The starfish pattern is available at http://ruthkielbeadart.weebly.com/patterns.html

My latest design is a Superduo Starfish. This design came about as a result of wondering what would happen if I used 2-hole beads instead of 2 single seed beads, for herringbone increases in peyote. Lots of potential here.

My current project

Meet Ember -  he's my latest complete dragon. I am making just one more green one, before I hand the pattern over to a very kind lady in England who has offered to test it for me - yay!

I can't wait to move on to new things. I feel like I have just woken up to discover all these new 2-hole beads. And the shapes - triangles, tiles, pips, lentils, diamonds, disks, half moons, dragon scales - I might have used those scales on my dragons back!

Now I'm seeing all these amazingly stunning designs, and feeling like it's too late - I have not been at the party. But no, I tell myself, "I can have fun with these new beads too - it's not too late, & there are new ones coming out, yippee!"

I just had a wee break from pattern editing, and played with some superduos to make a textured starfish. It looks realistic, like the one in my shell stash, & I think I have used super duos in a slightly different way to what I have seen on Pinterest. No point in reinventing the wheel. For me the challenge is to put these new beads together in unique ways. The problem with Pinterest is that I get so inspired, but I end up thinking, I don't want to develop an idea that isn't mine. So I'm looking at all these board so I know what can be done - and what not to do.

It would be nice to make earrings and jewellery again, like I used to, & I could get to wear them as well. I'm tempted to buy some patterns too - it would be so nice to make something very beautiful that someone else has designed, & just relax about the whole thing.

When is a free pattern not free?

There are several of my patterns (little witch, ballerina, 3D chicken, 3D raccoon, 3D cat, 3D dog, & 3D sheep) available on Chinese owned forums as “free patterns" – all without my permission. Needless to say I’m unhappy about this - for so many reasons it’s not OK to purchase patterns and post them on forums for others to use. It's illegal, and it deprives designers of their livelihood, + it’s totally demoralising.
 4Crafter.com & pindiyI’m amazed that some people can respect a designer’s work, but not the actual designer who works so hard to produce it for them!

This stealing has prompted me to remove some of my patterns from Bead-patterns.com in order to protect them. I now watermark them with the customer’s name, and sell at ruthkielbeadart.weebly.com. There have been no more thefts since I did this, but I feel awful about taking patterns from bead-patterns.com. 

I'm currently working on a new fish (guppy) design that I hope to put up for free (real free) at Bead-pattens.com. It's nice to use peyote stitch for fish and reptiles, as well as for mammals. I used to make fish with ladder stitch, but that now seems pretty limiting.

A new peyote snake pattern. I'm going to put this pattern up for free at my new site ruthkielbeadart.weebly.com. I just have to make another snake to test the instructions (one more time) for mistakes. I made him quite a while ago, but now I can take a fresh look at the pattern.

I should be relaxing and having a summer holiday but I can't stop beading. I have become obsessed with seahorses again, and have designed a brand new one in peyote stitch. It's not quite right yet but I know what I need to do to make it really pretty. It makes me happy just to look at it. I'm not going to put any pictures up until the pattern is finished and the design is registered.

I have lots of ideas currently and don't finish anything before branching off into something else. And I got new crystals in the mail yesterday - so beautiful!

It's New Years day and I have finally finished my first cow + the 1st draft of the pattern. Go New Zealand - land of cows and Fonterra. The hard part is over. Phew... after this I will just have a camel to design - to complete a full nativity animal set. Sorry to have missed the 2014 deadline Barb, but now there is always next Christmas! Here's the cow.

It took a lot longer to get to this stage than I had planned but I got sidetracked. I found out that my seahorse design has popped up (altered and marketed) as a Fantasia beads pattern. I guess I have had a wake-up call. I am now forced to get my best designs registered/patented. This is part of a letter I got from the site in question. 

"Especially you don't have patented the design. I could make an exact copy of your ones with a self made pattern and sell it. The copyright doesn't come into effect here.

We have previously informed us with a lawyer for German right, and our approach is completely legitimate, there for we are selling out of Germany, German right counts."

It's a bit scary to have high-powered German designers checking up on my patents here in New Zealand. I certainly don't have the copyright clout and budget of Disney.

They basically added bling, changed some details and rewrote the pattern using cubic RAW instead of plain RAW. The way I see it is this: You can take someone else’s design; change a feature, add a feature, and add embellishments. However, this does not make the design magically become yours. It just means that you have modified it – creating a derivation, not a design! And when you rewrite the pattern in your own words and sell it for a lot of money, telling everyone it is your design….. well, I'm not impressed! 

My 2001 seahorse design:

Their seahorse (nice fin)

Anyway the best advice I have read is that you have to stay one step ahead of pattern pirates, and not get bitter. So anyway, instead of working on the cow I have been making a new secret seahorse design - one to patent, register and protect. I too can use herringbone and sparkly embellishments.  My challenge is to make it better than the one above, and not to copy anyone else - but simply to be inspired.

I'd be interested to see if my idea of this situation is in keeping with others views, given that these are emotional issues. I had a blogger say "They did NOT copy you! and that I was being arrogant and presumptuous. She said "I was not the only person who said "I think I'll make a seahorse out of beads'". I was shocked that she said this. But I guess people get defensive, and not everyone understands copyright, or the design process.