Cluster of Dragonflies

A flock of dragonflies?

While birds of a feather may flock together this is not the case for dragonflies. While they may gather as a group over a  pond this is a fleeting scene that happens during mating when males compete for woman and afterwards when females deposit their fertilized eggs.

While they do not flock together they do make for a wonderful display and a recently completed order for 30 grabbed my attention when walking though the patina room.

The castings below were first “chased” an odd term meaning to remove metal burrs, scratches and other imperfections using grinders and sanding disks. After the metal surface is chased we apply the patina and once dry buff  the wing veins and other raised areas to remove it and re-expose the bronze.

Looking back over my collection of dragonfly photos I came across the common hawker taken when visiting England and the flame skimmer and blue dasher dragonflies taken in my garden pond in Los Angeles. The male hawker pictured below is distinguishable by it’s black abdomen with blue and yellow spots. The female has a brown abdomen with similar markings. One fascinating talent the female has to avoid copulating is to fall from the sky as if in the throes of death,  an act that effectively deters most suitors.

The common hawker, hawks for mosquitos, flies, lacewings and small flying insects and can be seen doing so around hedgerows and over still water.

Some of the flying insects they hawk for can be seen in bronze

The blue dasher can be seen in much of North America and was the model Martin Pierce used to formulate his blue patina

The flame skimmer is perhaps the most frequent dragonfly  attending our pond and together with our mosquito fish helps reduce  the mosquito larvae  population around our home.

Pairing Beauty with Beauty

Turning 50 can be a challenge but when tempered with a beautiful birthday present the experience can become a happy one.

Back in 2009 a close friend was facing this significant birthday so being  both a designer  of furniture and hardware, Martin Pierce decided to make a significant jewelry box.

As a furniture designer, Martin designed the Ascot series, a collection of  pieces using the Japanning technique to add gold and silver leaf to create Aspen trees  and vine leaves on his buffets and armoires. As its name suggests, Japanese artists and furniture makers developed Japanning to add richness and depth to their work using the reflective luminescence of gold. While the technique also became established in 18th century English furniture making, Martin only became aware of the technique while in  Los Angeles in 1996 making his furniture pieces.

For the 3-tiered jewelry box, Martin used solid cherry with silver and gold leaf. To add texture to the rim of the top Martin used a chip carving technique which he then gold leafed. Each side of the box has a silver leafed tree that is glazed with pigment to create highlights and shadows and to add a  more three-dimensional appearance. In the center of the top and on each lower tier a small butterfly from Martin’s cabinet pull collection is used as a pull.

Small Butterfly from the Insect Flying Creatures Collection of Pulls

Fine furniture making requires a knowledge of wood varieties and of ways of using these to advantage. In the Ascot collection plain sliced walnut and book matched English oak both with limited figuring were used as backdrop to silver Aspen trees and gold leafed autumnal vine leaves.

Open and closed wing moths from the collection of Flying Creature Cabinet Pulls

Carpathian elm burl and walnut burl are heavily figured veneers whose intense patterns require little adornment. In the piece below 1/32” layers of veneer were applied to a pre-shaped curved box made from medium density particle board (MDF). While not a fan of MDF it is a perfect substratum for veneers as it is stable and not prone to shrinking or expansion when there are changes in humidity. To achieve a tight bond the veneer was applied under pressure in a vacuum press with a  polyurethane-based adhesive glue.

Large Butterfly Cabinet Pull

Oil Rubbed Door Handles

Light or Dark or both?

 Choosing the right finish for your door handle can be a challenge. While the English language may provide innumerable ways to describe the color of a patina and while images of pieces in situ obviously help, we often find that perception of color and noun use are incredibly subjective. Moreover, the finish of the patina in our opinion should not be monotone but should allow for variation without which the patina piece will look dull and the beauty of the bronze alloy will be lost. 

Images are useful guidelines. 

The cabinet hardware pages of our website show each piece in a light and dark oil rubbed patina. 

As you can see from the above image, each piece has different flat and recessed sections and since the fluid patina settles in the recesses 2 different pieces finished with the same chemical patina may appear quite different. Smooth surfaces will slough off the patina so our contemporary cabinet pulls are light sand blasted to roughen the surface so the chemical can adhere.

Highlights 

Our patina artist has honed his craft over the years to create subtle beautiful finishes. The nose, toes and and tail tip of the gecko are very gently buffed as are the wing tips of the butterfly to re-expose the golden bronze beneath the patina.

Choose both?

Our door sets create a mix and match option used to full advantage recently by the talented Georgina Rice.To continue the plated nickel finish of the Willow pieces in the bathroom she designed while keeping the bronze tones of the hallway we plated the Willow knob in an enamel and oil rubbed the exterior knob.

Below you will see how the Willow knob set has been used to achieve a split finish knob set.

Happy Halloween with tigers, bugs and bats

Whether for Halloween, or for no other reason that simple fun, enjoy our creations any time of the year. We have a collection of animal and insect cabinet pulls to chose from all cast in bronze and made to order here in Los Angeles.

For those looking for animal inspired door handles we have a collection of lizard, dragon, frog and rabbit door knobs to chose from. Each piece is first rendered in wax before being dipped in silica to create a tough exterior ceramic shell and finally cast in molten bronze. The process is not complete until each piece is “chased” or finely tooled by hand to remove any imperfections. Still not complete, the piece must be burnished so that it can be finished with either a simple oil rubbed patina or a more colorful hot patina. Voila! A unique piece is ready for your home or office door or cabinet.

The tiger door handle is now available as a powder coated piece in a wide variety of colors. If you have a brand color this can be matched by creating a custom powder. As mentioned in a previous piece, we are moving away from illuminated handles and offering all these pieces in  powder coated colors. The dramatic effect is not diminished but this provides a low- tech solution to supply chain problems with small LED lights.