dummy” Netsuke bee and frog knobs. While both would have worked for her pair of French doors, she really wanted to use a plant motif as a bridge between her more formal living room and the more rustic casual sunroom it looked onto.

While cabinet pulls are by their function scaled for smaller doors and drawers some of our Hedgerow, Willow and Orchid designs are grander in scale and can work equally well as door pulls. The Hedgerow pull is a very stylized tree design vertical in direction and available as a left or right pull

Scale of Trees Allows them to work equally well as door or cabinet pulls

The orchid pull as has been detailed in other posts is a piece that is highly adaptive and can be used as a vertical or horizontal pull with a left or right sweep and as a custom order is available as either a left or right 90 degree pull that  is mounted to both door the stile and rail.

These pieces could have worked well as door pulls but the client had a  fondness for her large fern plant and shared an image she had of this very majestic fern tree. My curiosity was piqued and following a Google search I discovered that this tropical fern tree with its emerald green ferns and beautiful curled fronds was a native of New South Wales and Queensland.  Inspired by what I found I reviewed our fern cabinet pulls and by making some minor adjustments to the frond ends and by configuring them as pairs suggested that they could be as either vertical or horizontal door pulls as depicted here.

Door Handles For Yachts - 316 Stainless Steel Passivation versus Rust

In a previous post we analyzed the components of grades 304 and 316 stainless steel that make them rust resistant. Both contain chromium, and nickel and together these elements enable the outer surface of a casting to form a thin protective layer of chromium oxide that protects the lower surfaces and acts as a barrier to rust. However, only 316 stainless steel contains molybdenum which is a metal that specifically helps prevent rust caused by exposure to sea water or sodium chloride which is why this is the preferred steel for yachts and beach homes and why it is aptly described as marine grade stainless steel.
While 316 stainless steel in its production contains the necessary properties to prevent corrosion the thin nano thick protective film can be degraded and while the presence of nickel does help this layer self-heal and re-form the protective chromium oxide there may be occasions when the fixture will need to be treated.
Several years ago, we heard from a homeowner in Florida who reported that her 316 stainless steel handles was developing rust. On inspection we could see that sand and grease had adhered to the handle and it was these contaminants that were rusting. The handle itself was still sound and showed no structural decay, in other words, the steel was not actually rusting.

Morphic Entry Lever In 316 Stainless Steel Compare With Similar Handle After 10 Years In Image Below

This type of surface contamination can also occur when the stainless steel is machined especially if there are iron based metals in close proximity.
In both cases the surface can be cleaned or “passivated” by being immersed in a citric acid solution which will remove most contaminants and allow the surface to self-heal by forming a new passive layer of chromium oxide. I strongly recommend that you do not do this yourself but find a reputable passivation company in your area.

Morphic Entry Lever With Blue Powder Coat 10 Years After Installation

Marine grade steel is not only durable, but it polishes well and can be enhanced by using different finishing techniques or by adding color through powder coating. Powder coating is a durable way to add color to any stainless-steel fixture especially if it intended for outdoor use.

Thumb-latches and mortise locks - continued discussion

In the previous post we used a photograph of a mortise lock to identify and name the locks components which we will describe here in more detail.
The turn piece, deadbolt, and keyed cylinder act together to lock the door. When the key is turned inside the cylinder one clockwise turn will unlock and retract the deadbolt and conversely one anti-clockwise turn will throw the bolt. The key can also be used to retract the latch and open the door by being turned one more click clockwise. This sophisticated mechanism is useful when you have a bag of groceries as you can unlock and open the door with the key and simply pull the door open all with just one hand.
The turn piece has one function only to release or throw the deadbolt and if you are on the inside of the door with that same bag of groceries you will definitely need another hand to press down on the thumb latch or lever to open the door by retracting the latch.

In a similar way the thumb latch on the outside of the door and the corresponding thumb latch or lever on the inside of the door act together with the latch mechanism to open and close the door. Our Hedgerow entry sets are available either as thumb latch to lever sets or thumb latch to thumb latch and Accurate makes specific models for each configuration.

Upward Sweep of Hedgerow Branches

We use the Accurate mortise lock because it is a superior lock and made in the US. We also like the custom configurations that Accurate offer such as their disk insert mortise which is better suited to our more fluid and artistic trim designs. Our Willow and Hedgerow levers have branches and leaves that curve upwards bringing the lever closer to the turn piece. To prevent ones knuckles from colliding with the turn piece Accurate make a disk insert that allows the turn piece to be installed higher in the lock body.

