Ravens at Big Bear Alpine Zoo

The Raven sculpture is now taking shape as Martin develops a clearer understanding of this magnificent bird’s wing movement, body stance and general proportion. Having tentatively decided to sculpt a male in pre-flight position,  a visit to the Big Bear Zoo is making him question if this is the pose he wishes to capture as a sculpture.

Finding a live accessible raven has been a challenge as our local Los Angeles zoo could not help. However, the zoo at Big Bear next to Snow Summit has 2 pairs of ravens and we were allowed to freely photograph them. Day one proved frustrating as neither pair was in the mood to be photographed but on day two we were able to take some beautiful shots of their head profiles, plumage and talons.

Raven Profile

The zoo is well worth visiting and is just over 2 hours by car from Los Angeles and offers a wonderful range of animals including timber wolves, raccoons, coyotes and 2 snow leopards. As they state on their site ” The Big Bear Alpine Zoo is a rehabilitation facility offering injured, orphaned and imprinted wild animals a safe haven, temporarily while they heal, or permanently, as they are unable to survive on their own. We are extremely proud that 90% of all the animals brought to us for rehabilitation are successfully released back into their native environment.”

Plumage and back talon detail

Equipped with a better understanding of these 4 ravens Martin will turn his focus back to his drawing board to decide what changes he will make to his initial concept drawings.By year end we hope to have a new bird sculpture to add to our collection of bronze sculptures.

New Raven Sculpture Takes Shape

Following on in the quest for a perfect raven sculpture Martin has drawn his intended subject side on and full scale at 22” from tip of tail to tip of beak.  Using old school techniques to maintain the bird’s proportions he drew the raven on a 1” size grid and then increased the grid to 2” to achieve the correct size. While this could have been done in photo-shop with a grid tool, the size of the piece would have made it cumbersome.

He will now need to draw the front elevation, plan and top view so that he can correctly show the leg stance and wing position and capture the birds pre-flight position with the wings slightly apart.

Finding a captive raven to study for the other elevations has not been easy but we have found 4 ravens who are residents at the Big Bear zoo so will be travelling there soon to get some footage for the next stage.

Martin will be carving the raven in basswood which is a tight grain but relatively soft easy to carve hard wood. At this point he plans to carve the bird as whole sculpture to ensure its correctness from all elevations. Once it looks correct and mindful of the cost of and weight of bronze he will then cut the sculpture down the middle so that he can carve out the center and thus make the sculpture hollow.

Blue Birds Make A Clean Start in 2018

We celebrated 2018 in Paso Robles with close friends and our dog Iris. The hikes, chilly air and the bird life all helped to revitalize our moods and energy and so like these Blue birds we enter 2018 with a refreshed perspective.

We have incorporated bird designs in both our animal cabinet pulls and in our jay bronze sculpture and will be adding a raven to our collections in the months ahead. While the blue birds shown here are vivid colorful creatures they do not make easy subjects for bronze castings as their markings and multiple colors are difficult to create even with hot patinas. The scale of these small birds with their thin legs is also challenging making it necessary to add an artistic mount to support the heavy body weight. 

Ravens  by comparison have a more uniform color range and stronger legs proportionate to their body size making them perfect as free standing sculptures. We live in the Hollywood Hills and have several families of ravens that we see on a daily basis and appreciate their flying skills, antics and obvious intelligence.

 Martin has just begun his initial design for this new piece and  has decided that the piece will be close to life size at 22” from beak to tail feathers and in a pre-flight position. He is currently hoping to find someone in the Los Angeles area who has a captive raven so that he can photograph the bird from other perspectives so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

From of all of us here to all of you there, have a happy holiday and a wonderful new year.

                                                                           MARTIN PIERCE

Christmas Gift Ideas and the Need to Plan Ahead

At this time of year we often receive calls from parents trying to find the perfect gift for their child’s bedroom and so we wanted to share with you some of the choices people have made.

