To make your own Western jewelry, you can incorporate leather and wood into a homemade necklace. Using wood and leather together creates a rustic, Western appearance. Go to a nearby leather shop or craft store and purchase one long strip of cord leather. Use one thick strip or three thin strips to braid together. This cord leather is the chain of your necklace. Next, go to a nearby lumberyard, craft shop or forest and find a small piece of wood. You can keep the wood as is for a rustic look, or you can buy smoothed wood to add a design to with markers or a carving tool. Poke a hole through the wood with a knife and slide the leather cord through the hole. Place the leather cord around your neck and double knot it in the back. You can also make a shorter version for a bracelet.
This craft combines leather and wood to create a knife sheath that can be hung from your wall or your belt loop. A knife sheath is a true, historic craft of Western culture.
Before beginning the sheath, find a knife you want to use. Saw a piece of wood so that it is the same shape as the knife, but slightly larger. Use a thin saw to slice an opening into the wood on one side where the knife will slide in. Sand the wood with grit paper until smooth. Then cut a piece of leather into a long, thin "T" shape. The arms of the T should be just long enough to wrap aound the wood sheath with about an inch of overlap. Fold the bottom of the T over so that it creates a loop, and secure this loop in place where the two lines of the T come together. Use glue or stitching. Then attach a button in one side of the top of the T and make a hole in the other side.
Once you've completed this step, turn the "T" upside down and use wood glue or a leather brad to attach the leather to the back of the sheath with the loop sticking out over the top and the arms of the "T" on either side of the opening where the knife goes. When your knife is in the sheath, the leather arms will button around the knife, holding it in place, and the loop can be placed around a belt or used to hang the knife from the wall.
To make your bookshelf appear Western and add a look of antiquity, cover your books with leather book covers. Purchase large scraps of leather from a leather shop or craft store. Place the book in the center of the piece of leather and cut the leather wider and longer than the book so it can wrap around the book. To secure the leather cover around the book, purchase cord leather and wooden buttons. Wrap a piece of cord leather around the book, poke it through the holes of a wooden button and tie into place. Stack the books on a wooden bookshelf that you have purchased or built yourself, and consider laying scraps of leather down on each shelf before stacking the books on top. This craft will give your bookshelf a rustic, Western look while also protecting your books from dust and spills.