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Year of The Wood Dragon

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The Chinese Year of the Dragon began on February 10th, 2024, continues until January 28th 2025.The Chinese zodiac follows the moon and is divided into 12 year cycles. Each cycle is represented by an animal which includes a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

 The English word zodiac dates back to the Roman and Greek periods and  the 12 symbols represent the months of the calendar. The word zodiac derives from the Greek word zōdiakòs kýklos meaning circle or cycle of animals. While the zodiac signs do include a ram, bull,crab,lion,scorpion, and goat, the signs actually represent the Greek Gods and rather than following only the moon they follow the paths of different star constellations.

In the Chinese zodiac the 12-year cycles represented by animals are also associated with the five elements; wood, fire, earth, metal and water. In Chinese philosophy the ancient philosophers believed that we could understand our world by looking to these 5 types of energy and how they change. This is the year of the Wood Dragon which is considered the first phase in the cycle of growth and that is aptly depicted by the Chinese symbol for tree.

 Our inspiration for the dragon door knob came from watching Game of Thrones and from Daenary’s wonderfully animated fire- breathing friends. Their depiction as powerful scaled beings was central to our much smaller dragon. At a height of 3” and weighing 2lbs and based on the dragons’ wing length of being 196’ I have guessed our bronze version if scaled to this size would be an impressive 20-ton creature.

In honor of the Wood Dragon, we have created a scene using our Hedgerow trees to form a landscape to celebrate this year.

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Art of fine bronze casting

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When a pristine door handle is viewed it may be difficult to grasp just how much time and skill is devoted to cleaning and fine tuning the details of the casting before it is patinaed. This process takes hours and sometimes days and some of the steps are shown below.

In the lost wax method of casting wax replicas are “gated” and wax runners or rods are attached to the wax patterns at various points so that the molten bronze can flow through these connections and pass through the gates and  fill the cavity of the shelled piece. Once cast, the runners that connect the individual castings are cut and the bronze can be recycled but a small gate end is left, and this is removed using a cut-off wheel on a hand held grinder.

The casting may contain tiny silica fragments  that were left after the wax piece was shelled that need to be removed. A handheld metal burnisher with a flap wheel made of scotch brite and sand paper is used to remove shell fragments as well as scratches, blemishes and bubbles buried beneath the surface of the casting. When bronze is poured tiny pockets of air underneath the surface are  sometimes created and are only seen once the casting is buffed when they show themselves as tiny dimples or voids. To fill the void a silicon bronze rod is melted with a TIG welder and drops of melted rod fill these voids.

Below left a grinder with coarse grade cut-off wheel. Below right a handheld burnisher with a medium coarse wheel flap and a green very coarse wheel flap.

While the burnisher is an extremely effective tool it takes a fine dremel to get into the veins and undercuts of a casting. The image here shows the tip of the dremel burr as it removes residual white shell from the leaf vein. A  dremel is an invaluable tool for fine detail and a good one will come with several burrs, rasps and files. The dremel bits are made from tungsten carbide steel and fit into the dremel socket which when rotating at a high speed can cut and grind silicon bronze and even 316 stainless steel.

A fixed buffing machine with coarse and fine scotch brite disks is used to clean remaining marks or scratches. The casting is pushed into the path of the rotating disk which removes a small amount of the surface. A consistent and even pressure needs to be applied with the buffing disk to avoid unwanted grooves and directional marks.

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New Orchid Handle

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The Orchid collection of cabinet and vanity pulls has a new member, the hanging orchid door pull. The piece is a hybrid orchid and loosely based on the large full leaves of the lepantes orchid and the lush flowers of the cymbidium family. Many cymbidium members have large protruding labellum (lip) balanced by full side and top sepals. While all orchids are arguably beautiful the  cymbidium’s balance and fullness give it an undeniable elegance and the sturdy leaves of the lepantes when cast in bronze or stainless steel make for a perfect flower mount as well as back-plate. The back-plate curves outwards to support the flowers and the tapered and flat ends each have a threaded post for easy screwing from the back of the door. The posts have a 15” center to center and the overall length is 16”. We chose to finish the supporting leaf in dark antique oil and to make the flowers and center leaf ridge a lighter finish and have now created a hybrid finish code DLA to describe this appearance.

