Bonnie's Art Originals, Plano, TX
I am a retired school teacher, watercolor and oil artist, and designer and artist of unique pendants and necklaces. My pendants are made of semi-precious gemstones, minerals, and fossils that I have personally selected because of the unique beauty of each. I then use 14/20 Rolled Gold Wire or 1/10 Sterling Silver-Filled wire and 935 Argentium Silver Wire to wrap each stone myself. These are accented with genuine Swarovski crystals or gemstone beads. I create a larger bail to accommodate many necklace sizes and styles. I refer to my pendants as “Simply Elegant” and “Elegantly Overstated.”
I have lived in Plano, Texas for five years, and I am a member of the Plano Art Association and Dallas Gem and Mineral Society. I do have my Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit, my own canope, tables, etc. I have more than two hundred pieces available, each a distinct natural item. Most of my pendants are priced between $35 and $65.
My pendants are individually designed and created to accent the mineral/gemstone. No two are ever entirely the same. This, of course, is because no two gemstones are ever entirely the same, but it is additionally true because the wrap is determined by me while I work with the stone. My pendants are designed to have an "elegant" look to them, and sometimes the beauty can be in the simplicity of the wrap. I select each stone individually and try to allow that gemstone to remain the central focal point. Crystals and stones are used to accent while not detracting from this focal point. To remain practical, I use my "signature" larger bail because I realize that each individual will also participate in the style they wish to present by selecting a necklace that both accents the pendant and the individual's own personality.
I have made pendants from more than 80 different gemstone/minerals including: agate, amethyst, ammolite aquamarine, azurite, prehnite, bloodstone, Botswana agate, bronzite, bumble bee jasper, carnelian, chalcopyrite, charoite, cherry blossom agate, citrine, cobra jasper, coprolite, crazy lace agate, dinosaur bone, eudialyte, fluorite, foraminifera, fossil coral, grape agate, howlite, iolite, jadeite, keshi pearl, kyanite, labradorite, lapis lazuli, larimar, lodolite, magnetite, malachite, moonstone, moss opal, mother of pearl, nellite, noreena jasper, obsidian, onyx, orthoceras, petrified wood, pietersite, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, rhyolite, ruby, rutilated quart, scolecite, septarian nodule, shui mo jade, silicon, stichtite, sugilite, tiffany bertrandite, tiger eye, tourmaline, unakite, white cloud ruby, and zebra jasper. I promise I wouldn't make or sell anything that I wouldn't like to keep for myself. I love my work, and I love making the pendants.
In addition to painting and jewelry creation, my life has been filled with many satisfying and unusual experiences. I have traveled because my husband's job took us to extremely interesting foreign locations. I have lived in Pakistan and Taiwan and have had the privilege and adventure of traveling the Karakoram Highway to the highest border crossing in the world, riding on a camel at the Indus River, being surrounded by villagers with boulders aimed at our vehicle because of flour protests between Pakistan and Afghanistan only to have the military rescue us by showing up with Kalashnikovs, riding on top of a bus in Nepal and keeping a very detailed journal which I will one day publish about these experiences including the cobra that tried to slip under our bedroom door. My life has been one I could never have imagined, and my art has become something I would never have thought I could accomplish.
I am a member of the Plano Art Association and Dallas Gem and Mineral Society. While teaching I always belonged to teacher associations and organizations for teachers of the gifted. In Rome, Georgia, I belonged to the Rome Area Council for the Arts where my work was exhibited. I volunteered at the Council for the Arts one full day each week. The Director at the time was Allen Bell who has since become the Arts Education Manager at Georgia Council for the Arts. I studied art under Chia-Jwu Tai and Ji Shan Harkiewicz in Taiwan and continued my art studies under Frank Murphy, a renowned artist who has painted many church-cathedral murals and ceilings.
