We spent the days leading to 2024 in the quiet beauty of Paso Robles with a wonderful book by Virginia Atchley that documents the wonders of miniature Japanese art. Inspired by both we will this year be exploring how to create intricate details in sculpture using a variety of metals and possibly other mediums. Stay posted.
CREATIVE NEW YEAR 2023
Our New Year’s goal is to continue to be creative and to share our ideas for original door handles and cabinet pulls with the design and home owner communities. We wish you all a Happy Healthy and Creative 2023 and look forward to helping you create inspiring settings.
These succulents, commonly known as red hot pokers brighten up our sidewalk where we planted them 7 years ago and where they thrive with minimal water. I am always amazed when they bloom as it is difficult to fathom how such intense color and beauty require such little sustenance.
Our bamboo cabinet pulls are also inspired by plants that thrive with little water.
Floral Developments – Simple Mold Making Lost Wax or cold cast resin
In the previous post we documented the designing and pattern creation process for our new large orchid pull. Next, we make 3 two-part molds, one for each of the stamen, labellum, and petals.
Our mold is made using a 2-part silicone rubber solution Mold Star distributed by Reynolds Rubber.
The wax sections are assembled so that we will have template to guide how we weld the 3 parts.
Mold Star is available in different degrees of pot life, meaning the amount of time it takes before the mixed solution sets. Mold Star 16 has a shorter pot life and quicker curing time than Mold Star 15 and is the rubber we prefer using. For large area with more volume of rubber we add another Reynolds product, Slo-Jo that slows the curing time. As the silicone rubber is curing and especially for larger dense molds there is a tendency for gas pockets to form. The pockets may not be visible but when wax is subsequently poured into the silicone mold the pockets will create small holes in the wax. To prevent this, we place the thoroughly mixed silicone into a vacuum chamber and pump out the air and gases that form and when the remaining bubbles are extremely small, we then pour the solution over our pattern to create the mold.
The 3 sections will be cast separately and will be welded together once cast
These are simple 2-part molds that most hobbyists could make with a little time and practice. As the patterns are not too deep, they will be cast in solid bronze rather than as hollow castings. Our molds are used to create wax replicas for use in lost wax casting but the same type of mold could be used to create fiberglass or resin pieces. Gates and a central sprue are added to the pattern and these will become the channels for the poured bronze. The gated pattern is placed in a tight-fitting container and the silicone solution is poured over it and left to set. Once set, we insert a sharp blade into the side of the mold and cut around the outer edge and gently pull the mold apart to release the pattern. The cavity that has been formed around the pattern is then filled with hot wax which passes through a central hole in the mold. The 2 halves of the mold are firmly held together with 2 pieces of bolted plywood that will keep the mold rigid when the wax is being poured. Once the wax has set the plywood is unbolted, the 2 parts of the mold are pulled apart and the wax replica is ready to be shelled. If you were casting your piece in resin, you would omit the gate and sprues and your product would be complete after the resin had set.
2 Part mold for petals these are held together with bolted plywood when wax is being poured
The orchid is assembled in wax as a guide we will use when welding the bronze sections together. The piece could not be cast as a single flower as there are too many undercuts and the bronze would not pour easily.
Bolts keep the 2 plywood formers in place while red wax is poured
4th JULY
4th July - Enjoy the long weekend
We are celebrating the 4th quietly in the company of good friends and hope all of our customers are able to do the same.
The hornet on the apple is a limited edition sculpture that we have playfully draped with the US flag.
The sculpture is one of several art pieces that can be found on our new site pages so please check them out.
If you are remodeling your home or fortunate enough to be designing a new home then please check out our wide variety of custom cabinet pulls and unique door handles Like all of our castings we are proud to make everything here in Los Angeles.
Custom Designed Door Hardware some common misunderstandings
During the Covid lock down and after weeks of cooking and reading many turned their energies to drawing designs on their mobile devices and in their sketch pads.
This explains why there has been a flood of emails from consumers and the occasional designer who have an idea for a custom door handle they would like made. In the next few posts, I will be tackling the progressive stages involved from taking a design idea to creating a functional door handle or door pull. These 2 types of hardware are not synonymous as a door handle needs to be designed and engineered so that the knob or lever parts can turn and latch whereas a door pull has no moving parts.
So, let’s begin with the design process and see what needs to be considered.
