Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Bondy.
Jeff, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
While working in a cubicle for Southwestern Bell my friends and I would walk at lunch and I would pick up pennies I found mostly at parking meters. I put the pennies on my filing cabinet and my coworkers also started putting their pennies there. I would arrange them into 1 dimensional pictures while holding on calls for work.
After about a week someone would come over and place their forearm on the cabinet and blow out the pictures. Eventually I got so many pennies I built a 3 dimensional pyramid. When that got elbowed I made the decision to start gluing them together.
My 1st project was a pyramid built on foam board. Once I had enough pennies to start another piece I took the pyramid home and started a South American inspired lizard. So the cycle began.
The type of glue and arrangement of pennies evolved until I found the combination that was durable enough to last the decades and pleasing to the eye that some people called it art.
Around year 11 I built a lamp. A coworker wanted it so I sold it to him. His supervisor saw it and told me she wanted a lamp too.
I made and sold close to a dozen pieces, my favorite being a hippo.
While working on the pendulum clock an upper manager decided it was too much of a distraction for me to build the sculptures at work and made me take it home. I still brought each new piece in to display on my desk until the next was completed.
Because the penny is a 3/4 inch disc the sculptures are fairly large and heavy. The pirate ship is over 14,000 pennies, 280 penny rolls to put it in perspective. 9 months to collect and glue, 3 weeks and 45 yards of cord to do the rigging.
I also sort the pennies categorized by copper for bending, shiny for highlighting parts like the tusks on the elephant, and the rest for filler and cutting down to size.
I sent more pics than requested, much less than I wanted but you can choose the ones you want.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My wife got alzheimer’s, I retired early to become a full-time caregiver.
The government also quit minting pennies.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I worked 25 years in various technical positions. It took a year to train the man that took my position. I am proudest of the art and other things I have created like the bar I built. My wife, stepkids, and some of the grandkids are also very artistic. I love seeing what they do.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Alzheimer’s has turned our lives upside down. It has ruined our retitement plans and shrunk our world dramatically. You don’t have to put this, sometimes I just need to vent.
Pricing:
- It takes 3 months to 18 months to collect and glue each penny one by one depending on the size of the sculpture
- The glue is $6 a tube, 1 tube glues around 600 pennies.
- Delivery has been a face to face hand off.
Contact Info:
- Other: Skullfreakerz@gmail.com
