I'm self-taught and I began carving stone as a kid. There was some compulsion, to scratch and mould bits of stone, that I found locally. Years later, while I lived in Ireland, I needed to find a way to support myself, and I began painting rocks. Very quickly this turned to carving, using screwdrivers and nails.

It was a bit of an outlaw endeavour to be honest. I would set up on Patrick's Street, in Cork, and sell my carvings - often having to run from the local cops. In my wayward youth I found I could take my art with me, because all I needed were my tools and, essentially, what I was doing was drawing into stone.

Fast forward twenty years and I got licenses to trade on the streets of Edinburgh, began visiting markets, festivals and, since Covid hit, I've been growing my online presence. Even after twenty-something years, I'm still learning and there's always new skill to be found, whether it be in carving or in business.

The best thing about stone Mad crafts is that everything I make is different, because I freehand the designs onto the stone. I like keeping that way. I've no notions of expansion, there's no point. There's only so much I can carve :>

I pride myself on collecting images from ancient reference, but not only that, I research because I want to know about the designs, so I can relate this information to my customers. In this respect I'm working on some books ideas. I already have an honest rune book on amazon (Stone Mad Runes) and my wee Book of Symbols is still on my Etsy shop page. But I have other projects in mind too.

Also, if you're interested I run a wee blog that examines many of the designs and their meanings. The link for this can be found in the shop link.