I decorate for a local restaraunt/B&B/Hunting Lodge………on the rustic side. My last centerpieces had small gravel (from the garden center at local supercenter) and topped by already used shotgun shells……..in a hurricane vase with a tall glass candle in the center. The shotgun shells I got for free from a local shooting range, and I will return them, in case someone wants to reload them! Everybody loved the shotgun shells! (I even put the flame of the lighter in and around the shells in a controlled environment to make sure they werent flamable-since they were already used, there was NO problem with the trace spent gunpowder!)