I use leather and metal and bondage tape/pvc/latex materials for my rigging. It’s an aesthetic I like, being at heart an old-school industrial/Goth/metal girl. Leather smells amazing and the sound of jingly metal snaps and chains is just yummy yummy. Add some slick and shiny to that and this top will be humming right along into her happy place.
Rope was never something I thought much about. I know how to tie some quick release knots but never use it in my kink. It seemed like a lot of work to get what I could quickly do with a set of cuffs and swivel clips and some bondage tape. Also, as a sadist, the point of immobilization was to torture and rope just always felt risky to me from a safety perspective if someone was going to be in bondage for a comparatively long period of time.
I went to a rope workshop last night and got a whole new perspective on it. I thought I would learn how to tie more knots, but instead I saw how the application of rope can be sensual, or rough, playful, or technically dead serious. You don’t need to do Shibari to do rope play. It’s not necessarily about hard immobilization (mind blown). Just like with mummification or heavy bondage (straightjacket anyone?) it can be calming for the receiver because science. For the roper it can be Zen as well – like knitting. I would imagine as you gain muscle memory of the rope in your hand you can get into a head space where you are at once hyper-focused on the safety of your rigging but also at a 10,000 foot view with the overall mechanics and aesthetics.
As a sadist I’m always wondering “How much can this (safely) hurt someone?” and I was surprised that the safe application of the rope did not actually have a lot of pain involved. I’m sure especially with suspension there’s some minor discomfort but for safety it should never hurt-hurt. Rope is considered edge play because you can cause permanent damage or actually kill someone.
I have some ideas of how I can add a level of discomfort without increasing risk and I look forward to experimenting with the right boy toy.
Always be willing to learn new things, even if you don’t end up incorporating them in your routine.
It was also nice, as it always is, to meet new fellow kinksters.