One design still on the drawing board
Martin Pierce is constantly drawing ideas for door pulls and these typically start with a doodle or sketch done old style with a pencil and sketch book. Many of you will be equally skilled using your mobile device to create a digital drawing and we can consider these provided they are either pdf or jpegs. Regardless of medium the sketch will only be useful if it includes a profile or side view that shows the shape and curvature of the piece and whether it is suitable to work as a grip or pull for your hand (see the palm tree design above) . If you can’t visualize and accurately draw the profile, then it is time for you to re-think your hobbies. However, if you think your design does have potential then please make sure to copyright it even if this is the home version of mailing yourself a copy noting the date and with your signature.
For the ambitious who set out to design a handle they must also design the rose or back-plate. If the handle is to be fixed, then the task is easier as the rose/plate simply must be wide enough to be fastened to the door with screws that will attach both the rose and the knob or lever that will be welded to it. The back-plate and knob/lever are separate castings, and I will explain in a subsequent post why they cannot be created as one casting as well as what additional design drawings are required for a functional door set.
The scale and dimensions of your handle need to be added to your design including the depth for your profile. The depth or thickness of your design will have a direct impact on the weight of the cast handle. The heavier the piece the higher the cost as more bronze or stainless steel will be used in casting.
Custom door handle spindles for very deep doors
Our door handles are made to order here in Los Angeles. Once a door handle set has been cast and before any patina is applied the pieces must be machined and assembled according to the door specifications. While previous posts have explained how back-sets and handing affect the choice of components little has been said about how the thickness and material of the door can impact the choice of door spindle.
In the context of door handles and accessory door hardware the spindle is a metal rod that passes through the door and can be used to perform different functions;
a. Act as a connector to connect the 2 knob/levers of the handle set and to turn the tubular latch.
b. As a connector to a turn piece that will pass mid-way through the door to turn or throw a latch bolt.
c. To connect door knobs/levers where there is tubular latch that can be locked or unlocked using a pin that is pushed in or pulled back. In this instance, one half of the spindle swivels so that when turned the knob or lever will unlock the door typically from the inside as would be the case in a powder room. A half swivel spindle also enables a door to be opened where a mortise lock is used, in both these cases only half the spindle swivels otherwise the door could be opened from both sides. As a side note to keep the knob or lever on the swivel end taught an auxiliary spring is trapped at the end of the spindle and placed under pressure part way into the center of the spindle, this keeps the knob in place despite the frequent rotation of the spindle.
I am reluctant to ever use the word “standard” in any hardware context, but interior doors are often 1 3/8” or 1 ¾” deep and we would use respectively a 2 ½” and 3 ½” spindle.
A Hedgerow passageway knob set has just been ordered for a 5” thick door and so we are making 2 custom spindles, one at approximately 8” for the knob set and the second at 6” for the turn piece described above which is shorter as it will only be passing through half of the door. The door is unusually thick as both sides will be upholstered adding a pliancy element to the equation that may impact the final door thickness. As the upholstery is likely to contain soft padded material the installer may need to shorten the spindle, so the fabric is compressed slightly around the escutcheon so that the knobs are sufficiently tight.
What is the best medium for door hardware patterns
There is no correct answer to this question, but your choice will depend on your method of designing and your skill sets. The broad choice is between creating a pattern using traditional carving or modeling techniques versus 3D designing and printing.
Traditional techniques -
You can create a solid pattern by modelling the design in clay and by adding and removing clay to obtain the desired shape. We are sculptors by training and create our patterns using wood or jewelers wax or high-density rigid foam. Basswood carves well as it is a close grained soft wood but the grain is distracting, and its directional nature means you have to be an adept carver changing direction with your chisels as you follow the grain. When the wood pattern has been carved, we typically coat it with a matt grey primer which both fills the grain and helps us see any imperfections that need to be carved out and sanded. While Jewelers blue wax is dense and one can achieve good detail it is not as strong as basswood and is more brittle which makes it less ideal when creating fine deep lines. Moreover, even though free of grain it has a uniform color that has a pronounced sheen both of which make it difficult to see what has been carved.
As both wax and wood have drawbacks, we find ourselves increasingly turning to high density rigid foam a product often used in the film industry by set designers to create props. This medium is light weight, dense, grain-less and matt and carves beautifully. It is available in blocks and easy to cut and glue and moderately priced.
The Hawaiian bird pulls were ordered recently by designer Christina Hilt in Florida in warmer tones to compliment the golden burl wood in her client’s closet. A dark patina accentuates the detail in a piece but if the pattern is carved with a deep relief carving then these details will still be seen even where there is minimal patina and minimal tonal contrast as was the case with Christina’s order.
