Tooled Leather Look Cabinet Knobs

We received a unique custom order request the other day.  This customer had purchased some gorgeous knobs for their kitchen cabinets that were made from a resin-like material but had a tooled leather look.  Unfortunately these knobs kept breaking and they could not purchase any more as they were discontinued.  They really loved the design and if you saw their house, you would understand why as everything was decorated with a real country western flair.  A friend of theirs had seen our work at the Cowboy Festival last March and told them about us.  They sent us a broken knob and asked if we could possibly match them to replace the broken missing ones.

This was a big challenge with several details to work out such as making a good moulded impression of the original piece, mixing the right clay base color as well as the paint for staining.  After several attempts, I finally ended up with a replica that looked almost exactly like the original.  (Can you tell which one it is?)

Here you can see them on their cabinet drawers in their gorgeous country style kitchen --

They said I could share some photos of their beautiful home with you.  Every light fixture is totally unique.

Everything was so tastefully decorated with a country western style right down to the saddle barstools...

One of the most gorgeous pieces in their home was the bathtub!  It is made from copper and was imported from Mexico.  Dave says it is the kind of tub you need a life jacket if you don't know how to swim!

We are happy we had the opportunity to work on such a project for this beautiful home and meet some very beautiful people who live there as well!

A different type of jewellry box/cabinet

I posted some photos of a clay tile with flowers earlier on. I was making them for a different type of jewelry cabinet. It all started when I received a hanging wine rack shelf as a door prize at my work Christmas party. Since I had no use for what it was intended for, I started to think of what else I could do with it. I studied it for a while and then thought what if I had glass piece over top, I could then store and also see my accessories in the spaces where the wine bottles would normally rest. Maybe I could actually make some drawers to fit in those openings! This turned out to be the most challenging part, but once I made a cardboard form, everything then fell into place. I had a lot of scrap clay in my box so decided to combine and mix a lot of it up so that gave me a start in choosing some of the colors. Here are some photos of the process:

So here is the finished cabinet ready to add the glass and maybe mount on the wall. Kind of funky but a fun place to store some of my favorite jewelry pieces.