Local Wine Country

Hiking in Santa Monica Wine Country

 As I am not a wine connoisseur, I did not associate the  Santa Monica Mountains with wine tasting and was skeptical about making a date for a 2.5 hour tour in the hills.

However, as the journey through the marine layer of the lowlands made way for the  blue sky and sun of Kanan Dume Canyon, so did my expectations. The drive up this canyon is spectacular, the rugged brush terrain is dotted with flowering yuccas, poppies and mustard brush and  Malibu beach sparkles  blue in the distance. 

“Malibu Wine Hikes” is tucked away up a small road where west Mulholland Highway intersects Zuma Ridge Fire Rd. The site sits just below Saddle Rock and with an astounding 1,000 acres and an elevation at it’s peak of 2,000 ft offers a panoramic view stretching from Westlake Village to Point Magu. Saddle Rock sitting at  2,800 is  a well-known landmark most Los Angelenos know by name if not sight and is a rock that has for centuries figured in the indigenous Chumash culture.

Recently planted vines in the foreground with Mitten Rock in the background

Saddlerock Ranch is the location of Malibu Wine Hikes and is an industrious farm and winery that was established by Ron Stemler who planted the first Sauvignon Blanc vines. When the vine population was expanded to include red grapes, the winery established its reputation for wonderful Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

The 2.5 mile hike took me through acres of vines that had been recently planted in the wake of the devastating Woolsey fire that decimated the ranch crops and buildings in 2018. Thankfully, the resilience of nature has all but removed most reminders of the fire apart from the stone ruins of the family home and some scarred avocado and oak trees.

 In the Martin Pierce collection of vine door and cabinet hardware our inspiration  for the pieces came from both the lithe green vines as well as the more woody old growth vines.

Recently planted vines in the foreground with Mitten Rock in the background

Color Patinas For bronze

The intense colors of spring have inspired a new range of hot patinas that can be custom ordered for select insects pulls.

Dragonfly

The blue dasher is part the dragonfly family which is one of the largest insect groups in the world. Dragonflies are part of the skimmer family a name that aptly describes how they hover over water when mating and laying their eggs.

The red veined darter inspired our first dragonfly cabinet pull and the original carving and first castings were made in 1995. The first pieces in the cabinet pull collection were designed for our Ascot and Aspen limited edition furniture designs.

Common Blue Butterfly

Is a small butterfly most seen in the U.K and Ireland where it favors cool grassy meadows and woodlands.

Green long winged butterfly

The striking green- black markings of this long-winged butterfly were the basis for a new custom hot patina shown here. Butterflies and moths often display a distinctive array of colored patterns, and their geometry and repetition inspired our first butterfly pull which we used as cabinet door pulls on our Seicho style buffet.

Yellow Black bumble bee

Sadly, this bee, like many other insects is in decline through loss of habitat, pesticides, and inbreeding.

Hot patinas reason for minimum order

Creating a hot patina requires dexterity, a blow torch and keen concentration. The surface of the bronze needs to be finely sand blasted so that the surface has a slightly pitted texture. The pitted texture prevents the patina from sloughing off which is what would happen on a highly polished surface. Once sand blasted, the piece is firmly held with pliers and heated with a blow torch. Once hot the colored dye oxide is applied with a fine brush. During this process the piece must be repeatedly torched to maintain the temperature. The heat acts to open the surface pores of the metal thereby allowing the oxide to penetrate. The temperature is critical as too much heat will cause the oxide to crystallize and burn. The preparation of the piece and of the work area and tools are all time consuming and for this reason we require a minimum of 3 pieces for each order.

Hollywood - Citrus in the Hills

2023 and 2024 have been remarkable years for the tree life and the innate beauty of the Hollywood Hills. Tourists on sightseeing buses arrive daily in Hollywood looking for a chance photo opportunity of a celebrity or at least a selfie against the backdrop of the Hollywood sign.  What they are missing are the far more abundant opportunities to collect the lemons, oranges and grapefruits currently abundant and often stacked in piles on lawns with signs shouting “free”. Historians have documented how Los Angeles was once full of citrus groves and while most have given way to development many still thrive in Hollywood.

Meyer Lemons Ready to Pick

The El Niño  rains from last year have fueled these  local citrus trees and have  also quenched the dry hills turning them into a Hawaiian paradise.

The clarity of the air makes vistas brighter and horizons seem further. From Mulholland Dr you can see the cargo vessels on the Pacific ocean off the shores of Malibu. The freshness of the air and the expanded views are not romantic illusions  but are  grounded in the scientific  process of coagulation which describes the coming together of particles that are suspended in rain and pulled down to the soil, leaving a clean lens to view the scenery.

