I had a trip out today to the Bejewelled Treasures: The Al Thani Collection exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum.

The exhibition was a delight but the main treat of the day was getting to spend it with 2 fabulous beadwork designers: Shona Bevan and Katie Dean.

It was really good to while away 5 hours (we completely lost track of time!) chatting about the world of beads & beading and discuss the ins and outs of working in this strange niche area with others who also do so.

We talked software, websites, submitting projects, designing projects, sourcing suppliers and a million other things and it was great to be able to do that.

One topic which came up is one that is always in the back of my mind, especially at the moment as I work on projects which have been in progress with me for many years: whether or not to keep your work secret as you work on it.

It's an interesting topic with pluses and minuses whatever you do and I seem to veer from one side to the other depending on what I'm working on, what I'm planning to do with it and what phase the moon is it - put simply what I do changes from day to day and my reasoning for doing so changes also.

I love sharing my work and I do try to keep what I'm working on public (but of course there are always things I've been asked to keep secret for a while...) but the big downside is that I may not have a chance to 'use' that idea or project for many years and by then it has often been copied (very sad but true) or seems 'old hat' by the time I have had a chance to fully explore the idea and get my work on it the best it can be.

When I release a project I want to know that I have spent as much time on it as I can. I want to have figured out any potential errors. I want to know all the possible variations so I can share them and I want to ensure that I know that project inside out. Not just how to make that one thing but I want to know why that project works the way it does, what that means for other beadwork and what else can be done with that idea. I don't want to give you one idea I've worked on for a few hours, but as many ideas developed over time as I can. That to me seems the least I can do as a designer.

So then do I keep it secret as it's in progress? This can be good as it means I get to iron out wrinkles behind the scenes and when I do release it it is completely new, but it's hard to do this when my natural urge is to share.

But, over time, I've found that keeping it off the Internet is not the same as not showing people and I'm finding more and more that my instinct is to share in person but to try and keep hold of the idea (i.e. off the Internet) until I've got it to its best. But sadly sometimes this means that others get their versions out before me and all my hard work behind the scenes for what can literally be years just looks like I saw someone else's photo and copied them. I find this especially sad when it is someone I shared with so I'm back to do I put it online as soon as I begin it and show its journey to prove that I did make it myself but then it's open to being copied? It's a catch-22 situation.

When I first began teaching I had some bad experiences with teachers who either literally brought no beadwork to show us (who does that?!?!?) or wouldn't let us look at, discuss or touch their work yet wanted to show it off (how does that even work?!?!?).

Ever since I have resolved to always bring as much beadwork as I can carry with me and if I really don't want it to be seen, touched or talked about for any reason I leave it at home. This means that I also bring with me things I'm working on and things that are in progress that may not appear in a pattern or photo for many years to come.

I usually bring these with me as they're related to what I have to show in class and I like to say 'look what else you can do with this idea, now run with it!' or I want to see people's reaction and get feedback as to whether I'm going in the right direction. I mainly work in isolation so it's good to get reassurance sometimes that others like an idea as much as I do!

What happens is whoever sees that work gets to see some extra beadwork (never a bad thing) and discover other ideas, variations and potential and I get to hear if I'm going OK and sometimes I get to see the results of this when I next see them.

Then behind the scenes and away from the Internet I keep working on that idea until it's the best I think it can be and then release it.

One example of this is a series of work I've been doing since 2011- Straight Arrows.

I was going to put this in Geometric Beadwork Volume 1 and then in Volume 2 but I knew that there was a lot more potential in it and that I wanted to fully explore that potential in my own time. I also wanted to make sure I fully understood why it works the way I beaded it and what that means for variations and other project ideas. I've so far beaded numerous bangles, bracelets, earrings and pendants but I know there's so much more possibility in the idea.

So, instead of writing it up and putting out just a single project I carried it around with me to classes for 3 years and shared verbally with anyone who asked about it how it was made.

Excitingly I got to see the result of this when I visited Canada in 2014 and Tiena Habing showed me her Straight Arrow beadwork which she'd done after seeing mine back in June 2013 - she saw the potential and ran with it and I got to see some great colour variations - a win, win situation!

Chatting with Shona and Katie was reassuring in so many ways. It's good to hear that others face the same challenges and have the same doubts and questions you do as at the least it shows that you all care about the same things which is no bad thing.

Did we come to a final decision about sharing? Not really and I think that as always my opinion on the subject will change from project to project and day to day.

It's hard not to be annoyed by being copied and people using my work for their gain, but I think as long as I hold onto the thought that whilst I don't get a say in how others behave I do get to decide how it affects me. The pleasure and joy of sharing a subject I'm passionate about with others and then getting that come back to me in many ways outweighs the downside and for that I am thankful.