Ashly Forever

Nearly one year ago, on March 3, 2007, Army Sergeant Ashly Lynn Moyer was blown up by an I.E.D. in Baghdad, Iraq. This brave young girl was the best friend and stepdaughter of my buddy Peggy Sue. I didn't know her well, but met her on several occasions and was touched by her poise, energy and spark. Our entire community mourned the loss of this special young person and each of us has been moved to contribute to a memorial in her honor that is being erected at the middle school she attended.





Anniversaries are so hard! So to make it go easier for Ashly's family and friends, and in honor of her courage and spirit, I've begun to make a bracelet that will feature an oval focal piece in precious metal clay that says "Ashly Forever." PMC is not coming easily to me, but here's my nth attempt, is it somewhat successful? I'm going to string it on leather and include some wide-hold tube beads in sterling silver - once it's fired will start experimenting. There will be two bracelets - one for Michael, Ashly's father, and one for Peggy Sue.



These four versions of a focal element you see here are my original, on the bottom, and then my photoshopped improvements with and without stars in ascending order, with the "best" version at the top. Probably I should have wrapped the wet piece in plastic wrap because now I'd like to start over and do something completely different!!! However, I believe with precious metal clay you can just pulverize the dry thing with a hammer and mix with water to return it to its clay condition.



This is about $6.00 worth of clay and it is about 2-1/2 inches long. PMC shrinks about 30% in firing so it will be about 2" in the end.