Unsuspecting Magnolia unaware of it’s lethal neighbor

The local Hollywood trees are also the beneficiaries of El Niño with their magnificent leaves and stunning though sometimes sinister flowers. I spied this interesting couple outside a neighbor’s home where the toxic Brugmansia shares the soil with a benign saucer magnolia tree. The Brugmansia tree, commonly and perversely named Angel Trumpet is toxic and indeed potentially lethal from its flowers to its roots.

Less lethal and thankfully more prolific are the  Cotulla lineariloba flowers which translated mean big yellow moon which seems odd given the small ½” diameter flower head.

The vitality of the plants around me has obviously brought out my playful streak as captured in the native daisies shown here.

CREATIVE NEW YEAR 2023

Our New Year’s goal is to continue to be creative and to share our ideas for original door handles and cabinet pulls with the design and home owner communities. We wish you all a Happy Healthy and Creative 2023 and look forward to helping you create inspiring settings.

These succulents, commonly known as red hot pokers brighten up our sidewalk where we planted them 7 years ago and where they thrive with minimal water. I am always amazed when they bloom as it is difficult to fathom how such intense color and beauty require such little sustenance.

Our bamboo cabinet pulls are also inspired by plants that thrive with little water.

Have a Merry Christmas from all here at Martin Pierce.

The orchid spray in the banner is a unique design that will be covered in detail next year along with a new orchid piece. If you are looking for orchid knob inspiration we have an orchid knob and orchid pull in our collection of plant theme cabinet hardware.

Thanksgiving 2022

Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.

To create a seasonal collage, we decided to use the Willow flush door pull and the Willow sprig cabinet pull.

The Willow recessed handle is typically used as a barn door pull and is visible on the side of the door which would be routed out to accommodate it’s 3/4'” depth.

You will have to look closely to find out how we incorporated this piece in the banner collage to create a diamond shaped accent.

Since the pull displays only half of a flower head, we created a copy in Photoshop which we then rotated to make a whole flower head.

The Willow sprig required less assistance and was easily colored a bright green.

New orchid design for dramatic entry door takes shape

Our Orchid cabinet knobs and pulls are popular pieces and often used as accent statements in kitchens and bathrooms. I suspect the appeal lies in their realism although the designs are not a literal portrayal of any particular orchid. The closest type of orchid is possibly the Paphiopedilum (Venus Slipper) or the Phalaenopsis (Moth) but with over 20,000 species and hybrids there may well be and exact match that left it’s imprint on Martin Pierce’s retina.

 Orchid Cabinet Knobs and Stems

The orchid knob has a 3/4” stem post that allows the flower head to be easily gripped and pulled. The same clearance for fingers is given to the orchid spray by the curved stem that connects the 2 orchid flowers.

New Orchid for grand statement

The new orchid is scaled to make a dramatic door statement and like our Willow heroic pull we see it being placed in the center of the door and not on the door stile. The end result will be cast in solid bronze and measure 6” x 6” x 1 ¼” and it may lend itself to being either nickel plated or artistically patinaed with differing hot green, red or yellow oxides. Unlike the smaller cabinet pulls there will not be a stem post mounting as the orchid perimeter petals will be flush with the door face. As the orchid is loosely based on the Venus slipper orchid it has a large stamen and labellum and together these will serve as the gripping point for the thumb and index fingers.

 Martin as readers will know begins a new piece with a front and side view drawn free hand on paper and this becomes the guide used to roughly cut the patterns in high density foam. The drawing details are then copied on to the rough patterns and then carved to create a three-dimensional piece. The new orchid will be cast in 3 pieces which will be welded together to create a single knob.

What is the difference between a cabinet pull and an appliance pull

A common question is whether you can or should use a cabinet pull as an appliance pull. The question has 2 components  one is  aesthetic and the other technical-mechanical.

