Wire Lace Supplies Update

December 8, 2025

If you visited my  Wire Lace Supplies on Etsy lately, you might have noticed that things are not as they used to be. Medium bobbins and kits are sold out, and wire stock is thinning. I am not replenishing the supplies, because it’s really hard to predict what is going to happen next.

The shop stock count is accurate, and when the remaining bobbins and wires are gone, they are gone. I decided to take winter vacation and leave all business decisions until next year. Future will be perhaps a little bit clearer by then.

My lace studio is in Canada, a country that has been hard hit by the USA import tariffs. Canadian businesses depend heavily on US trade, and my craft studio is no exception. We live, work and create in a huge country that is sparsely populated, so our ability to sell to much bigger and stronger American market is very valuable. Unfortunately, this favourable condition no longer exists for small businesses in Canada.

Current paperwork requirements imposed on shipments from Canada to the USA far exceed the capacity of one-person operations. Besides that, 35-45% tariffs plus additional processing fees would likely double the prices for American customers. I had no choice but to suspend sales of tangible items (wires, bobbins and kits) to the USA. Sales decreased sharply even before the tariffs came into effect, which made my decision somewhat easier, knowing that with soft demand, not that many customers would be adversely affected.

Luckily, sales of digital downloads are exempted, so the Patters & Tutorials are available for everybody and at the same old price.

I don’t have anything against our southern neighbours doing what they need to do to protect and grow their domestic production. Canada would perhaps benefit from doing the same. Of course, specialty items like lacemaking bobbins can be imported from the traditional producers in Europe. But it would be nice to have a reliable source of basic stuff, like crochet hooks, pins, threads, wires, various tools, packaging materials etc, well-made right on this continent. And it would help a lot of small workshops like mine to keep traditional crafts alive. I find it quite alarming that from all supplies that I need to assemble and dispatch a simple beginner’s lacemaking kit, only one item – a cardboard box for shipping – is made in Canada! Everything else is sourced from many countries around the world. I think it would be nice to reach some sensible balance. Of course, this will take time, thirty years of globalization can’t be reversed overnight.

I have been running my lace studio in Canada for about the same time, and if I had learned anything, it’s a fact that nothing stays the same and change is the only constant in lacemaker’s life. At first, I created original works and exhibited them in places in Canada and around the world. Then I started to give instruction in wire lace. When teaching took over, I needed to provide tools and materials to my students, so I sourced the best wires, designed dedicated wire lace bobbins and made sure they were manufactured by the best bobbin maker in the world. Then came the lockdowns and shattered the teaching part of my business. Now the tariffs are about to shut down the Wire Lace Supplies. I guess, I will go with the flow and return to creating original lace works… let the new cycle begin!
I can’t really complain about that, because I love to design and make lace!

Reading the latest prediction by Elon Musk that “in 10 to 20 years, work will be optional and money will be irrelevant thanks to AI and robotics”, I am determined more than ever to preserve the fine craft of handmade bobbin lace.
Time will come when we will need to do something with our hands, otherwise we will go crazy.

Let’s keep lacing and creating!