Rabbit Door knob Willow Door Knob

We are currently making a rabbit passageway set for a Santa delivery in New Hampshire. Thankfully Santa enlisted some advice from a local door and lock installer who helped with tricky issues like dealing with a very old and thin door. The installer understood that a narrow 1 1/4” thick door may be a problem for the latch mechanism as the tongue of the latch in this case was 1” but being a skilled professional he felt that with Santa’s good cheer he would be able make a hole in the door with a 1/8” to spare on either side of the latch. Phew, Santa was wise to plan ahead!

Of course there is nothing wrong in a little self-gifting but the adage always plan ahead is equally true. In this instance, as Santa was not involved, the home owner asked for our help in deciding what to order to replace her old very dilapidated kitchen and dining room door knobs. The doors did not have latches but were held shut by a roller catch or closet door ball catch at the top of the door.  The customer did not want to change the catch so we steered her towards dummy knobs that could be attached on each side of the door by screwing through the knob plate into the door, a low tech but good way of adding beautiful knobs to her kitchen and dining room doors.

Why do Door Knobs and Door Levers use similar but different latches

Deciding whether to use a decorative knob or decorative door lever is partly an aesthetic choice and partly a practical and ergonomic decision. The aesthetic part is self-explanatory and we offer all of our door handles as either round contained knobs or more expansive flowing levers.

The other deciding factor is the user’s ability to easily grip and turn a knob. A lever is by its design easier to use for those with physical challenges and this brings us to discussing the latch mechanism.

Door knobs and door lever sets

Difference between the latch mechanism for passageway  knobs and levers

The tubular latch used to operate a passageway lever has a stronger spring that serves to return the lever to a horizontal position. The latch can also only operate the passageway lever one way, so one depresses it to release the tongue of the latch but you cannot lift the lever to retract the latch. The lever can be depressed with minimal dexterity and precision making it a better candidate for ADA compliance.

By comparison, a knob latch can be turned in 2 directions clockwise and anti-clockwise to retract the latch tongue but gripping and turning the knob does place some torque on ones wrist as well as requiring dexterous fingers for gripping. The spring used to return the knob to its resting point is weaker as knobs are typically lighter in weight than their counterpart levers.

Unusual Refrigerator Door Handles - what to consider

High end refrigerator manufactures like Sub-zero allow consumers to customize the look of their refrigerator by selecting handles that will complement the style of their cabinet handles but deciding what handles will work both aesthetically and practically can be a challenge.

As a door hardware designer and manufacturer we thought we should review some of our handles to see which do and don’t work well for this use.

Before reviewing the styles there are some practical points to consider;

1.       You will need to order your refrigerator without the manufacturer’s standard issue handles and without the door being pre-drilled for the standard handle and also without the standard mounting brackets. The manufacturer will have their own door handle size and this is unlikely to be the same as the custom alternative.

2.       The alternative custom handle can then be installed either directly onto the refrigerator door or on to a custom panel that is being fabricated by your kitchen cabinet maker.

3.       Door pulls or grips rather than knobs work best as they allow you to more easily open the refrigerator if your hands are wet or full. A round or flat 90 degree angle is sadly the typical style for most refrigerator pulls and while these are easy to grip they are typically non-descript so use this as your practical starting point.

4.       While there is no standard length that is recommended for a refrigerator the grip will need to be attached at 2 points to the door panel and will need to be sturdy enough in size and width to easily open the door without difficulty and without coming lose after repeated use.

5.       You will need a professional cabinet maker or contractor to install the alternative handle in accordance with any manufacturer warranty guidelines.

Styles that work:

We see the kitchen area as a work space with surfaces that will need to be easily cleaned. My preference is to use more fluid slick styles without a lot of undercuts or filigree that will be difficult to clean. The Ergo and Morphic styles with the exception of the Morphic cylinder are good choices and look wonderful in stainless steel which will complement most refrigerator doors.

If you are using a wooden custom door then consider the Morphic and Ergo styles in bronze but with a baked enamel clear protective coating to help.

Refrigerator Door Handles

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

TIGER DOOR HANDLE VIDEO

The Tiger Door Handle can now be seen in all of his different LED colors in a recent video created by Jeff Jenkins of OneFoxTwoFox. The video can be viewed on our website or on our YouTube  channel where we also show videos for our door handle styles as well our other lighting products.