Pattern in high density foam with foam block
Contemporary 3D pattern making
If you are adept in digital designing, then you would begin by designing your pattern in illustrator or Painter or other 3D program. On completion the design would need to be output as a STL file which could then be printed as an SLA print which is a photo polymer
Custom designs made by adapting existing cabinet pulls - a pragmatic alternative
In previous posts we have explained why creating one-off custom pieces is expensive as it requires a 3-dimensional pattern to be made and then a one- or two-part mold, all of which takes considerable time and expense.
However, don’t be too downhearted as there is a pragmatic alternative, that is if you like one of our collections and have a creative mind.
Our hardware collections reflect a theme and while each collection embodies the same style the pieces are not simply smaller and larger versions of one pattern, but artistic adaptations of the style honed to fit a particular function and scale. A good example of what I mean can be seen by comparing 3 willow cabinet pulls, while all were designed for cabinet doors and drawers and all have flowing leaves each of the pieces is different and distinct and reflects a holistic approach to design.
Sometimes we find ourselves thinking like the pizza chef who is called upon to add extra basil but hold the anchovy. Using my culinary analogy and realizing that taste is obviously subjective I was presented with the challenge of making the large willow cabinet pull but with fewer extraneous leaves and with a concentrated leaf arrangement akin to the smaller cabinet version. We were also asked to see if we could grow the willow sprig so that it could be used as an appliance pull with a span of 16”.
Below you can see how we cut and pasted a left and right willow sprig at the wax stage and how we then melded the sections together to create a longer piece. At this point a minimal amount of time and expense has been spent on creating a new piece and if approved we will use this new wax pattern to create a bronze casting. Since this will be an appliance pull, we do not expect the order to be for more than a few pieces and for each casting we will go through the same cutting and pasting process. If the order had been for many units then we would have created a new permanent pattern from which a mold would have been formed so that hundreds of subsequent waxes could be made.
By making a left and right willow sprig in wax we were able to fuse the 2 to create a hybrid piece.
The latest addition to our wine cellar hardware collection
Cabinet Pulls for smaller spaces – latest addition to the Grapevine Collection
Our holistic approach to door hardware is one of the reasons we like to design complete collections that allow the consumer to continue a theme from entry door, to interior door to cabinet pulls and bathroom accessories. It also means that we are constantly adapting designs to give the designer a more complete range of hardware to chose from.
Our collection of wine cellar door handles led us to design a vine leaf cabinet pull which at 6"W x 3"H x 1 1/2"D works well as a drawer or cabinet door pull. However, for smaller confined spaces we saw a need for a smaller piece and have just added a new complimentary vine loop pull. The loop pull measures 2 ¼”W x 1 1/4”Hx x and projects 1 ½”x making it easy to grip. The pattern for this petite piece was carved by hand from a block of blue wax which is typically used by jewelry artists to sculpt ring patterns. A simple rubber mold was made and then used to create red wax replicas which went through the casting process from shelling to pouring to chasing and were finally finished with a light antique oil rubbed patina.
We mounted the larger vine leaf and the new loop pulls on cabinet drawers that were made using a cherry wood for the frame and myrtle burl cross hatched with wenge for the panels.
Wine cellar cabinet hardware
These images below show the fine hand- carved details of the wax pattern. For smaller pieces blue wax is a good sculpting option and you can achieve quick results with good eye hand coordination.
Custom cabinet hardware and the challenge of creating steel replicas of pewter castings
We were recently commissioned to replicate cabinet handles from the 1920’s for use in other areas of a home being renovated. It was not possible to establish the base metal used for the originals without damaging the pieces and our best guess was possibly the castings were made in pewter or nickel. While the metal alloy did not impact our ability to replicate the shape of these 3 cabinet pieces it did present us with interesting patina and finish choices.
We began the project by carefully cleaning the originals so that we could get a good impression in our latex rubber mold. As the pieces were small simple shapes we were able to make a single two-part mold that would accommodate all 3. We could have made individual molds for each piece but given that we were making less than 50 pieces this would not have been cost effective. We made a simple mold and after cleaning the originals sprayed on a release agent making them easier to later extract from the latex mold.
The photo below shows the red waxes that were made from this type of mold using Westech’s V510 wax V510 that has melting range of 185° to 195°. The originals were made for different screw threads, but the replicas need to suit modern needs so were drilled and tapped for a uniform 8-32 threaded screw. Stainless steel is an excellent durable alloy but needs to be heated when applying Birchwood’s M20 dark patina. As an added measure we baked the pieces in a clear matt enamel to protect the patina and give a very subtle sheen.
After Patina Applied and with Clear Enamel Baked On
In steel before finishing and in red wax