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.

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

Custom Appliance Pull

We have now completed the custom Willow Appliance pull as can be seen from the photos here.
The custom pull was created by joining the right and left Willow cabinet handles to create the desired length of 17”. The length of the pull and shape of the sprig were perfectly suited to create this new item without our needing to substantially redesign the sprig and without the need to create a new pattern or mold. As discussed in an earlier post (Jan 16,2020) the new pull was created by melding and tooling 2 wax sprigs to create a single piece that was then shelled with several coats of a silica slurry before being fired to create a rigid shell.We cast these pieces in silicon bronze and then finished them in 3 different ways. The first photo below shows the effect achieved by finely buffing the bronze with successive grits of sanding compound. The deep undercuts created by the willow leaves create a shadow that adds subtle depth to the finished piece.

For a more dramatic pewter look we finished one piece using a full strength black oxide and gently removed a little of the solution around the edges of the leaves to create a very soft bronze glow, you will need to zoom into the second photo to understand what I mean.
For maximum contrast we finished the third piece with bold contrasting bands of black oxide that we removed in adjacent areas to create a striated piece.

Seasonal Colors for Door Hardware

While the seasons may appear elusive in this sun- shine state, the slight chill in the air reminds us that autumn has arrived and with it our sense of color naturally drifts to the rich colors of autumn.

Visitors to the wine country in Paso Robles will now be able to see the wide variety of reds, yellows and brown that color the vines of their favorite varietal.
For the less fortunate we hope that our custom hot patinas when applied to our plant pulls will provide a reminder of what this season brings.

For our vine cabinet pull we used green, red and brown dye oxides applied as liquid patinas to create a gradation of colors to the hot surface of our bronze pull. To ensure that the pigmented liquid adhered to the surface we sand blasted the casting prior to heating. As the patina is translucent the golden hues of the bronze still shine through.
The dye-oxides we use are available through SculptNouveau who also offer a full range of sealants suitable for most metals.With our pear and oak leaf cabinet pulls we omitted the pea green dye oxide.

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In our earlier career as furniture makers we used a similar technique when creating our japanned vine leaves. The iridescent quality of the leaves was achieved by applying gold leaf to the motif before adding successive layers of translucent color.

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HAPPY 4th OF JULY

This year to celebrate the 4th we decided to re-create or more accurately embellish the flag with some of our signature door hardware pieces.

We recreated the flag in Photoshop by replacing the 50 stars with 50 moths and by replacing the white stripes with hidden daisy flowers. The daisy cabinet knob is one of the pieces in our flora collection and using an over-exposed front view we wove together many of these to create a textured banner but you will have to search hard to find these daisies. For the red stripes we created a row of walking or is that crawling lizards and we added a red hue for whimsical effect.

Last year we celebrated the 4th by adding colored bands to our raven sculpture.

Enjoy the 4th.

Nature an aid to designing long door handles

Nature an aid to designing long door handles

Having the luxury of enjoying a solitary walk in the Hollywood Hills with 50 minutes free from the demands of technology one’s mind is able to consume the smaller details that otherwise would go unnoticed. I do mean smaller details as without a scale reference it can be impossible to judge the size of a flower from a photograph, so would you be surprised that the buds of the flowers shown below are less than .25”? While Martin Pierce tries to be true to nature when it comes to realism and to the scale of his lizard and butterfly hardware, he often employs considerable latitude when designing plant door handles or cabinet knobs as can be seen in the larger than life daisy flower knob.

We are presently developing a series of long door handles for both hospitality and residential projects and to create functional pulls that are easy to grip and meet ADA standards we are using considerable artistic license. Working with a narrow 1.5” diameter our creative canvas is extremely limited, so we are looking to nature for ideas. As the door pulls will be 60” in length the initial designs have been for vertical and elongated filigree but by segmenting the pull into decorative and non-decorative areas we are able to create vertical bands of decoration and these will be more geometric and abstract.

The elongated floral designs are being sketched and will be reviewed soon before a final selection is made.

