There's a lot to choose from with that subject -
the gold rush, mining, steam engines, saloons,
gun fights, cattle ranching, Native Americans,
telegraphs, cactus, rattle snakes...
If you go with the bullet idea, maybe make the
wood look like an old-time gun stock. Most of the
gun stocks I've seen from back then were dark colored
and not very frilly like, say, some straight grain Walnut.
If you went with the miner idea, maybe an acryllic blank
that looks like gold ore and use gold hardware. For ranching,
I like the idea about cattle branding, or maybe you could
cast something that looks like barbed wire fencing.
If you wanted Native American, maybe something with silver
and turquoise, feathers, or a woven blanket pattern.
There was a pen recently in "show us your pens" that had
a woven blanket pattern that looked really nice.
If you wanted politically correct, you could make a
pen and pencil set, one about cowboys and one about indians.
Anyway, just some random thoughts. Have fun with it.
jeff