New Carp Fish Door Pull Takes Shape

The design for our illuminated fish handle was a cutout carp fish where sections were removed so that the LED light could shine through to create a colored fish.

We recently had an inquiry for a fish door pull, and suggested we modify the illuminated Carp to make a solid bronze Carp only to find that the client was a restaurateur whose menu included Chinook (King) salmon. As our creative minds were already charged, we went back to the drawing board and decided to designed a new non-illuminated Carp door handle to add to our door hardware collections. As the new handle will be a door pull, we had to redesign our existing carp to make it more 3 dimensional and without sharp fins. As the carp’s distinctive markings would no longer be lit by colored LED’s we had to capture these markings by creating recessed areas that when patinaed will be visible as markings. We are planning to cast the handle in bronze a medium that can be patinaed in dark and light tones through an oil rubbed finish or in a dramatic verdigris or red/brown hot patina.

As the new carp design is smooth and not textured, we may also cast it in stainless steel and powder coat the recessed areas black or powder coat the entire fish using 2 colors one for the recessed sections, the other for the upper surface. Stainless steel is a good alternative alloy to bronze but the 316 grade we use is extremely hard and very difficult to sand and polish. We use this grade as it contains molybdenum which makes the alloy corrosion resistant when exposed to sea air that contains chloride and thus the ideal medium for ocean properties. This medium is less suited to highly textured pieces and explains why our modern door handle designs with their cleaner lines are where we use this medium.

As the carp design was merely 12”in height and as Martin Pierce is a sculptor, he preferred to make this pattern from solid high-density foam.

Custom Bar Door Handles - Sophisitcated powder coating

We were recently commissioned by Meg King Design to make 4 Serpentine door handles in stainless steel for a very creative client she is working with. Meg wanted to add a custom dimension to the handles for her client’s barn doors and suggested we add a black accent. It would have been too mundane to add black to the entire piece so inspired by a photo Martin had taken of a black crested bulbul we added a powder coated crest to the top and bottom of the grip.

As mentioned in previous posts, stainless steel being a hard and dense metal does not readily absorb chemical patinas as they tend to slough off the surface. However, this alloy does work well with powder coating a process where color is added to the surface and then baked on creating a very durable finish. The range of colors and degree of luster available in powder form is extensive and most are also available in aerosol of liquids, so Meg was able to use the same black tone on the door astragals and barn door track. To pinpoint the right black, I turned to Dan Regan my trusted powder coating expert who is the owner of Primo Powder Coating in Huntington Beach who helped us select a matt black (10% gloss) BK120 powder manufactured by Cardinal Paint.

The bulbul shown here was photographed in the succulent section of the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, a destination well worth visiting for its rich variety of native and exotic plants.