Illuminated Door Handles

When time permits we work with Jeff Jenkins to shoot as much of our product as possible as the video medium allows us to really show the scale, texture and different perspectives of our work that cannot easily be captured in static photography.

We are currently and incrementally shooting a video which will feature our new long door grips as they move from the design stage to becoming epic 5’ tall door handles. The first piece in this series will be the Ergo extended pull which began life as a 12” cabinet handle that evolved into a 35” door grip and that has now grown to a 55” grip. The long grip video will also feature some current pieces that have been commissioned as custom pulls for a hospitality project in Houston.

Our work on the new Hedgerow door handle is the subject of a second video which documents Martin Pierce’s  skill as a wood carver and shows the development of this new handle from being a series of carved wooden patterns to becoming a series of wax replicas to finally taking form as a bronze door handle.

Tiger Illuminated Door Handle

Tiger Design for Illuminated Door Handle latest piece from Martin Pierce

The new Tiger Illuminated Door Handle has now been released into the wild or at least that is how we sometimes feel about the internet.  We have in previous posts explained how the pattern was created with old world skills using a scroll saw and aluminum sheet to create a durable pattern for lost wax casting. We have now completed  our first stainless steel castings and using energy efficient LED strip lights have created a color changing and single color illuminated Tiger door handle.

As is the case with all of  illuminated door pulls, the Tiger panel is  directly wired  with 22 gauge fine wires that are fed through the door frame into the decorative door panel.  The power is typically delivered to the door through an electric hinge and then conveyed to the handle through a low gauge harness that comes with the fixture and is ready for connection to a class 2 power supply.  

The Tiger door pull is UL listed and is lit with a flexible weatherproof strip  and encased in stainless steel which is corrosion resistant and durable.

Tiger is the fourth  piece in our collection of  illuminated door handles which include  Fish, Coral, and Morphic themes.

Work is continuing on the Hedgerow new tree handles  but as with any new design of this size and complexity there have been quite a few challenges to resolve and as we are now incorporating LED lights and have a left and right facing handle we have had a lot to think through.

Other illuminated designs are taking shape in Martin’s sketch book so stay in touch to see these as they evolve.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

While we do not presently offer zombie door handles or other flesh eating creatures we do have a few lizards to celebrate Halloween with and there is a definitely an audience out there that demonize these reptile.

If you are  searching for air born winged demons then look no further as we have a left and right facing bat to add a note of horror or whimsy to your cabinetry.

Bats are left and right facing making them more ergonomic for the left handed amongst us. Their directional nature is also useful for the majority of kitchens where you have double doors or where you are looking to match the “handing” of your door. The challenges of door handing have been discussed in previous posts.

For those who associate toads with Halloween we can help you with our leaping tree frogs as cabinet pulls or with frog knobs for your interior or exterior doors.

In short we have a variety of Halloween offerings to choose from and hope the artistry of our designs as well as the medium of bronze will help your choice outlive the shortness of this macabre holiday. Enjoy.  

Moths a Brief Departure From Cabinet Knobs

Occasionally we escape from the demands of making cabinet pulls and make pieces for the sheer fun of it and this was the case recently when Martin decided to make 2 bangles to celebrate this writer’s birthday. Since bronze is a heavy alloy and since the lost wax casting process is lengthy,  Martin turned to 1/16" sheet copper to create these 2 pieces.

Lunar moths were the subject of choice, as their significant wing size and shape were well suited to artistic manipulation. 

For readers familiar with our previous posts on pattern making the techniques and tools used will come as no surprise.

The shape of the lunar moth was drawn free hand onto the copper sheet and the moth was cut out using a scroll saw. The rough edged piece was then filed using a fine tapered steel file. The outline of the moth was then traced onto the surface of a thick block of walnut and the wing veins added. The veins were then carved into the walnut block using a variety of gouge chisels to create depressed channels.

The copper moth was annealed with a blow torch that turned it purple and rendered it softer to work. Using 3/8" steel hex bolts Martin made 3 hand punches to work the copper. Having marked the wing veins on the copper moth he then placed it over the walnut block and aligned the wood and copper veins and beat the metal into the channels. 

