Leather Rapier Gorget

August 2, 2022

A different way to display my heraldry

Project Completed January, 2014

I adapted a pattern for a Brigandine gorget that was created by Doug Strong. Sorry, I can’t post up the pdf itself for this one, it was a purchased piece and I want to make sure that the creator gets paid for his work. It’s worth the investment though, it’s quite inexpensive and you can get many uses from the digital format.

That being said – I didn’t want to make it Brigandine, I wanted to make it solid leather. I cut out the pieces by the pattern, tooled out some variants that I found that kind of went with my heraldry. I curled out the higher neck while it was damp as well, so that it didn’t bunch quite as badly at the Adam’s apple. Once the tooling was completed, I stained it with a gel antique and assembled the front and back pieces using a cross stitch lace over an angled butt joint to retain some flexibility where the neck meets the body. After the antique had set, I then wax hardened the piece.

Instead of buckled straps, I used button studs. While these are less period than buckles, I’ve historically had issues getting my gorget on and off without assistance. Use of the button studs ensures that I can get the piece off by myself when I start feeling claustrophobic.