Q: I would love to install Spanish "frio" (cold) and "caliente" (hot) traditional ceramic bathroom sink taps in my house. I saw this when I was little and have wanted it forever! Although I am a spanish speaker, Im having a really hard time finding anything on Mexican and Spanish home goods sites. Even Spanish language eBay sites seem to beglutted with super modern (and text free) taps.
Any ideas on how to make this happen would be appreciated, even Italian taps with "F" and"C" would be perfect.
Sent by Anna Maria
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You might have a difficult time! I live in Mexico and have only ever seen them with "F" and "C" (and usually only metal)
Good luck, because they're very cute!
You could try mercadolibre.com ... it's like Ebay, but in Mexico :)
oh oh, now I want them too!
Here's a "C" and "F" one in a kind of similar style for $376 pesos (about $30) each.
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-57556431-manerales-clasicos-de-cruz-para-regadera-_JM
Couldn't this be printed on somehow?
so far have seen them with "C" and "F": http://www.rubinetteriestella.it/index.php?id=eccelsa.
still looking!
This is really funny. All the taps at our house had the C for hot and the Hs on the Cold, because my parents are from Mexico and they grew up with C being Calinete.
I can't help with the Spanish taps, but for those who want French "froid" and "chaud," you can get them from Quebec hardware chains.
I bought some fixtures at Osh, unfortunately I can't remember the brand, but even though they were for Hot and Cold, and it was an American manufacturer, the box had spares for C and F. You may want to email a few of the main fixture manufacturers and see if their handles have those as spares. It wasn't anywhere on the box, so unless I had opened it or asked, I wouldn't have known I'd have both options. Good Luck!
You could buy some plain ones and add the text on yourself. Not sure on how exactly you could do that without it washing off, but its worth looking into.
You could probably get the text screenprinted on the fixtures. Not sure how wear and tear will affect them, though.
They have a good point, make them yourself? Would even look into finding a local potter who could make them and stamp the words in, paint the letters black on the white.
I did find that they use the word "fría" instead of "frío" for describing the cold water knob.
Not sure what it's called, but I'm pretty sure you can buy paint that you can use to make designs on already glazed dishware (or in this case plain knobs), that you then set by baking in the oven. Should be waterproof at that point. With a stencil you could probably get a printed look. I'd check out the craft store.
kmah is correct - check out dickblick.com for peabo porceline paints. They are exactly what you are talking about. Although if the knobs have a metal inset, I'd be careful about putting them in the oven with different expansion/contraction rates of metal vs porcelain.
They're called "pilas de agua," at least in Cuban Spanish, but I haven't seen them labelled in Spanish.
http://www.banosconencanto.com/antiguedades/juego_grifos_antiguos_modelo_g1914.html
+34942261661; correo@banosconencanto.com
Good luck!
try http://www.hippohardware.com/index.htm?lmd=40243.458704
give them a call because there's a ton of stuff in the store that's not online.