We're delighted to be able to offer more places on Tslil and Inesse Censor's Hoolie pre-fest workshop, the Birth of a Knife. So we thought we'd ask them what got them started in their craft, and what they love about it! Here's what they had to say.
We've both been involved in craft and design for years now - long before we even met each other. When we met and fell in love, we wanted to combine our knowledge and experience. We dreamed of bringing our creative process together in a way that would enable us to create in tandem. Each of us brought a skill set, some insights, some experience, and a personal sense of line, shape, color, and texture. We realized that by combining these elements we can create functional objects that are pleasing and useful to us - and possibly to others too.
It started with experimentation with various materials and techniques. Cast silver buckles for wedding dresses and brides shoes, jewellery, knives, hand bags, belts, and a host of other functional articles. It was amazing. The range of possibilities seemed infinite. And we worked well together.
A few years and quite a few objects later we realised we wanted to concentrate more on a line of specific objects. We wanted to specialize. After some consideration, we decided to concentrate on knives which we were by then making more and more of anyway.
And so, "TC Blades" came to be. We specialized in making high-end custom kitchen cutlery as well as other types of knives from hunter and skinner knives to straight razors. All handmade. Our shared love for Japanese art and craft took a central role in our work and allowed us to draw inspiration from both East & West which can be seen in many of our works.
Our learning process required a fair amount of study and learning, which we did both by way of researching written works on various subjects, and through trial & error in our shop. There was simply no one in our area who was teaching these techniques, which would have saved us some time and disappointment on our first steps in this quest. Nevertheless, we were lucky enough to meet fellow crafters along our journey, who have shared their knowledge and experience with us, for which we are eternally grateful.
This is why we love to share our knowledge and experience with others. We do it in the hope that we can help folks who are just starting their journey, start it off on the right foot, and perhaps inspire some who are already well on their way too.
A few years back, we discovered green wood carving and immediately fell in love with the craft, its tools, and indeed the folk who engaged in it. Everyone needs a hobby. Even full time crafts folk like us. In our case it's carving. And this led almost inevitably to the birth of "Jerboa", our brand of hand made carving tools which we still design and make today.
We notice a growing movement of carvers who aspire to make and use their own tools. It is with this movement in mind that we created our entry-level course, "The birth of a knife: A practical introduction to tool making".
We are very excited and looking forward to seeing you all in Scotland very soon.