Larger Morphic Pull has a lip overhang that is easy to grip with whole hand for heavier doors and drawers

 Mounting posts - distance between centers – screws

A typical pull be it for a cabinet or appliance door will be attached by 2 screws that thread into either a mounting posts or  recessed holes on the back of the pull. The hardware manufacturer determines the location and distance between the posts, the size of the pre-drilled holes and the type of screw or bolt used to attach the pull. These factors together with the heft of the pull largely determine whether a smaller cabinet pull will work satisfactorily as an appliance pull. The mounting posts on our cabinet pulls are generally placed a little below the top and bottom of  the casting and are part of the casting. Their size is scaled proportionately to the size of the piece but at a minimum needs to be large enough to accommodate an 8-32 screw.  To work as an appliance pull for a large refrigerator or sub-zero door the posts will need to accommodate a more substantial 10-24 or even ¼-20 screw. As we make a wax replica before casting we can  customize the post making it larger or by making the area for the tapped hole larger. The thickness, thread count per inch and length as well as the base material all impact the strength of the screw. The thickness of the screw or the outside dimension of the threaded shaft is the first number given and is expressed either as a size or as a fraction. Smaller thinner screws are typically given a number and those greater than ¼” are usually expressed as a fraction 5/16”. The second number for a machine screw is usually the threads per inch followed by the length. For wood screws the thread is not called out and only the thickness and length are given.

The base metal of a screw will impact it’s strength and while brass screws are more decorative, unless they have a wide diameter will not be as strong as a stainless steel screw. Stainless steel has a greater tensile strength, is harder and the thread is not as prone to being stripped when under pressure.

10/24 x 3” #10 size screw diameter of threaded area is 3/16”, there are 24 threads per inch and the screw is 3” long. The style of screw is Slotted SLTD with a round head and it is a machine screw.

6 x 5/8 is a # 6 screw diameter 9/64” as it is a wood screw no thread count is given for this 5/8” long screw that has a Philips Oval Head style.

1/4-20 x4” the screw diameter is being shown as a fraction not a number code. This is a 1/4” threaded screw with 20 threads per inch it is 4” long and is a machine screw with a slotted head. The base metal is 18-8SS stainless steel which is equivalent to 304 stainless steel.

Note the heft of the ends of this pull they are in solid bronze and approx. 1 1/2”D x 1 1/4”H ideal for heavy gauge bolts

Aesthetics and Costs

Assuming the cabinet pull meets the technical demands above whether to use it as an appliance pull largely depends on taste and budget. Stainless steel and bronze are premium expensive metals and their prices continue to rise. Clearly an appliance pull will require a lot more metal to make and a lot more time to finish.

Cats, bats and frogs as enchanting familiars – Happy Halloween

While cats were often celebrated as symbols of good luck and were revered in Egyptian and Asian cultures, in Europe they took on a sinister role as the companions or familiars of witches who cast malevolent spells. It seems that this undeserved reputation took hold with the advent of the black plaque that devastated Europe in the 1600’s. This is rather ironic given that cats are superb predators of rats and indirectly of the fleas they carry making them extremely useful companions that are good for one’s health.
Witches suffered a similar plight and while the verb bewitched is synonymous with “enchanted” “charmed” “beguiled” it is also used to suggest evil powers and malevolent spells.

The negative image of witches spread to other creatures with which they were associated such as frogs and bats. Frogs and bats are both nocturnal and often live-in swamps, muddy ponds and caves, facts that helped advance their negative place in folklore.
Like many we like all these creatures and have portrayed them more favorably in our animal cabinet pulls and cat themed door knobs.
The 3 cats shown in our banner are Persian, Rag Doll and Common cat. Cast in solid bronze and patinaed and then sealed with an oil rubbed finish.

Our frog and bat cabinet pulls are made as left or right facing which allows for a more creative placement on cabinet doors that open to the left and right.

Bumble bee cabinet knobs and bumble bee door knobs

We have completed casting our new bumble bee cabinet pull which was developed in response to the popular demand shown for our much larger bumble bee door knob. In an earlier post we documented how the original pattern and molds were created and now we are pleased to share photos of our first pieces which were patinaed in a dark finish and then sealed with oil and wax. As with all of our cabinet hardware the patina and how it is applied is an artistic process and one where we spend a lot of time deciding how best to bring out the details of each piece, where to add and remove color to create shadows and highlights, which parts to burnish which to make dull.

Bumble bees unlike honey bees do not produce a surplus of honey that can be harvested, and they do not live-in large colonies in symmetric organized hives. The bumble bee instead creates its nest opportunistically by using tree holes, rodent nests, leaf litter to form a seemingly disheveled dwelling. The nests may be easy to miss as they use leaves, animal hair and grass to create a layer of insulation to regulate the temperature of their dwelling and prevent it from overheating.

We chose the bumble bee over the honey bee for our hardware designs as its rotund shape makes it easy to grip. The honey bee, by comparison has a slender abdomen and pointed wings and a body shape that is closer to that of many wasps. Not surprisingly as insect lovers we also have 2 styles of wasp which for the non-purist can be paired with the bee to make a cabinet hardware  statement.

