Janice Blair was born and educated in England, and she moved to the U.S.A. in 1982. She has been working in the medium of bobbin lace since 1994, and she has designed lace pieces for publication in the official magazines of International Organization of Lace, Inc. (I.O.L.I.) and The Lace Guild. These published designs include patterns and directions for exclusive use by the members of both organizations. She has had numerous pieces used on the front and back covers of both magazines and recently had her Halloween cat pattern published in the Danish Kniplebrevet magazine.

Janice has entered many lace competitions since 1998, and she has had numerous successes including first place and popular vote wins. In 2006 she took first prize at the I.O.L.I. convention in Montreal, which was attended by hundreds of lacemakers from all over the world. 

Her Milanese lace piece entitled “Phoenix” was exhibited in England for three months in 2004 at the Herbert Gallery in Coventry, and subsequently exhibited at venues in Harrogate, Glasgow, Birmingham, and at Alexandra Palace in London for a further three months before “flying” home to the States.

“Suave Ceramica Azteca”, which was shown at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in early 2007, took 135 hours to manufacture, from design to finished piece, and it won second prize at the I.O.L.I. convention in 2002.

Janice was also featured on local Chicago ABC affiliate, WLS-7, in April 2008 in a segment the station calls Someone You Should Know. The reporter, Harry Porterfield, interviewed Janice for about two hours in order to produce about two minutes of aired footage.

Now residing in the Inland Empire area of California, Janice is a member of I.O.L.I.; The Lace Guild; Lacemakers & Collectors Exchange (L.A.C.E.) of Clarendon Hills, Illinois; Land of Lincoln Lacemakers (L.L.L.) of Cherry Valley, Illinois; and Silvergate Lacers and Freeway Lace Guild of southern California.