 

Other members of this collection were inspired by the Venus Slipper and Moth orchid  with sizes ranging from small 2'“W orchid knobs to 8”W orchid stem pulls. The image below shows the larger pieces in a brushed bronze with light antique finish with the small knob in a brushed nickel finish.

The small knob and leaf from the hanging orchid can be used to create a custom spray for vanities as wide 6’.

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Artistic Barn Door Hardware

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Sliding doors or barn doors are the perfect blank canvas for dramatic hardware. When the wall opening permits, double doors make a large statement that can be artfully used to separate rooms. Case in point is a recent order for double doors that separated the dining room from the living room by making an artistic reptilian statement.

The iguana door handle is 17”high  7” wide and 3”deep and the scale makes a substantial statement. The piece was designed to be used as a pair for double sliding doors with each  iguana facing the opposite direction to it’s partner. The stylized design has a spiky decorative ridge that extends over the nose and then wraps around the eyes and trails down the front legs.

 The original design was very much influenced by Polynesian art and is not based on any particular type of iguana but does reflect a certain stance or attitude that Martin imagines when he thinks about iguanas. The iguana handle is a relative of the other handles and cabinet pulls that make up the lizard collection of door hardware.  For cabinet sliding doors the iguanas can be mounted so they entwine head to toe with their partner, a positioning that could be problematic on room doors where the tail and feet could catch on clothing.

Barn doors are more easily installed than traditional hinged doors requiring only a simple bracket to be attached to the top of the door and to a wheel that travels along a track screwed to the wall above the door. They also use a simple garden gate or hook style of latch that can be surface mounted as opposed to the tubular latch used on a hinged door that requires the door to be pre-drilled at time of manufacture.

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Yorkshire Terrier – patina artistry

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One of the most challenging tasks when making bronze dog door handles is finding a way to capture the appearance of a breed where the hair color is key to the breed’s identity. This is particularly true for Yorkshire Terriers whose colors include the black, blue, tan and gold of the Black and Tan Terriers and Clydesdale Terriers from which they were bred. The color of the Yorkie also changes, with younger dogs showing more black and tan, that in older dogs fades to paler blues and gold.

While it may be possible to capture some of this color range with clever mixing of pigmented patinas the effect would be to create a “painted” contrived dog head which would detract from the beauty of bronze.

By studying many Yorkie photographs, Carlos, our patina expert, applies a dark patina solution of different intensity into the hair folds on the face and neck and highlights areas for contrast. While the patina does not replace the vibrant color of the Yorkies coat it does suggest the different color bands thereby adding realism.

 

In researching this breed, I happened upon a post “Famous Dogs in History” that documents the history of this small and very popular breed. While it is common knowledge that the breed was used to rid the Yorkshire coal mines and mills of rats they were also used as ratters in the trenches during WW1.

Yorkies today are the distant offspring of Huddersfield Ben, a show dog and productive stud who fathered many offspring until his demise in 1871. In the late 19th century when England’s coal mines and mills were driving the industrial revolution, the Yorkies popularity took off.

 The silky coat, playful disposition and compact 7lb weight help explain why they are so popular and while they are energetic their size makes them less demanding than our large 65 lb. Pit Bull.

 

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Huntington Gardens - Shoya House

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Our annual visit to the Huntington Gardens brought us to the new Shoya House Exhibit in the grounds adjacent to the Bonsai and Zen courts of the Japanese garden. It has taken only seven years to relocate this wood and clay house, section by section, using the same carpentry methods and hand tools as those used by the original craftsman. The house was built around 1700 and was both a family home and administrative center for the farming community.