Different Door Knobs - One Door Set

We often get requests for mixed knob sets for our passageway door sets. If you are familiar with our site and catalogue you will know that the Netsuke collection allows you to mix and match our lizard, frog, rabbit, and bumble bee knobs. What is less obvious but just as creative an invention, is to mix the knobs from our Hedgerow and Willow collections. As all 3 collections have a nature theme, we feel the tree canopies of Hedgerow or the swirling leaf orb of Willow work well with the animals in Netsuke and their textural back-plates. The last image below shows how designer Bonnie J. McIntire paired the willow knob with the bark back-plate from the lizard collection.

A recent order by designer Hillary Zeiss went to the next level for both color and collection mix. The door set was created using a pea green frog on one side with a blue green (vert gris) lizard on the other. The door set also had a dead bolt lock activated by using our beetle turn piece and this was also patinaed blue green.

An eclectic group of cabinet pulls were included in the order with fiddlehead ferns finished blue green to match the lizard knob and with a dragonfly, frog and gecko finished in a simple but complimentary light antique oil-rubbed patina.

The blue and blue patinas were made with varying intensities and applications of acetic acid applied to the surface of the bronze heated to 180 to 100 degrees. We use various commercially available concentrates to expedite the oxidation of the surface molecules and halt the process by sealing with wax to prevent a further chemical reaction. The light antique patina on the cabinet pulls was achieved with a cold application of a commercially made selenic acid, once the desired depth of color was achieved the piece was wiped with a wet rag before being sealed.

The swirling leaves of the willow knob paired with the bark back-plate from the lizard collection.

Animal and floral unique cabinet pulls

Our new cabinet pull website section makes plain the theme-based nature of Martin Pierce’s designs. For door hardware, after the initial design concept, the direction of each collection was dictated by functionality with each style needing to work as entry way handles, passageway levers and privacy levers and door knob sets. Cabinet pulls and knobs all perform the same function to open and close cabinet drawers and doors and this simple dictate allows for greater design freedom and whimsy.
Bamboo dresser pulls
All of our cabinet or dresser pulls are made to order as we are a limited production company and are very hands on, thus ensuring the high quality of each piece. The same does not hold true for the bamboo plant that was used to model the cabinet pull shown below. We are in the process of trying to eradicate this very resilient and invasive plant that regretfully was planted as a border plant and now threatens to extend its domain to include our entire garden. So, if you love the look of bamboo consider a more limited production version.

Orchid kitchen cabinet pull
In contrast to our bamboo plant our orchids are not very hardy and very selective as to when they flower and this may explain why we are so drawn to their beauty. Modelled on the orchids on display at the conservatory in the Huntington gardens a place worth visiting for it’s rich variety of tropical plants and trees.

Bronze or Stainless Steel Closet Door Pulls - making the right choice

We are always very grateful when clients share photos of our work installed in their homes  as we get to glimpse there use in real life. It can be a daunting task when choosing both the right style and the right alloy for a cabinet or closet door and the internet only helps if the user is savvy when searching the web and has a clear of what they like.

As a small company with limited advertising dollars we rely on the skill and tenacity of  consumers when searching for our products on the web. A recent search brought our work to the attention of a couple in the San Francisco area who were remodeling their master bathroom and bedroom.  

Original photograph courtesy of client

Both rooms were remodeled with contemporary clean lined cabinetry that would work equally well with the Ergo and Morphic styles. The client’s bathroom cabinets were made in teak a warmly colored and figured hard wood that worked well with the brown golden tones of the lightly patinaed bronze they chose as the finish for the Morphic cabinet handles. 

 A two- tone luster was selected for the Ergo stainless steel handles with polished and satin areas a finish that complimented the simple and neutral grey tones of the closet doors.  

Original photograph courtesy of client

A touch of color in time for Easter

As Easter approaches we wish you all a merry time and if you are lucky enough to live in Los Angeles then we hope you too will enjoy the wonderful warm days that are upon us.

The arrival of Spring has seen the arrival of colorful orders at Martin Pierce Hardware, and we wanted to share these lovely pieces with you.

The order shown here is an interesting collection of branch and flying insects all finished with an amber hot patina, applied by hand and at a safe arm’s length from the blow torch used to heat the bronze.

If you look closely you will see that the small butterflies also have dot eye markings on their wings a characteristic of many butterflies possibly used to attract a mate or deter a predator.

We have recently updated our website to show our unusual cabinet pulls form different perspectives and in 2 different finishes. The hot amber patina is available as a special-order patina.

All these pieces can be seen in our revised cabinet pull web pages and in our new digital catalogue.

