A Pit Bull in Paso

We are frequent travelers to Paso Robles where we enjoy the wine and Jackson, our Pit Bull enjoys chasing vultures and digging for gophers. As any vulture savvy dog knows, a ball in mouth adds a menacing tone to a growl that is helpful in pursuing elusive buzzards.

With ball clenched in his jaw Jackson shakes his head aggressively as turkey vultures cast their shadows tauntingly over the terrain. As Jackson lacks the power of flight,the buzzards survive his attempted assaults, and some must surely be amused. With a wingspan of 6’ turkey vultures cast  impressive shadows over the rolling hills and oaks of the Paso landscape.

When digging for gophers a ball is of little use, but a wide snout, closed eyes and thick nails are helpful.

These pursuits while obviously gratifying leave Jackson exhausted, and we often see him splayed out in a death like pose fast asleep but twitching as he dreams of his exploits.

Those familiar with this blog  have been introduced to Jackson who is now 4 years old and to his sister Iris who passed at the grand age of 13. Iris was a legendary dog, and her features were the inspiration for our Pit Bull collection of doorknobs, dog leash hooks and door knockers. The Pit-bull doorknob below is available as a functional doorknob set or for closet use as a single fixed knob.

If your canine friend is a Boxer, German Shepherd, Labrador or Bull Dog or if you’re the proud owner of a cat then you need look no further for that  perfect door accessory.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We have tried to make our dog and cat knobs a little scary by superimposing these images on a black and orange back-drop and by adding fangs, fake blood and scary eyes but should you like to see these 3 handsome characters unadorned please check out the links below.

Siamese Door Accessories - door knobs, knockers and pulls

English Bulldog

German Shepherd Door Knocker

Persian Cat Functional Art Now A click Away

Having released one dog doorknob as an item that can be purchased online, we needed to placate the cats and have now set the Persian cat to follow in the footsteps of the English Bulldog.

Jackson, our feisty and loving Pitbull is ambivalent when it comes to cats, when stationary he finds them curious but when running his baser instincts show themselves. Martin has rationalized that all a cat needs to do in Jackson’s company is remain still but he failed to tell this to Arlo on a recent outing to Paso Robles but thankfully the diligent cat owner intervened to end the pursuit. Unlike Jackson, Martin Pierce does like cats, and we share a special fondness for the Persian variety.

As with our English Bulldog we are rolling out the  Persian cat door knocker, leash hook, door pull and non-turning dummy knobs  all of which are easily installed using  basic tools and by following our installation guide. The doorknob set at present can only be purchased by contacting us by email or phone as we need to ensure the set is correctly installed by a professional and the correct type of latch is supplied and would prefer to chat with you to trouble shoot the installation. While the simple tubular latch is easy  to install and is included with the door set, customers will first need to check that their door stile is wide enough for the 3” backplate and assess whether their existing knob set has a square or rounded edge faceplate, hence the need for more direct contact with the consumer.

The Persian cat is one of the oldest cat breeds and as its name suggests was bred in Persia the former name for Iran. The breed is distinguished by its snub nose and bulbous cheeks which lend it a comical and youthful countenance. Clearly soft and cuddly, this breed has sturdy legs and a thick body, and seem content  to lounge around  and be indulged by their doting owners.

Creative solutions for a narrow door stile

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