Simple precise wood joints are held together by weight and through careful design without the need to add screws or nails. Our background as furniture makers gave us a deep appreciation of the hand planes, chisels and spoke shaves on display at the exhibit which are similar in function if not form to the old tools Martin brought with him from England.

 A comparison of the chisels used by the Japanese carpenter from those used in carving shows how that the Japanese tools had a straight acute end ideal for cutting a straight edge into wood used in making tightly fitted joints for beam and furniture construction. By comparison, most carving chisels have curved blades designed for removing and shaping wood. In both instances a mallet would have been used to hit the handle to help push the blade into the wood.

 A visit to the Japanese garden would not be complete without some shots of the amazing bonsai on display. The word “bonsai” is Japanese for “tree in a pot”. It describes trees that are grown and trained to appear as mature miniature replicas of tall older trees of the same species or as a collection of trees. The picture here shows bonsai “Goshin 111” designed by the well-known bonsaist, John Naka and it captures the shape of a small Juniper Forest with 11 trees.

To understand more I visited the site for the Golden State Bonsai Federation and learnt that Goshin 111 or” Spirit of the Guardian” is the third generation of this bonsai but one that closely follows the original design and represents John Naka’s children and grandchildren. In the 1990’s John Naka began training his 11 trees for Goshin 111 which was dedicated to the Huntington in 2001. Like all bonsai, the health of the soil and stability of the root system are key to its survival and must be constantly maintained and repaired. For this reason, only a prime selection of the collection is on display at one time with the balance being in various stages of restoration.

 Bamboo Corridor

There is no better way to approach the Japanese gardens than through the corridor of gently swaying bamboo shown below.

Our collection of plant cabinet pulls includes left and right facing sections of bamboo and a small bamboo stem.

The content of this post is based on information available at the Huntington Gardens site and the Golden Stare Bonsai Federation both well worth visiting.

 

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UV Impact on Colored Patinas On Bronze

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Arguably, from a door handle perspective, Florida can be one of the most demanding climates. The state is a peninsula surrounded by sea water and its latitude yields many days of sunshine and not surprisingly is home to many of our clients.

UV Impact on Bronze

When we hot patina a door or cabinet pull we heat the bronze with a torch and apply successive coats of pigment suspended in water to the metal surface which absorbs the pigment left after the water  evaporates. The patina absorbs UV and this leads to a chemical change that breakdowns the bonds between the pigment molecules making the color appear less vibrant. The lizard levers below will fade over time with UV exposure so what are the options?

Photo of lizards at patina stage before sealant applied. Photo courtesy of the photographer Maria Ramirez-Adams.

 How to lessen UV impact

Clear polyurethane resin and polyester offer 2 different ways of sealing and protecting the color.

Polyurethane acts as a UV blocker and as a resistant physical barrier that shields the color beneath. It blocks the UV by absorbing, deflecting and scattering the UV away from the metal surface thereby slowing chemical changes in the patina.

Clear polyurethane resin also creates a physical barrier that shields the layers beneath from UV and also from salt and environmental contaminants that can degrade the patina. The resin is typically sprayed onto the surface and air dried rather than baked.

 Polyester versus powder coat

Polyester is also an excellent sealant for protecting metal from UV and salt and environmental degradants. The practical difference lies in how they are applied and cured.  Polyester is applied as a powder using an electrostatic process. The piece to be coated is attached to a copper frame or rod which negativley charges it. The applicator, which is like a spray gun is positively charged and when fired the gun sprays powder onto the surface of the object. In simple terms think of physics 101 when a magnet is used to attract iron filings. The powder bonds to the surface of the object. To make the bond more permanent the coated object is baked  to a temperature of 350 to 400 degrees for at 10+ minutes. With polyurethane the finish cures over a longer period often taking 5 to 7 days to complete. The Geckos shown here were both hot patinaed with a green pigmented solution but the top gecko was first dipped in a cold dark solution and then both were coated with polyester and baked. Polyester makes the pieces a little plastic in appearance but it does offer a resilient seal that will last for years.