Cabinet pulls undergo website re-model

It’s official, we have completed the remodel of the cabinet pull section of our website and hope that you will enjoy the new look and details.
Why the changes?
We have re-photographed our work in-house with the use of a light-box and a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm camera to better capture the detailed nature of our castings and to show that these fine details are not limited to one facet but are on all facets of each piece.
By showing different perspectives we hope to encourage customers to think outside the usual horizontal and vertical placement of pulls and consider different angles and directions for a more creative arrangement. Since our work is often described as whimsical customers should have some fun when facing the daunting task of planning their new home or remodel.

We hope we have made the task of pull placement easier with our black and white diagrams that show the width, height, depth and distance between mounting screws for each pull. The diagrams also show the distance between different points on a given line thereby removing some of the stress when figuring out the difference in meaning of “depth” versus “height” and “length”.

The new web pages also show the difference in appearance between our popular light and dark oil rubbed finishes. We still offer nickel plating and colored hot patinas so please contact us to discuss other finish options.
The images and diagrams have been complied in a new digital pdf that can be downloaded from each of the new pages or downloaded below.

Monumental Dragonflies and Butterflies

Elizabeth Locker has shared with us pictures of her beautifully designed monument that artistically incorporates free spirited dragonflies from our animal collection of cabinet pulls.

Residents of Ohio will be familiar with Elizabeth Locker and Jason Hess, owners of Modern Monument a company that specializes in creating original and highly artistic commemorative headstones. Working with in-house stone masons and artisans they  offer  a wide range of inscribed designs that include animal and bird themes,  musical motifs  and sports and outdoor themes. Our cabinet pulls are usually attached by bolting a machine screw through the back of a cabinet door and then screwing the threaded end into the hole at the back of the pull. The dragonfly has one central mounting post with a small base making it nearly impossible to surface mount.

Photograph courtesy of Elizabeth Locker, Modern Monument

When asked to make the dragonflies for headstone Elizabeth requested that they be secure and not able to be easily removed and that they be finished with a patina that would age well.

To make the pull secure we welded a bronze flange onto the base making the area wide enough to take 2 screws. The screws were cemented with an epoxy resin into the base and the screw heads were cut off. Two holes were then drilled into the headstone and the dragonfly was then secured in place with epoxy.
As our bronze pieces are typically oil rubbed they naturally develop a living patina and over time will darken and age elegantly.

The monument design has inspired a second commission from Elizabeth, this time she will be artistically placing our large butterfly as well as 2 dragonflies.

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.

How to Cast Bronze Butteflies - Good and Bad Runners and Gates

How to Cast Bronze Butterflies – Good and Bad Sprues and Gates
When designing a piece for investment or lost wax casting a lot of time is spent creating the original pattern and subsequent mold. When the pattern is created its shape and undercuts will determine whether one or more molds needs to be developed so that the detail of the original is captured and so that subsequent waxes can easily be released from the mold.

When the mold is being made it is important to anticipate how the molten metal will subsequently flow into the void of the ceramic shell. The shelling process and the function of the autoclave are discussed in earlier posts. The mold we made for the large butterfly was a two-part rubber mold and the pattern was carved in wood. We added wax runners and one large wax sprue to the butterfly pattern and made a hollow box to hold the butterfly. The area where the wax runner attaches to the pattern is often referred to as a gate. The number of runners and their size and location play a key role in determining whether the bronze will pour easily, and the casting will be successful.

The rubber mold is created by pouring a cold rubber solution into the box containing the butterfly with its runners attached. The rubber encases the butterfly and its attachments, and when set, the 2- part mold will be opened, the pattern will be removed, and a hollow mold will be left. Hot wax will then be poured in through the center hole or sprue and helped along by gravity and some gentle rotation will travel down the central sprue and into the runners to fill the void created around the butterfly pattern.
In this post I am including 2 examples of a well gated wax and a poorly gated wax together with shots showing the resulting bronze castings.
While it may be tempting to assume that more gates will ensure a successful casting, having more gates will impact the speed, pressure and temperature of the flowing bronze and the success of the casting. Having more gates will also increase the labor intensity of cleaning the casting as all the gates need to be ground off.

Unlike the butterfly on the left the bronze did not flow to fill the wing tip of the right butterfly so the casting was rejected and the bronze was melted down and re-cycled

A beautiful butterfly pull can only emerge from a perfect casting.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a very Happy and Well Thanksgiving. We have created a collage of festive leaves using our Vine cabinet pull and have created a new font from our Orchid pulls, a creative pleasure to celebrate this time of year.

Orchid cabinet pulls nickel plated over solid bronze