My featured artist for today is Susan of Cserpent. Please take a look at her very interesting bio below.
"Hi my name is Susan and I'm the creator of cserpentDesigns! My husband nicknamed me Sea Serpent during our scuba diving days (picture a tall person in a purple and black drysuit with a pink floatation vest coming out of the water with big black fins on her feet ... yep sea serpent fits!). He even got me a sea serpent stamp to use for my "signature" on my hand made cards. I got started in jewelry making when one of my soccer teammates got me to go to a wirewrapping class with her. I made my first bracelet in that class (and as I look at it now I want to take it apart and redo it to look a lot nicer!). I then saw a beaded watch band in a magazine and figured I could expand on that idea and make myself a cool beaded watch band in PURPLE! (my favorite color). I started the watch band using gold plated findings, finished it up at another wire wrapping class and got interest from many of my friends and family in having jewelry made for them. I still was just dabbling and got really mad when the gold plated findings started to tarnish in a very short amount of time. From that I learned my lesson about making things that last - don't make them with gold or silver plated parts if you want them to last a long time and remain beautiful!That 2nd wire wrapping class really drove my interest in making jewelry with beads. I took more classes in basic jewelry making (stringing, knotting, ...) and have been making jewelry for family and friends and other customers for 4 years now. My jewelry designs are also for sale at a gallery in La Jolla, CA - Art in 18K - so I'm starting to expand my sales base. I have a great time buying the parts needed to make my jewelry. I REALLY like the gorgeous artisan lampwork beads that are available through etsy as well as other online sites. My "inventory" is quite large so I really have to get designing more so I can share these beautiful beads with others. Sometimes I'll find one interesting bead or gemstone and that will be the kick start for a piece of jewelry. I really enjoy the creation process and get excited when I finish a piece and can share it with folks I know and with Etsy I can now share my creations with a much larger family.I'm a member of several Etsy street teams. I'm a member of CCCOE (California Crafters Club on Etsy), JET (Jewelry on Etsy), etsyBEAD (bead lovers of all sorts), BeadHive (started on Ebay and has now joined Etsy a group of jewelry artisans who all use high quality components to create artisan quality jewelry) and TBO (Tranquil Beading Oasis). In these groups we share ideas, provide support to one other, teach and learn all in the name of continuing are respective handmade crafts.My mom enjoys buying beads as well, a little too well if you ask me. Since she won't stop buying them I told her she'll have to start making jewelry for sale with some of the many beads she's purchased (and which I "store"). She has made many jewelry pieces for herself, family and friends but she buys way more beads than she has used in these designs. So my bead bins overfloweth and mom has to help clear them out by making designs to sell.Other miscellaneous pieces of information ....More on Gold Filled versus Gold Plated:---------------------------------------I use gold filled beads/wire rather than gold plated because gold filled is created by a process of using heat and pressure to bond a layer of real gold over some base metal (usually copper). Gold plating is an electro-chemical process which places a thin molecule of gold (or something gold colored) over a base metal and then a second chemical is often used for finishing to add a brightness to the bead. I found early on that gold plating can wear off in weeks if it is really poorly done and heavily used. Since that initial disappointment I've used gold filled beads (when available) and have never seen a sign of wear on any of the pieces I've worn over the years. I even polished some gold-filled beads in some jewelry my Aunt made me 20 years ago and they are now just as gold and shiny as when she first bought them. "
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