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Discussion about learning art techniques

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We are pleased to share a recent interview between Martin Pierce and Aaron Miller at Canvas Rebel.

Aaron structured the interview around 3 areas: learning and developing skills, pivotal moments in Martin’s career and unlearning habits or traits.

These questions allowed Martin to take a step back and look at his life in a more analytical way and helped prevent the interview from becoming cliched.  My role as ghost writer was to articulate this journey in a clear but expressive way. Our creative friend, Maria Ramirez Adams photographed Martin and several of his works at his studio and the framing of these shots gave the piece color and context.

The article can be read in full at Canvas Rebel’s site and the quotes below are intended as a primer.

Photograph Courtesy of Maria Ramirez Adams

Learning to unlearn

“As an apprentice wood carver, I learned to carve quickly and precisely, skills that made me a useful employee but also a prolific artist. I have had to learn to create with purpose and to understand that if my art is channeled into a business, I am not an untethered free spirit but must consider why one design versus another is worth making”

Learning skills

“The learning curve has been long … I was always interested in nature and enjoyed physical work but being dyslexic, I found studying a real pain. My school had 3 good courses, art, woodworking and metal work. I was drawn to woodworking and began carving at 12. I don’t think it makes sense to look back and over analyze wrong turns or wish you had done things differently.”

Current Focus

“Is the insect story I am creating in bronze and steel, and this is where I have a lot of fun. The plot line involves small insect loving humanoids who co-exist with large insects and together build houses and even compete in the annual insect race.”

Dung Beetle Types

The insect and humanoid collection of sculptures continues to evolve with new pieces in development. The additions are part of a narrative that will explain the relationship between the members of this fantasy realm and their lifestyles. The dung beetles’ ball building talent and the different uses the balls can be put to is the current focus. Not all dung beetles make dung balls or roll them and their different methods of building nests for eggs are a characteristic that separates and defines the different dung beetle species. Telecoprids shape dung into a ball and then roll it away from the dung source. Female telecoprids typically shape the dung into a big ball that is rolled to a brooding spot where she lays a single egg inside the ball. The brooding ball acts as a home and food source for the egg as it changes to a larvae and pupates to emerge as a young adult. Male telecoprids make smaller dung balls that they use as food for themselves and for their female mates but they also make larger balls to display their competence when seeking a female mate.

 Most of the dung beetles in our fantasy world are based on telecoprids but the paracoprid or dwelling dung beetles and the endocoprid or tunnelers and their social burrowing  ways have clearly impacted our telecoprids as they re-purpose their dung balls.

The concept drawing here is showing a humanoid on a swing with a young adult beetle inside a repurposed dung ball that has become the creche for young creatures. This will become a bronze sculpture soon and Martin has begun sculpting the ball pattern. The new piece will be smaller than the bronze ball that is available with a female telecoprid.

 

The telecoprid female rolls her brood dung ball, a feat that shows her engineering skills , navigational aptitude and formidable strength.

 

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Innovating Door Hardware

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The Morphic collection of door pulls lends itself to a variety of home designs partly because we cast in 2 mediums, bronze and stainless steel and partly because the fluid organic design pairs well with contemporary or traditional door styles and door mediums. So, whether your door is wood, steel or glass, minimalist or classical, Morphic can be integrated into the design statement.

End details

Unlike many of our collections, the series has 4 possible tips and we are planning a fourth which I am loosely calling desconstrucionist.
The  ends currently are standard heroic tip (left) and its larger relative (third from left), the symmetrical cylinder (second from left) and the scroll ends  (right). Each end is designed to contrast with the cell-like center and is easily accentuated by finishing in a different sheen or by powder coating with a contrasting color.

Planned Customization during wax creation.

The organic cellular design can be playfully adapted by cutting, splicing, and distorting the wax cell segments to create a unique piece. This is a new direction that we are experimenting with and has the potential to create one-of-a-kind pieces. For those who work in Photoshop this is similar to using the polygonal lasso tool to select an area on a piece and manipulating the shape using the transform function to create a warped edge. Using Photoshop to design  the new shape is relatively easy but replicating the piece first in wax and then in bronze or steel requires expertise in both casting and welding.