Moths are featured in our animal and insect cabinet pull collection

The bangle was buffed on a buffing wheel to remove the coloring created by annealing and to remove tool marks. The dark accents were added using M20 by Birchwood Technologies that has been covered in earlier pieces.

How to make a simple mold for lost wax casting

Over time all things age and the longevity of a mold will depend on the composition of the mold material and frequency of use. We make a variety of  molds some require metal or fiberglass reinforcement and are not ideally suited for home use but others are possible to make at home provided you are patient and dexterous.

Our frog cabinet pulls are a popular item but we still make these by using a simple gravity pour rather than injection method to create the wax replicas for our lost wax castings.

Animal Cabinet Pulls and Knobs

The frog mold is a 2 part mold that is held together by simple peaks in one half of the mold and troughs in the other half mold that act as keys to tie the mold together. The troughs or holes are created using a drill bit or punch which is pushed into the modeling clay that holds the pattern in place. As this is a 2 part mold the skill comes in delicately building up the modeling clay up one half of the pattern without breaking of the small frog digits.

Once the frog is secure in modeling clay and all undercuts have been filled in we apply 3 or 4 coats of silicone rubber with a paint brush, we use Mold Max 30 by Smooth-on. After the silicon rubber is set we reinforce the mold with a more rigid plaster compound called Plasti Paste 11 by the same manufacturer.

Next we make the second half of the mold which will have the peaks that align with the troughs. First we spray on a mold release agent onto the female mold, we use  Ease Release 200 by Mann Technologies. We then apply more of the silicon rubber to the mold which will collect in the troughs.  We repeat the process described and once we have created a rigid case in Plasti Paste we are ready to start using our mold to create waxes. The release agent allows the 2 halves of the mold to separate, we then can remove the pattern and now we have a hollow space to receive the wax.

Useful sources

https://www.smooth-on.com/

www.moldreleases.com

Colorful Door Hardware - How to Use Hot Patinas

Nature is a strong and continuous source of inspiration for our door handles and cabinet pulls so I wanted to complete this series of posts with a few pictures that illustrate this as well as providing information on how our yellow and maroon color patinas are made.

The dragonfly cabinet pull is an example of a hot chemical patina created with Sculpt Nouveau’s red and yellow dye oxide that are mixed together to create a maroon color.

To create the yellow amber tones of the butterfly we use a yellow and white dye oxide which we apply to the heated butterfly and once the desired color has been reached and after the pull has cooled down we apply small black wing markings with a  fine paint brush and a cold patina M20 product  by Birchwood Technologies.

Animal Cabinet Knobs and Pulls

The process for all of our hot patina finishes is the same;

Buff the bronze pull by hand or by using a buffing wheel buffing wheel and buffing disks, progressing as needed, from medium grit to fine grit disks. The disks we use are made by Standard Abrasives and made from a tough resin reinforced nylon fiber with aluminum oxide which acts as an abrasive element. Since the nylon web is un-woven it is more flexible and so will follow the contours of the bronze.

To remove fiber particles, dust or other surface impurities we clean the piece with an air pressure hose.

Blend the liquid oxides in a non-reactive container to achieve the desired color.

Heat the pull to about 200° and apply the dye oxide blend to the areas you want to color with a very fine paint brush.

After the casting has cooled re-buff any areas that need to be re-worked or where you want to expose the golden color of the raw bronze.

Seal with a clear wax or use tinted waxes to create to add a different hue.

Sources:

www.sculptnouveau.com

www.birchwoodtechnologies.com

www.birchwoodtechnologies.com

Color in Nature and Hot Patinas for Door Handles

The green anole lizard was the inspirational basis of Martin Pierce’s lizard door lever. The lizard’s vivid pea green color is however a challenging finish to capture as a bronze patina and one that requires considerable dexterity and access to a blow torch, so hobbyists should proceed with caution.

While the lizard door knob is not of the anole family, as you can see from the photo below he is often specified by customers who want a similar finish to match his mate.