Note How The Disk Insert Creates an Alternative Higher Positioned Port For The Turn Piece

Creative Use of Door Handles - In the Company of Art and Design

Carol Salb and Stacy Welch of Reddington Designs recently shared photos of a cabinet they designed using our Ergo door handles but with very original positioning.
The Ergo series, as it’s name suggests, focuses on functional shapes that are easy to grip and we hope pleasing to touch. To achieve an ergonomic shape we appreciate that left handed and right handed people will grip a pull differently. As a committed lefty who has spent many years coping with the challenges of a right hand world I was the ideal subject for Martin’s Ergo designs.

Andy Warhol’s Goethe Screen-prints - cabinet design and photo courtesy of Reddington Designs all rights reserved

We knew from Stacy and Carol that the Ergo handles needed to be customized in depth so that they projected less from the surface of the cabinet doors. What we didn’t realize is how they would re-position the handles to create a wonderfully fluid and visually interesting cabinet.
While the “handing” of each pull did not change the pulls were inverted but still retained their ergonomic design.

Ergo Entry Door Handle

The cabinet was designed by Carol and Stacy and made by Ayr Cabinets using a custom stain over rift oak. The piece has a lovely unorthodoxy and it’s upwards movement seems to defy gravity making it a perfect design for the pop-up TV it houses. The Ergo handles were originally designed as entry door handles but in the hands of a talented designer they can work equally well as cabinet door pulls.
The cabinet sits below 3 of Andy Warhol’s Goethe prints, a series based on the iconic painting of Goethe by Johann Tischbein.

Custom steel handles,modern entry pulls,contemporary door pulls,custom door pulls,unusual door pulls,Andy Warhol’s Goethe

Orchid Cabinet Pulls and Custom Variations

Orchid Cabinet Pulls custom variations

Our kitchen is home to a couple of orchid plants and the beautiful yellow Phalaenopsis is currently blooming. Like many, we find ourselves in awe at the incredible beauty and variety of this amazing family of plants and love to see them in their natural setting as was the case when we hiked in the mountains above Hanalei Bay during our trip to Kauai in September 2016.
This wonderful orchid was the model for both the spray orchid pull as well as the single orchid knob. Coincidentally we are being commissioned to adapt the spray so that it can be used with a more pronounced direction to act as a left or right pull and so that it can also be used vertically as a door pull.

While we may later decide to make 2 new patterns so that 2 permanent molds can be made for future castings, at this point we have decided to adapt each wax and will make the requisite number of left and right facing pieces and vertical pieces that will be then shelled and invested with bronze. The final pieces will be nickel plated to compliment the décor of the kitchen.
The flower section of the spray was designed to face upward making the pull horizontal and perfect for use as a drawer pull. Drawers unlike doors are not typically thought of in terms of their handing but we decided for this custom order to make a new pull that was the mirror image of the original which would result in a new right facing pull. The “handing” of the pull in this case is an aesthetic decision based on the direction of the stem and it’s buds and what appears most natural. In the image below we have marked the direction and handing for all 4 pieces.

Inspiring Entry Door - Bee Door Knobs and Insect Art

Choosing the right doorknob for our new insect paneled entry door was not a difficult task as we have 4 styles of animal and reptile to choose from. The carnivorous lizard would have been an obvious choice but as he occupies center stage on our entry gate, we decided to opt for the bumble bee knob.
The bumble bee is cast in bronze and we finished this set with a dark oil rubbed patina which plays well with both the red and black colors of our entry door. To accentuate the bees round abdomen and eyes and to highlight the ridges on the honeycomb back plate we lightened these sections for contrast.

The honeycomb back-plate can function as both an escutcheon for the bee knob or as trim that can be used to house a keyed cylinder. The bee knob when turned activates a latch that opens the door and when released keeps the door closed. The honeycomb is machined to take a spindle that passes through the port of the latch to activate the latch and to keep the knobs firmly attached to each other.

The honey comb for the keyed cylinder is machined on the outside with a large 1 3/8” hole to house the keyed cylinder and on the inside with a small ½” to house the turn piece that enables the door to be locked or unlocked from the inside. If you study the photo of the inside trim you will notice that the turn piece is styled on a small cockchafer beetle.