 Brazing

In a subsequent post we will discuss mixing the alloys of steel and bronze to create a hybrid pull.

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Creative solutions for a narrow door stile

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Whether an interior door or cabinet door, a narrow door stile can be a challenge. Creative positioning of a door pull can be a solution if you plan ahead. You will need to consider all the dimensions of your pull and not merely compare the width of a pull with the available width of  your door stile. The width, depth and height of many pulls differs throughout  a piece and this is especially so where the piece is not a symmetrical or a standard geometric shape.

The Hedgerow heroic trees are good examples of the variations within a piece.

Using Directional Pieces

The Hedgerow trees are a pair and the sway of the trunk is how we chose to designate one left and one right. Nature makes no such distinction which explains why these bronze trees can work pointing left or right as the restraints of the door stile dictate. The design and mounting spots  also allows the tree to be positioned a few degrees  off perpendicular which is helpful when positioning on a narrow stile.

The mock-up below shows a door with a 5” stile so by flipping the direction of the tree the sway of the trunks prevents knuckle collision. As the pull projects out by 1 1/2” it has ample clearance from the face of the door panel for a comfortable grip.

 Re-configuring the pull

Many of our pulls and handles are made in parts which are welded together. All of our dog door knobs are made with the head cast separately to the escutcheon or pull. For a narrow door stile, we recently re-configured the location of the head so that the pull could be positioned horizontally. In the mock-up below the door stile is a narrow 3” but the door rail at  41/2” allowed the dog head to be positioned upright.

Left: reconfigured dog head location Right: playful use of the standard dog head location

With a 3 1/4” distance between ears some planning ahead is needed for a narrow door stile

24" Center to Center Door Handles

Retrofitting handles to an existing door can be a challenge particularly when the doors are glass as it is not feasible to re-drill new holes in tempered glass or easy to  cover up the existing  holes. While this is true of any door, wood doors are less problematic as the existing holes can often be covered with a mounting bracket or the holes can be plugged when the door is stained or painted. Metal doors require some planning as welding a patch on site to cover holes requires access to someone skilled in using  a portable MIG welder.
In the last month I have received 4 enquiries from people looking, not for a specific style of door grip but for anything tasteful and readily available with a center-to-center distance of 24”. The enquires covered both exterior and interior doors made either from tempered ½” glass or 1 ¾” metal. They were all tall doors spanning 8’ to 10’ so the door handles needed not only to fit but be proportional and visually appealing appearance.
MOUNTING METHOD - Post
A door grip that is attached using mounting posts that project the handle outwards offers the easiest solution when working with existing holes as the posts can often be ordered at a custom center to center distance.
The Morphic cylindrical door grip can be ordered at 26”H, 32” and custom ordered for sizes up to 60”. As a rule of thumb, a 24” center looks balanced for handles up to 40”in length but a 30” and 40” center to center works better for 50” and 60” handles.


Flush Mounting
The Morphic serpentine pull and Ergo Epic and Mega are curvaceous handles that project out from the door face. These designs require the piece to be attached at the top and bottom flat sections by means of proprietary mounting brackets and through bolts which have some range of flexibility. While the Serpentine pull can be ordered at a 24” center the Ergo Epic and Mega are better suited for very tall doors with a 34” and 44” distance between centers.

34” and 44” distance between the centers of the mounting bracket

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Katydid Sculpture Takes Shape

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The Katydid, sometimes called a green bush cricket or long horned grasshopper is a family of insects with 8,000 species. In California we see both the greater and lesser angle-winged species which were  reference points for Martin Pierce’s latest addition to his insect collection of  sculptures. The actual shape of his new piece though owes more of it’s design to the Mediterranean species but even this variety was adapted for stylistic and practical reasons  and made with wider wings.