Lizard Door Lever and Lizard door knob

In an earlier post we described how to create an antique patina on bronze by using Birchwood Technologies' M20 product and how this chemical solution, through chemical conversion, creates a brown black patina that penetrates and bonds with the bronze. The cold patina process is a necessary first step that has to be taken before moving on to create a  hot green patina as without it, the green solution will tend to slough of the surface of the bronze. Once the blackened piece has dried it is then gently burnished to remove some of the cold patina from the lizard area. We mix white, pea green and yellow dye oxides, available through Sculpt Nouveau, to create the right shade of green which is applied several times to the handle to achieve the right hue. Throughout the hot patina process the handle is kept at a temperature of about 200° by using a blow torch.

The vivid greens are used by many creatures as camouflage that allow them to blend in with surrounding flora as is the case with this praying mantis that was wonderfully hidden in the variegated tones of this begonia vine.

Shedding Light on a Tiger Door Handle

The Bengal tiger is a striking grand cat whose features and expressions are legendary and whose appearance have landed him the spot of national animal for both India and Bangladesh. Most of us have the black and tan markings of this splendid creature filed away in our memory banks for rapid recall. With this in mind, Martin Pierce tackled the task of creating a tiger handle with cautious enthusiasm. The technical challenge was in deciding where to create perforations in the panel for light to pass through but without compromising the strength of the panel.  The other challenge was how to capture the tigers marking and here Martin used a lot of artistic license.

Illuminated Door Handles

As the end product was to be a flat panel with cut out sections the piece had to be designed so that the cut-out areas, when removed, left behind one continuous interlocked shape. In nature the Bengal tigers black markings are separate and unconnected but in Martin’s design the markings all connect. The tiger design was created as a black and white drawing with the black areas representing areas that would be left as steel and the white areas being the cut-out sections where the light source would shine through.

For panel patterns Martin has found aluminum to be an ideal metal as it is strong enough not to warp or distort when cut, yet soft  enough to be cut on a scroll saw. The saw operates very much like a sewing machine with the aluminum pattern being maneuvered and pushed into the path of the vertical blade very much as a garment is pushed toward a vertically moving needle.

In the next few weeks we will show how this new piece evolved to become an illuminated handle.

How to Create Oil Rubbed Patinas for Bronze Door Handles

Our bronze door handles are offered in a variety of hot and cold patinas but the most popular c are our light and dark antique patinas. I hope to explain how we create these 2 patinas step by step using our daisy cabinet pull to demonstrate the process.

Plant Cabinet Knobs and Pulls

Over time bronze will develop its unique patina and its surface color can range from brown to black to blue or green as it reacts to the chemical properties in the local atmosphere and as the surface of the bronze begins to oxidize. With our antique finishes we try to emulate the brown and black surface tones to create a controlled aged appearance.  To do so we use a product made by Birchwood Technologies called   M20 Antique Black. Their solution, unlike pigmented stains, does not sit on the surface of the metal but rather through chemical conversion it creates a 3 to 4 micron thick patina.  However, before this process happens the bronze handle must be cleaned.

Surface Preparation

Our castings are first placed in a sealed and pressurized chamber and glass beads made from fine silica are air- sprayed into the chamber to remove  small casting burrs or rough particles.

We then remove even smaller burrs or scratches with a buffing wheel and disks, progressing as needed, from medium grit to fine grit disks. The disks we use are made by Standard Abrasives and made from a tough resin reinforced nylon fiber with aluminum oxide which acts as an abrasive element. Since the nylon web is un-woven it is more flexible and so will follow the contours of the bronze.

To remove fiber particles, dust or other surface impurities we clean the piece with an air pressure hose.

Patina by Conversion Coating

Using M20 we make our own solution using 1 part M20 and 1 part distilled water mixed in a non-reactive dipping vessel.  The piece is immersed for 30 to 60 seconds and then neutralized by immersion into another vessel of distilled water.  If,upon inspection, we see that certain areas have not reacted to the solution and are still bright we re-clean those areas and dip again.

Highlighting

As you can see from the # 3 above the chemical conversion creates a fairly uniform patina which is somewhat drab. To create greater contrast we gently and strategically burnish by hand areas with a fine nylon abrasive pad and thereby re-expose the golden tones of the bronze casting.