Plants That Never Fade

Having hunkered indoors to avoid the torrential rain we were finally able to take a refreshing walk in the Hollywood Hills and discovered some trees and bushes that are already blooming including pink camellias and golden mimosas.

Living in this exceedingly temperate climate we also have plants that can bloom at any time of year as their reproductive cycle occasions. A spectacular example can be seen in the desmettiana green and yellow agave that we planted back in May 2016 when we turned our garden from being a sad lawn to a water tolerant stunning landscape. Just under 3 years later the desmettiana cuttings have grown to am impressive 12’ in height and have thrown up sculptural asparagus spears that have just blossomed into fleshy yellow flowers. What is beyond my comprehension is how this agave giant has grown to such height and girth with minimal water and no added nourishment. The spears began to shoot up before we had seen the recent rains showing us these plants true mettle.

Desmettia Giants in a drought tolerant garden

The pollen is hidden deep inside the flower at the base of its stamens making it accessible to only the most tenacious bees and hummingbirds, the latter being suitably equipped with long beaks and even longer tongues.

Daisy Cabinet Pulls With An Amber Patina One of Several In Our Plant Collection

Orchid cabinet pulls - from wooden origins to bronze gems

As any orchid lover knows, these seductive clever plants have over time developed both their beauty and ingenuity to lure pollinators. The color and shape of each family type is used to seduce particular types of pollinators to them, be they bees, birds, moths or flies. The bright colorful orchids use their red, yellow and orange patterned flowers to attract day time pollinators while browner duller orchids use their powerful scent, not always pleasant, to attract nocturnal visitors like moths. Orchid families are further defined by their shape and this too determines the type of pollinator. The Cochiloda family for example has a narrow long lip that is easily accessed by the hummingbirds’ retractable tongue. By comparison the Cypripedium family have a flattened rim to their bulbous lips which makes a prefect landing spot for bees and insects.

Orchids have always been one of Martin’s favorite plants and back in 1979 he sculpted an oversized 3’ sculpture with an imaginary orchid carved in cherry wood and with a realistic bee carved in ebony. More recently Martin has created a more realistic bronze orchid flower and stem as cabinet pulls. The orchid flower, while relatively small is one of our most difficult and time-consuming pieces to make. Based on the anatomy of the Phalaenopsis family the flower has 3 sepals, 2 petals, a protruding lip and a central column. To do justice to the detail and depth of the orchid, the flower is cast from 3 molds to create 3 castings, one for the sepals and petals, a second for the bulbous lip and a third for the inner column. When making a sprig of orchids a total of 7 individual castings are welded to create this 8” wide pull.

For a more in-depth analysis of how different orchids and their pollinators have adapted to each other over time to create a mutually beneficial relationship follow the link below.

Orchid Cabinet Pull one of our Plant Cabinet Knob and Pull Collection

https://www.bbg.org/gardening/article/orchids_and_their_pollinators

Mushroom Cabinet Knobs and Pulls

When is a mushroom a cabinet knob and when is it a cabinet pull?  Until last week I thought the question was at best a case of semantics and at worst a case of pedantry, but I stand firmly corrected as the wrong word choice can result in oblivion. I am not alas an expert in the field of SEO but when describing our cabinet accessories my primary focus has been on the design element, in this case mushrooms, with my secondary focus being the shape of a piece, if round a knob, if vertical or horizontal, a pull.

Mushroom Cabinet Pull

What had not occurred to me is that the word “mushroom” has on the internet come to mean button mushroom shape and so all manner of cabinet knobs that have no resemblance to a mushroom happily populate the image section for this search term.

Why does this bother me, have I perhaps been eating the wrong mushrooms?  Rest assured my concern has nothing to do with what I have been ingesting but has a lot to do with becoming frustrated with searches that come up short on fungi.

Thankfully there are some very talented and tenacious designers like Suzanne Childress  out there who know a mushroom pull/knob when they see one and who take the time to search through the maze to find the right piece for their client. My sincere thanks to Suzanne for finding our elusive pieces.