Western General Store

Here's two ways to use horse bits in your décor. If you have some old bits laying around in your tack room this is a fun thing to do. I wrapped a D-ring snaffle around a flameless pillar candle and tied leather lacing to hold it together. I was looking at an old curb bit I had and stood it on it's side and of course, it's a candle holder! But this one wasn't too steady so I built a stand out of mahogany and drilled holes for the candles and a hole in the bit to screw it to the wood. Here's a different version of the leather wrapping. You could use twine, ribbon or anything you've got. I think it would be pretty to add greenery for the holidays. Use it for a center piece for parties, holidays or weddings.

I showed these western metal cut outs to a friend of mine and he thought they would make a great wind chime. This is his design and he put it together. I just suggested a few things like adding a cut out at the top. He drilled a hole in each cut out. From a hook he attached three chains and attached the chains to an XL Horseshoe with cotter pins. He attached different lengths of chains and the cut outs to the XL Horseshoe with cotter pins. We hung a chain from the top hook and added a cut out just above the horseshoe. He drilled a hole in the bottom of this cut out and hung a chain through the middle of the horseshoe and added a cut out at the bottom. It's about 33" in height. This wind chime could be hung in your home also. It makes pleasant sounding clangs. You could paint the cut outs, let them rust or spray them with vinegar to quickly get that rusty effect as shown here. Then seal them with a clear polyurethane spray. Here's a picture of the...

I was going through the wood shop and found two boat tillers in the trash, discarded because of minor imperfections. I decided it needed to be a jewelry rack. I cut them to 28 1/2" and drilled holes for Tiny Horseshoes . You could buy wood this size at your local lumber store. I drilled mounting holes 16" apart. I spray painted the wood a metallic bronze and the horseshoes a metallic gold, and mounted ten horseshoes. You can hang necklaces, bracelets, belts, belt buckles or scarves. I painted another one in a rainbow of colors. Caribbean style for a beach shack or a kids room!

When I saw this wall paper border I knew I wanted to make a tray. As we were arranging the sides I thought it might be different to have over lapping corners. So we glued it together one side at a time and used the brad gun for more security. Then we clamped it and let it dry overnight. We drilled holes for rope handles. I did several samples of crackle finish and chose the red with a light tan base coat. Here's the tray with a crackle finish. After it dried I applied the wall paper border with Mod Podge. I used the brayer to smooth it out. When I put a coat of Mod Podge over the top of the picture, the crackle paint started coming off and it made a big mess. So, I had to sand all of that down, put painters tape on the picture and re crackled it. Then I used a spray varnish to seal it. I inserted the rope handles and tied in knots. If I did this again I would apply the picture first, then tape it and apply the crackle finish around i...