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.

Three new cow bodies. The middle cows head is ok and the bottom one has a more rounded tummy which I like and a better pattern. But it's still not the way I want it to be. Going for a walk on the beach now. I'm sick of cows!

Last weekend was spent on organising my girls birthday party, so I have only just finished the body and head of cow number two. the photo makes it look a bit weirder than it is.

This head is better than the 1st cows, although the pink nose needs fixing, and it needs a jaw. This time I put three round wooden beads in the body and they worked quite well. The belly needs to be fatter and rounder though. I'm not going to adds legs to any of my experiments on until I get the body shape right. 

I have noticed that most black and white cows seem to have a black rump, a black saddle and a black neck and head - with a white stripe on the nose, so I'm going for an interesting but typical patchy pattern.

My horse design. Horses are my favourite animals so it was nice to make so many samples in the process of getting the pattern right. It's a really long pattern, and it's with a bead fairy right now, cos I wanted someone to test it. I don't usually do that.

I have a very quiet spot on the teaching front, so I'm back into designing beaded animals again, after a very long time. And no more Ravelry for me (too time consuming and obsessive) although I do still want to knit some Christmas presents for the kids. I was asked some time ago to design a camel for a Christmas nativity scene, but I just can't seem to motivate myself, despite having obtained several little plastic camels to use as models. I found myself designing a cow instead. I have been working on it for the last 3 days (not all the time though) and this is what I came up with. I am happy with it for a 1st attempt. Its head, ears and horns are all wrong and its a bit lumpy in the wrong places, but well on the way to being the cow I want it to be. I developed it from a horse I finished a few months ago but didn't publish (yet). I probably won't finish this cows legs and tail - the next one will be worth finishing I hope.

It's Christmas Eve and I'm working on my beady dragon design, picking up where I left off about a year ago. I'm half way through making the fifth torso. I don't get as far as making the legs, because I keep wanting to start again and refine the body shape. My daughter is pretty frustrated with me - she wants me to finish at least one dragon. She doesn't mind the imperfections and the diversity - each new addition to the menagerie is lovingly accepted by the kids.  I'll put some pics up soon to show my dragon's evolution. I think I'm going to end up with a curly whirly Chinese dragon and a more traditional winged beast with a long curved neck.

No beading lately :(

Hi, I have not been doing any beading lately but hope to do some more in a few weeks during the holidays. I am studying to become an early childhood teacher at the moment and it's intense. I start a teaching experience at a kindergarten next week. I'm looking forward to that - hope to get creative, interacting with the children.

My daughter's owl

My oldest daughter made this owl to sell at her schools Market day - raising money for charity. It's the second 3D peyote animal she has made, after she made a little mouse. She has also made a purple diamond-back snake. My younger daughter only makes snakes and crocodiles - things that bite!

Over December I have been developing a four-legged fox design and a tiny baby bunny - haven't quite nailed these yet - but I finally uploaded the peyote dog pattern to Bead-Patterns.com. I have also started on a raccoon and turned my gaze back onto the dragon. I won't even talk about my hopeless attempt to make a wolf for my daughter for Christmas, or the two-legged neon fox I made for my younger daughter.

Goodbye, and thanks for reading my second post.

Here I go - my first blog

I live in Wellington New Zealand. I have been designing with beads for over twenty years, and I still love it. I never seem to run out of ideas - one thing always leads to another. It' so addictive. My latest project is a 3D  dog made out of seed beads - all of my designs at the moment are animals. I like the challenge of trying to sculpt a complex shape with beads and thread. My dog is not quite right yet. The ears are funny, and the feet make the golden dog look like it is wearing shoes. I am sure that I can do better with the next dog I make. Those ears are going to be tricky though!