Our entry door took several weeks to create and our posts document how the panels were created so if you want to turn one of your doors into a gallery of bird, animal or flower paintings then please do read our earlier posts of japanning and gold leafing. Needless to say there is no limit to the subject matter for decorative panels, so harness your imagination and create something fabulous.

Japanned Gold Leaf Panels with Bumble Bee Knob

Custom Appliance Pull

We have now completed the custom Willow Appliance pull as can be seen from the photos here.
The custom pull was created by joining the right and left Willow cabinet handles to create the desired length of 17”. The length of the pull and shape of the sprig were perfectly suited to create this new item without our needing to substantially redesign the sprig and without the need to create a new pattern or mold. As discussed in an earlier post (Jan 16,2020) the new pull was created by melding and tooling 2 wax sprigs to create a single piece that was then shelled with several coats of a silica slurry before being fired to create a rigid shell.We cast these pieces in silicon bronze and then finished them in 3 different ways. The first photo below shows the effect achieved by finely buffing the bronze with successive grits of sanding compound. The deep undercuts created by the willow leaves create a shadow that adds subtle depth to the finished piece.

For a more dramatic pewter look we finished one piece using a full strength black oxide and gently removed a little of the solution around the edges of the leaves to create a very soft bronze glow, you will need to zoom into the second photo to understand what I mean.
For maximum contrast we finished the third piece with bold contrasting bands of black oxide that we removed in adjacent areas to create a striated piece.

Swallow Cabinet Pulls

The Barn swallow is the most widespread species of swallow and one we should be seeing soon in Los Angeles as they migrate north from South America. In the summer months Barn swallows can be seen in England when they make the long journey from sub saharan Africa. While the tail lengths and tail symmetry may vary slightly between these 2 types of Barn swallow, they share the same distinctive forked tail and body shape. The Barn swallow is insectivorous consuming insects on the wing as it flies in a darting agile manner scooping up bugs in its pathway. Growing up in England and then migrating to Los Angles has given us the opportunity to see both varieties of Barn swallow.

The swallow was, not surprisingly, the inspiration for Martin’s first bird pull created over 18 years ago and with it he sought to capture the grace and agility of its flying technique.
After making the swallow pull Martin was commissioned to make an original toy chest and was able to integrate the swallow both as a painted bird and sculpture in a scene of 4 swirling swallows.
The toy chest was made from cherry wood and the 3 painted swallows were created using the Japanning technique to create a slightly raised body in casein which was then gilt with white gold and colored with translucent pigmented glazes.

Toy Chest Detail

The swallow pull is one of our most popular cabinet pulls and we are currently completing an order for a flock of 9 birds. To accentuate the wing and tail feathers we applied a more concentrated patina to the body and head of the swallow but burnished the feathers making them brighter in contrast.

Shining Light On 2020 by Taking Stock Of Interesting Hardware Pieces

The end of the year means we literally must take stock of all our products and this in turn hopefully gives us a clue as to what to focus on in 2020. This necessary accounting nightmare does have a silver lining and counting turn pieces, door levers, roses and back-plates is almost a therapeutic chore akin to clearing out the hall closet. What we found in so doing was quite an assortment of odd items that we rarely make which I thought I would share with you to see if you could spot their function.
Take the picture below and hazard a guess as to its use.
The length of the willow sprig provides the clue to its function as a window lever used for a custom residence to open and lock a window which was situated high at arm’s length reach.

Willow Window Lever

The size of the lever below and the child sized back plate do not help identify this piece as a lever and escutcheon for a lift and slide locking window which we first came across in Venice and which was ordered recently for a San Francisco residence.
The slim back-plate and the position of the lever to hardware buffs should make this trim’s use for a multi-point door obvious. For those not familiar with multi- point locks they are frequently used on French doors and tall doors to latch the door into the frame at several points and thereby provide added security. The multi-point lock runs the full length of the door and the lever’s acts to release bolts into both the header and sill of the door and to lock the door in place.

Willow Multi-point trim for French Doors Willow Trim for Lift and Slide Window

The pieces below may look like head wear or fashion accessories, but they are very small 2” castings used to secure the top and bottom of a sliding willow bolt used in a similar way to the multi-point above but decidedly less mechanical in function.