Wendy Stafford

In 1977 I trained as a Photographer, but life dictated that I would have an eclectic career that wouldn’t involve photography. Becoming first a pub landlady, which taught me a variety of skills, then worked for the National Waterways Museum in various department, however, becoming a Systems Trainer in 1989 meant that my skills were transferable, and I worked with both the NHS and then Private Health care. In 2012 I was made redundant and with the support of my family made the step into self-employment. The Art Pad was born.

The love of glass, which has now become my business, came through moving into our Grade II listed thatched cottage. The cottage has leaded windows, so the natural course was to learn about stained glass. This led to investigating other forms of glass making and after acquiring a kiln (big oven) the art and passion for creating fused glass was sparked, my passion now for making Garden Art in particular the fused glass flowers.