Sealing

To seal the bronze we use a soft cloth to apply 2 coats of oil and once dry, finish with hard wax. There are many  products to choose from but we have found Sculpt Nouveau’s  metal oil and black wax easy to work with see useful links below.

Usefullinks:

http://www.standardabrasives.com/

http://www.sculptnouveau.com/

https://www.birchwoodtechnologies.com/

Tall Door Grips - How the Design Begins

Lately, in large part at the behest of designers, we have begun to design some very grand scaled door grips for the public areas of hotels and clubs. The size and shape of a door handle does influence the handles design, with long narrow grips dictating a more compact motif and with wider panels allowing for a more expansive forms.

In short, our designs for tall door grips fall broadly into these 2 categories and we have begun by focusing first on the more restrictive long thin pulls which one typically sees on storefront and bank doors and with lengths varying from 40” to 72”. We are using 60” as our optimum design canvas and are creating decorative segments of 18” and 24” that can be repeated or interspersed with other designs or plainer sections so that we have the capability of creating custom lengths for each project.

The segmented and narrow width of our design canvas impacts the freedom, balance and logic of our design. As a starting point Martin began by looking to the utilitarian and geometric shapes of the 1920’s Art Déco period and the influence of these repetitive bold lines can be seen in the sketch below. He also used his own Hedgerow furniture designs to create an angular tree branch motif.   These sketches are at this point concept drawings and we will be refining them over the next few weeks.

New Grapevine Door Knob Added to Wine Cellar Door Handle Collection

Our grapevine door handle collection has, until now, focused on capturing the gnarly quality of vine stems and the distinctive serrated shape of their leaves, with less attention on the grapes themselves.  This focus worked well for creating long door grips and horizontal door levers but was not well suited for a door knob.  

Grapevine Door Handles

With this in mind, we began work on a new vine door knob and in our July 12th post  shared with you how Martin Pierce created detailed  perspective drawings as guidelines for his 3 dimensional wood pattern. The pattern was carved in basswood, sealed with primer and used to create a 2 piece hollow core mold. Red wax was poured into the mold and several wax replicas were made. The wax facsimiles were then coated with successive layers of fine ceramic slurry to form an outer wall and the pieces  were baked to form a rigid ceramic shell.  Once baked, the ceramic shells were  heated in a de-waxing  autoclave and steam was  pumped into the shell to remove the wax. The wax was then  filtered, cleaned  and  recycled for future use. The de-waxed shell was subsequently invested with molten bronze and after cooling, the gates that delivered the fluid metal were ground away and the bronze casting was ready to “chased” or refined by hand.

Seven weeks later and we have now machined our first castings, added the spindle and  internal springs, fitted our existing vine leaf back-plate and finished by hand our first pieces.  We hope you like this new addition to the collection.

New LED Door Handles and The Year in Review

As we move on to the post eclipse week we thought we thought it would be fitting to give an updated report on what milestones we have met and what lie ahead.

Following on from the successful listing of our LED lit door handles and wall sconces we have completed our initial UL inspection and so designers may be assured that the our UL approved fixtures will bare an indelible UL label. To help designers understand our LED single color and color changing fixtures we have developed a series of helpful installation diagrams as well as charts that will help explain what accessories will work best with our products to view these please download our pdf for Coral or our Illuminated products.

While the LED lighting scene constantly evolves with smaller brighter and more energy efficient units our focus is on designing and making decorative fixtures that work with this new technology. Our fixtures are hard wired and illuminated either by a small spot or by a strip of LED chips. The type of LED impacts our design, as spots are better suited to our round, down lit sconces and cylinders, while the linear strip inside the perimeter of our door panels project a forward directional light that we use to create our fish and coral shapes. The next piece in development for our panel series is a tiger design which will soon be released. The panel concept is also being extended to include a longer rectangular 26" x 4" panel and the first piece will be from our Willow designs.

Illuminated Door Pulls LED Spot for Dragon Egg Sconce & LED color changing for Panel Handles