Mary now lives in the West Midlands alongside the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal where she takes most of her inspiration. She started making lace in the 1980s while looking for a new hobby when her children were growing up, living in Edinburgh at the time. She enjoyed creating bobbin lace, trying out many styles of traditional lace: it soon took over from all her other crafts.

 

An exhibition by the Westhope Group in the 1990’s inspired her to start experimenting with different styles and threads, and she was motivated to embark on a City and Guilds Course in Lacemaking, completed in 2008. This led her to experiment further, incorporating silk paper and felting into her designs.  A few years after completing the course, she was delighted to be invited to join the Westhope Group in 2011. The group inspires, encourages and supports like-minded textile artists.

 

Mary continues to experiment and explore new techniques, being inspired by the designs and techniques of European lacemakers. She continues to use unusual threads and materials and incorporates copper wire, silk paper or whatever she can find into her designs.  She often works freely and often does not know what the finished piece will look like! She likes to think of her technique as painting with threads.

 

Mary strives to promote contemporary lace as an art form and believes that it important to raise awareness of the craft by exhibiting to a wider audience.