Copperrein
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Copperrein (known as Stephanie Aust to some)
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Born in 1979, I was raised by my mother, grandfather, and grandmother. My grandfather was an engineer who in his free time loved to build things and work on his massive HO scale train layout. As soon as I could, I was learning from him and helping with any tiny detail work on the models. I knew how to solder and use most shop tools by the time I was 10. My mother, an RN and artist, encouraged all my endeavors and opened my brain to the world of fine art, history, and museums. Those two massive influences during my formative years resulted in my love and passion for creating and traditional crafts.
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I started taking art glasses early. I was lucky enough to live near Cranbrook Art Institute in Bloomfield and Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. After highschool I tried to focus on an actual art degree, but wanderlust got the better of me and I joined the Navy. This would have been the rest of my life had I not torn my knee apart 6 years in right when I was signing on for another 4 and picking shore duty orders. They patched me up and I tried to rehab enough to get back into running, but after 18 months of trying and the joint just not playing nice, I decided to join the private sector. The skills I learned in the Navy immediately got me a job working in the biomedical field. Fast forward another 4-ish years and I'm over the 24/7 on-call life. I decide to go back to college and enroll in a 6-year Masters for biomedical engineering. Slowly art rears its ugly head and I begin taking classes again. Eventually I start doing lampwork and jewelry making. Then I get into illustration and graphic design. 2014 ends up being a bad year, I quit school to save my GPA and try to freelance while handling a lot of life changes.
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Mid-2015 I meet Iron John. We hit it off immediately and before I knew it, I had found my soulmate and my soulmate had infected me with the blacksmithing bug.