 For those interested in the name Katydid it comes from the Greek word “tettix” meaning small cicada. Wikipedia enlightened this writer to the onomatopoeic  use of “ tettix” which when repeated makes a sound similar to one made by the Katydid when rubbing it’s wings together. Interestingly, the word Katydid  is also onomatopoeic as when repeated  “kat-y-did “imitates the stridulation of this insect.

When complete the Katydid will be considerably larger than other members of this species at a substantial 11” high by 16”long.

The progress photos shown here are provided courtesy of Maria Ramirez-Adams a fine art photographer and film maker.

 Having decided on the shape of the katydid, Martin enlarged his sketch and drew it as a scaled profile on vellum. The profile was then redrawn on thicker paper but as 6 separate body parts.

The profiles were used as patterns and each body section was crudely cut from solid basswood. Once cut the sections were carved with a variety of wood cutting chisels.

The 2 wings were cut from 1/8” plywood and were soaked in water to make them supple so they be could be twisted and bent around the thorax. Once the correct shape was formed, the wings were clamped and glued at the narrow thorax end and will be used to create a complex 3 part mold. The 2 wings were carved as a unit with a protective brace to prevent their fragile form from breaking. The outer main leaf veins were first carved and then the smaller veins were drawn and carved.

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Entry Garden Gate Designs

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Entry Gate statement 

An entry gate does not have to be large to make a statement as the photo below shows. Equally, if the budget restricts, the locking mechanism can be simpler.

The gate featured here was custom made in solid walnut with walnut veneer recessed panels.

 The top panels to the left and right of the gate measured 12” x 18” x ¼” and were cast in solid bronze and decorated with a small frog from our animal collection of cabinet pulls. While frogs were used on these panels, many pieces from our cabinet hardware collection would work equally well.

 Gate Entry Hardware

The entry way handle set is from our collection of wine cellar door handles and the large vine grip was part of an entry thumb latch set. While a mortise thumb latch to lever lock was used here, a simpler tubular lock could be substituted.

This would need to be called out at the time the set is ordered as the tubular latch has only one port for the thumb latch and lever unlike a mortise with 2 ports that are spaced apart to create a more comfortable distance between the stem grip and thumb piece. To create a similar spacing for a tubular latch we would position the grip lower during machining. The thumb piece in this configuration would be off center and would be a custom design that is currently in development and will be available at no additional cost.

Off- center thumb piece being developed for tubular deadbolt configuration with lever on inside

 Gate construction

Walnut with exposure to sun becomes lighter and golden and like bronze develops it’s own living patina. The solid sections were roughly chiseled to give a more hewn rustic appearance. The structure and design of the wooden gate are not daunting and in the hands of a good gate maker or wood worker would be easy to recreate and not unduly expensive. Choosing the best sealant to finish the wood and maintaining it on annual basis is critical as exposure to rain, humidity and sun will cause the wood to shrink, crack and deteriorate over time.

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Classic Entry Door Handles

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Thumb latch handle sets are often used in  traditional styles of door hardware to make a  grand entry statement. The thumb piece on the front side of the door is usually one small decorative detail on a much larger back-plate. The Hedgerow, Grapevine and Willow collections all contain a thumb-latch entry set and we have designed to be an integral part of each set.

We also use the same mechanism on the Lizard entryway set where a less traditional butterfly is the thumb piece.

Understanding the function of the thumb piece

The thumb piece is used to activate the door latch that keeps the door closed. Our thumb latch sets have been designed for use with mortise locks which house the latch and deadbolt mechanism within a solid 6”H x 3”D x ½”W metal case installed inside the body of the door. The thumb piece has a seesaw motion so pressing down on the exposed thumb end pushes up the end that sits within the mortise box underneath the toggle area. When pushed up by the thumb piece the toggle plate pivots backwards which triggers a hammer plate backwards thereby releasing the latch and spring which kept the latch extended and the door closed. The hammer and spring, when released allow the latch to return into the body of the mortise thereby allowing the door to be pulled open.