Western Nor’wester

Nor’wester
B1
Sunday
Oct. 26, 2014
Western
Ashley Schilowsky, wearing a necklace she designed, talks about her craft business, the Western Wishbone, she runs out of her Phillipsburg home.
worke
r
P
HILLIPSBURG — She grew up on a ranch north
of Agra, a small town in Phillips County. And Ashley
Schilowsky has good memories of breaking the wishbone from their Thanksgiving turkey dinner with her
younger sister.
“I’m very Western- and country-inspired,” said Schilowsky, A display of Schilowsky’s homemade accessories, including jewelry and scarves, hangs in front of her business
who now lives in Phillipsburg with her husband, Josh, and
sign, which also is homemade.
their 2-year-old son, Ty.
So it seemed only fitting her business be named the Western Wishbone, and all the items be homemade.
For Schilowsky, that happens to be piecing together unique jewelry and sewing headbands and scarves
and designing boot frills, and every piece of jewelry has a tiny signature wishbone on it.
She has carted her wares to area craft shows — and puts on three of her own in Phillipsburg — and
also online. She has a Web page, westernwishbone.com, and her Facebook page is the Western Wishbone.
And she is in the process of selling wholesale to other area boutiques as well.
Schilowsky also has a display at Simply Charmed in Hays, a boutique where she got her start in jewelry
making when she worked there while earning her degree in early childhood development at Fort Hays
State University.
See WESTERN, B6
story by diane gasper-o’brien
photos by nick mcqueen
Schilowsky
advertises
some of her
accessories,
wearing boot
frills she
designed on
her Western
boots.
Scarves of many colors and designs hang from a display made of
deer antlers.