I was commissioned to build a new sword hanger for the Caidan Queen's Champion for Rapier. This came after I had the good fortune to examine several period sword hangers in Glasgow, so I decided to make a filagreed (cut-out work) and carved piece for Caid.
The hanger is made of two layers of 6oz. veg-tan, with white and yellow velveteen sandwiched between and exposed in the filagreed holes. The leather is dyed with a preparation of rusty vinegar (which turns the leather a dark grey), then oiled (which darkens and slightly reddens the color). Later, I dyed the linen thread with normal spirit dye because the stitching (which isn't impeccable) detracted from the appearance. The hardware was purchased from Windrose Armoury, except for the tripartite hook, which was sand-cast in bronze from my model by Lord Robindra. The metal bits are rivetted on with brass wire, peened over a backing plate (credit Lord Alberic Kentigern for teaching me how to do this). The straps are self-tightening sliders, with the ends stitched around the buckles. This is the same style used on many period sword hangers. I used a single layer of leather in the straps (because I didn't do punchwork there), as opposed to two layers around a piece of fabric on the original.
To decorate the hanger, I cut out the general shape, but did not separate the three parts of the body or the straps. I then carved the design with a swivel knife, and completed the tooling (using two beveling stamps). I had originally intended to define the cut-out portions by using non-circular punches, and cutting between them, but this stretched the leather unacceptably around the punch. I did use round punches on the fleurs-de-lis in the rose, but the rest of the work was done with a cheap non-sterile scalpel blade mounted on an exacto handle. Because I had made swivel knife cuts where I wanted to cut out leather, I put the scalpel in the middle of the swivel cut, and pressed gently to get a clean cut. The leather "hairs" the intrude into the cut-out areas result from not making a clean, vertical edge with the scalpel.
Here's the original filagreed sword hanger (ca. 1600) on display at the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow. It's a bit larger than mine, and the buckles are slightly smaller...
Here's a close-up of the top half of my sword hanger
Another one, of the bottom half of the sword hanger
Here's a close-up of the rose
Another detail of the filagree work
Photos by Graham Hughes. Thanks, Graham!