Mushroom a fruit of nature and imagination

When I think of fruit my mind conjures up images of persimmons, strawberries and other sweet delicacies that I am fond of but it does not bring to mind mushrooms. This January we discovered a rather humorous and very suggestive mushroom in our garden and I was intrigued to learn more. The internet journey was helpful and I learned  that the mushroom in our garden is known as the stinkhorn which explains why our food obsessed dog gave it only a passing sniff.

The mushrooms in our collection of cabinet pulls like so many of our pieces are not a literal portrayal of any specific mushroom rather they are  a synthesis of different mushroom types that we cook with and that we grew up with. The toadstool, portobello and shitake mushrooms shapes are the closest to the shape of our left and right mushroom pulls. So what is our small double capped button mushroom pull closest too?

I discovered that the button mushroom, cremini and portobello mushrooms are not different species but rather different stages of the same species, Agaricus bisporus. The button mushroom is the young immature form and is characteristically paler and milder in flavor. The cremini stage is somewhere in the middle with a more defined flavor and the portobello is the mature adult with a very full meaty flavor. As the mushroom develops its anatomical parts are more easily seen and are labelled here.

The mushroom is the visible fruit of  a much larger fungus and the gills of the cap contain the spores which allow the fungus to continue reproducing. The mycelium is the vast root system of the fungus and it can cover acres and is critical to most plant life. I have labelled the mushroom parts in my greyscale photo of our left facing mushroom.

Customizing a cabinet pull for a remodeled room

Occasionally I receive a call or email from a person looking for a cabinet pull to cover the holes that were unwittingly revealed when their kitchen or bathroom was remodeled.

 Our cabinet pulls are grouped by style in categories ranging from flying creatures to floral works to contemporary and futuristic pulls which can make it difficult when someone is looking for something merely to cover exposed holes. 

 The pages that were recently added to the cabinet hardware section of our site provide the center- to -center distance as part of the dimensional description and as a greyscale diagram making it easier to review which pieces will work or could be modified to work.

The mounting posts are inset from the top and bottom of the pull and their precise location depends on the style, weight and surface area of the pull.  As our work is made using the lost wax process some amount of customization is possible.

The mounting posts on the original pattern also act as gates through which wax and subsequently molten metal will flow. If the new center to center dimension is a little further or closer than our pattern we can modify the wax version and cut and re-position the posts so that their location will correspond to the existing holes of the cabinet. Such modifications are time consuming, and we would recommend a new pattern and mold be made for larger quantities.

Dragonflies renew the life cycle

Almost a year has passed since we shared the photographs, we took of mating dragonflies filmed over the air space above our small pond and not surprisingly we are seeing the same event now. This time we were more prepared and were able to take a short video showing a female dropping down into the pond to deposit her eggs from her ovipositor. While we were not quick enough to video the 2 mating, we will be making this our goal for next year.

We were also able to photograph the blue dasher dragonfly who hopefully will be making an egg deposit to our pond. Both the red/orange flame skimmer and little blue dragonfly have the same 3 stage life cycle from egg to aquatic larva (nymph) and then to colorful adult. The flame skimmer has a longer life span living for up to 1 to three years as compared to the blue dasher’s maximum life span of 6 months. However, both species spend the larger part of their lives submerged in water as developing larva and it is here in their less attractive state that they grow on a diet of other insect larvae and some small fish. It is perhaps for this reason that the idea of fish-eating dragonflies developed since this behavior is common in the non-adult flame skimmer nymph.

We have mosquitofish in our pond who together with flame skimmers eat mosquito larva. The mosquitofish also eat dragonfly , so it seems only fair that they in turn are eaten by the dragonfly nymphs.

The dragonfly shown below from our collection of insect cabinet pulls was loosely based on the shape of the slimmer blue dasher but we have often used the muted brown red coloring of the female flame skimmer when coloring the pull using a hot pigmented oxide.

Orchid Cabinet Pulls and Custom Variations

Orchid Cabinet Pulls custom variations

Our kitchen is home to a couple of orchid plants and the beautiful yellow Phalaenopsis is currently blooming. Like many, we find ourselves in awe at the incredible beauty and variety of this amazing family of plants and love to see them in their natural setting as was the case when we hiked in the mountains above Hanalei Bay during our trip to Kauai in September 2016.
This wonderful orchid was the model for both the spray orchid pull as well as the single orchid knob. Coincidentally we are being commissioned to adapt the spray so that it can be used with a more pronounced direction to act as a left or right pull and so that it can also be used vertically as a door pull.

While we may later decide to make 2 new patterns so that 2 permanent molds can be made for future castings, at this point we have decided to adapt each wax and will make the requisite number of left and right facing pieces and vertical pieces that will be then shelled and invested with bronze. The final pieces will be nickel plated to compliment the décor of the kitchen.
The flower section of the spray was designed to face upward making the pull horizontal and perfect for use as a drawer pull. Drawers unlike doors are not typically thought of in terms of their handing but we decided for this custom order to make a new pull that was the mirror image of the original which would result in a new right facing pull. The “handing” of the pull in this case is an aesthetic decision based on the direction of the stem and it’s buds and what appears most natural. In the image below we have marked the direction and handing for all 4 pieces.