Willow Tree Designs
(Justine Glover)
by Sigrid Wynne-Evans © October 2004
Justine Glover designs under her business name of "Willow Tree Designs". She has worked up some beautiful knitted bags, some unique RAW projects that should not be missed!
Sampling of Justine's Designs:
Click on an image to view the pattern.
 
Justine was born in the UK to an Australian father and a New Zealand mother, the youngest of 3 girls. Shortly after he birth, Justine's parents decided to move back to Australia. They settled on a largish bush block in the South East suburbs of leafy Melbourne. Justine left that house when she married her high-school sweet-heart. Justine and her husband now live on a similar sized block not more than two minutes drive from her childhood home.
Justine and her husband have three children; a little boy named Joshua, now 18 months old; James, six and Bethany Rose who is four. After the birth of Justine's eldest son James, she resigned from her day job so that she could be a full time home-maker. This had the added benefit in that it allowed her to indulge in her favorite past time of embroidery. Since she was unable to find the range of products in Australia that she wanted, Justine looked to the internet for inspiration. This is when she discovered beading.
Justine learned to bead through the internet. With what appeared to be few resources here in Australia at the time, she was reliant on the publications from artists in the US. Most of those who inspired her to learn at the time now sell patterns on Rita's Bead-patterns.com website. Pictorial seed bead work was her first introduction to beads. However, with the lack of products in Australia, she soon found that her efforts were better spent on jewelry making and beaded knitting.
Justine says that she has only ever taken "virtual" bead work classes - both from Suzanne Cooper's & Emily Hackbarth's websites. However, she took every art class available to her through high school. Justine learned leather work, macrame, many times of embroidery, sewing, silk painting, pottery, sculpture and glass work.
Justine's passion for beading grew quickly and before long she launched a website (Willow Tree Designs) to offer her patterns which she sells as complete kits. Justine says that her design work has been self-sustaining at the worst, and from time to time, pleasantly surprising from a financial point of view. She hopes one day to be able to offer her beading designs as a small booklet series.
One of Justine's all time favorite pieces was a pair of French doors that she produced with sand-blasted panels. At the time, she was studying various forms of glass decorating including painting on and slumping glass. For her final piece, she decorated 8 panels of glass for the doors with sand-blasted pictures of cats and birds.
Justine claims that she has never been good at sticking to other peoples designs. Even as a teenager, she never completed kits/patterns as stated, preferring to give items her own style. From there, it didn't take long before she started creating her own pieces. The same thing happened with beading and soon, she started making her own peyote and brick patterns. Justine says, "As products here were limited, Japanese seed beads were almost unheard of, Delicas cost an arm and a leg and the color range for both was pathetic to say the least, I "shelved" my seed bead work for smaller pieces with less beads. It didn't take long for me to convince my local bead shop (one of about 5 in the whole of the state at the time) to look at my work. Soon I started selling patterns and kits as a means to support my passion. These items were initially limited to fairly basic designs."
"At the time I started designing, there seemed to be few beaders in Australia, so each pattern had to be aimed at those with no previous beading experience. They were really designed to "introduce" beading to Australian beaders, trying to teach the basics whilst allowing the customer to make a pretty ornament or piece of jewelry. As time passed, I was able to start producing kits and patterns for those with more knowledge."
Sampling of Justine's Designs:
Click on an image to view the pattern.
 
When asked to describe her work space, Justine said, "HA! have my own office. It is jammed full of craft related paraphernalia. My desk holds my "publishing tools" consisting of my computer and color printer. I primarily use Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop to produce my patterns and illustrations. The scanner and camera are kept in my husband's office (his computer's bigger than mine). A buffet too large for any wall in the kitchen/dinning rooms has become my beading cupboard. The glass display section at the top is jammed with half finished projects, each pane of glass is littered with faux leaded glass pictures, and the base is stuffed with boxes/tubes/jars of beads, patterns and kits. In the middle of the cabinet is a 2 foot, planted fish tank. It's a mandatory peaceful diversion to the eclectic chaos around it."
With three small children, Justine's bead career has frequently been pushed to the side. Not to mention the garden interruptions and general housework requirements. Justine's eldest son has just started school. She hopes that over the next 5 years, less time will be taken in general child maintenance and that there will be more time to transform hastily sketched brainwaves into finished products. Justine hopes that in addition to a range of beautiful jewelry, she will be able to combine her favorite pastimes of beading and embroidery into some really beautiful pieces.
Apart from her children, Justine says that her biggest challenges were moving three times in the last 6 years. Her first house had been built to their specifications. "We moved in (or rather my husband and in-laws moved) the day after James was born. We had a reduced income (I had stopped working) and a brand new house to fit out with curtains, carpet, light fittings, the all-essential air conditioning... And that was just inside. The back and front yards were just bare dirt."
"Just after we'd finished landscaping (which did take 2-1/2 years) we put the house on the market. 9 months and another move later, we moved into our current house. The gardens of which had been long overlooked by the previous owners. As I mentioned before, I just love beautiful things and it wasn't long before I started renovating these gardens. I have managed to reclaim several garden beds from the ivy and geraniums but there is still "heaps" to do!"
"On top of this, my father was diagnosed with a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma shortly after the birth of my daughter. It took 2 years, 2 courses of chemo and one of radio (not to mention all the health stuff my mother rammed down his throat :D) to beat it - but we're thankful to God that he did beat it! The emotional drain of this and the selling of our house gave me a form of "creative block". I really didn't get over it until after my father had been pronounced clear."
For final words on inspiration and life, Justine says; "We've all grown through the experience and I'm reminded more each day of the beautiful things around me that will undoubtedly inspire me to design more in the months and years to come."
Sampling of Justine's Designs:
Click on an image to view the pattern.
  
Willow Tree Designs
(Justine Glover)
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