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.