Western General Store

I thought it would be neat to make a leather napkin cuff. It's something your guests would not normally see and they will be impressed especially since you made them yourself. You can choose from many different kinds of Conchos  in our store. I cut a 7 5/8" x 1 1/2" strip of leather from a scrap bag which you could get at Tandy Leather Company or the craft store. I like this sage color since it went well with the colors in this napkin. I pressed the concho against the leather where I wanted it to go to make an indention. Use a leather hole punch to punch a hole. This hole was 4.8mm. Punch a hole on the other end the same way. Loop the leather strap around to fit it together and attach screw. I used my fingernail since it's hard to get a screw driver into the loop. For a different strap look I pulled the two ends together and attached the concho. I think it turned out nice. There are so many things you could do like putting studs in the leather and us...

This may not be an original idea, but I haven't seen it anywhere else. I didn't have a place in the bathroom for a towel bar so my husband welded together an old horseshoe, square tubing, and a star for this hand towel holder to sit by the sink. I spray painted it black and I love it! It's functional and fits in nicely with my rustic/western décor.

I came across this website on how to make wood stars, so we got right to work, as it looked pretty simple. This star is made out of mahogany 1x2 standing on edge. It is approximately 16"x 16". We tried to build it with the 1x2's laying flat and the dimensions didn't work out, so we adjusted the dimensions and built it anyway. I like them both. The first star has 3 coats of marine varnish, so it could be hung inside or outside. The second star is also made from mahogany and has two coats of spray polyurethane. These would be great for décor or holidays.

When I wade through my husband's woodworking shop I'm always finding things that might be repurposed into something useful or artistic. He makes boat tillers and when I saw these tiller "drops" I thought candle holders! In other words, these are the unused portions of the tiller that he throws away. Ok, put a tea light in the top and voila! But they weren't wide enough to put a tea light so I came up with the idea to have a trim piece at the top and bottom big enough to hold a tea light and it's also more stable. These are made from mahogany and ash. I drilled a hole in the top piece for the tea light and screwed it into to the tiller. Screwed the bottom piece on and sprayed it with polyurethane. I wrapped rope from the craft store and tied into a reef knot.