--this is from a blog i've written previously--
Definition: shibari (縛り ) : (verb) to tie or bind
Lauren's Definition: "That hot japanese rope thing" ...
So wow, just yesterday i realized how kinky me and my friends really are. I was doing some disk clean up and was backing up my .psd files and other stuff, and came across all the pictures me and my friends take together when we spend time with each other. The folders are organized by day, and it seemed like each other day's folder was a day when we spent time playing with rope or cuffs or whatever. I know I batch processed all the pictures so they would be around 300kb per picture, and in total i have 3 gigs worth of pictures with my friends...
An old time set I did with my buddy lauren is the focus of this journal.
This was last year when she was trying out to be part of Suicide Girls (cosmo for hot punk/goth girls) and i was her photographer. Each set to send for her application required that by the end of the set she'd be nude but this was before she got that awesome tattoo that's now on her chest and got a couple piercings so we felt her vanilla skin would be a little plain if she wanted to get the higher ups' attention at the time. So the theme we did for the set was a subby japanese girl. Lau had semi long black hair, and mixed with her uber bright blue eyes and fair skin, some brown rope would really stand out in her adobe colored room. We did tons of research and we eventually literally went out to Barnes and Nobel to look for a book that dealt with japanese and rope (the same one that another friend showed me one day). Eventually we found a book that illustrated and gave step by steps to several different really awesome looking ties. Being the cheapass artists that we are we just took notes, grabbed a sub and coke and headed back to her place to get started.
What we did was a 'Karada' or rope web/dress.
Just like many japanese things, it not only looks hot but there's a ton of symbolism behind it. The pattern on the karada almost looks like a net, like a fish that was just caught by a fishers boat yada yada.. Anyway in the end, it really made accentuated lauren's 'features' and we did the set. Our set didn't get accepted unfortunately, but she did get called to go to LA to try with one of thier photographers, in the end Lauren decided not to join up with them because she heard about how badly the girls are treated(excessive inappropiate comments, verbal abuse ect.)
The tie itself has a side effect. I've not only practiced the karada on Lauren, but also Vanessa, Kayce, and Victoria, and they all hinted the same thing: "it made them aroused" Now we deduced that it is all due to the 3rd step after you make the knots in the front and go between the legs behind the back and up through the collar loop. After that when you wind the rope around the body, any tug or pull to the rope translated to that part right on their crotch. Vicki already told me she loves struggling, so when we played with it, it was no wonder she said to give her more time before i untied her.
All in all, i think eastern forms of bondage is meant to look damn good and have an additional effect on the victim while western style is meant to get the job done, which is why it seems right with the classic Damsel in Distress genre.
Lastly, some things me and my cohorts picked up while playing with rope: It's easier if you have a lot of 10' pieces of rope rather than one long one. Save a 35' piece of rope for karadas or other harnesses. Go around limbs 4 times (2 times with a double strand of rope) it's more comfortable and it looks better. Tie toes with flat, not round, shoe laces and go in a figure 8 pattern so you don't cut circulation. Buy some of those emt scissors (we had an emergency once when vanessa's work called her in in the middle of play).
Personally, my favorite type of bondage is one that's very appealing to the eye and is completely practical.
I believe the most visual appealing bondage, is the ones that accentuate the already gorgeous features of a woman and not cover them up.
This means that excessive rope is out, because it’s no longer about the woman but the sea of fiber covering her
This also means no mummification, because obviously, even though her figure may be visible, her skin is covered, there’s no easy access to please her, and frankly, it does not look comfortable or attractive.
A big mistake I see very often is the tying and cinching of rope below AND above the knees, tying above the knees is a bad idea, try it right know, put your hand below your leg right at the knee, then flex your leg, now imagine that tendon being restricted by rope, OUCH! Not only is it just a bad idea, but it’s also unattractive and just seems excessive if you already have rope below the knees. If you really want to do it, i think what looks nice is two passes above and below the knees and a single cinch for both passes at the back of the knees.
What the woman is wearing I believe directly relates to what bondage is appropriate for her. Lets take Vicki for example, in the times we play with rope, the best pictures we take are always ones of her when she’s hogtied. Vicki’s usual clothing choice is a babydoll shirt, and snug jeans. The hogtie really works because it’s a very western, playful tie and also because Vicki has very nicely shaped feet so you can see them as well as her face.
For Vanessa’s birthday, I ordered for her, directly from china, a silk cheongsam mini dress (because of her petite build) when we spent some time together that week, she wore the dress, and some heels. The most attractive position for her in that outfit was sitting up, knees bent and to the side, with her ankles bound, her knees bound, and arms behind her back. Because her arms were held back, this pushed out her chest, and her bent knees with the heels made her legs look very attractive and because she was sitting up, her dress which looked beautiful already with her long hair made for a very nice picture.
Now about gags, Gags are meant to muffle, not silence, as long as we can breathe we can make noise. Sound is just vibrations in the air, and the sound of humming can go through cloth.
One thing I always see is some people’s obsession with OTM (over the mouth) or OTN (over the nose) gags. Frankly, these do NOT look attractive. Unless you’re trying to play a western bandito and trying to block a cold, I don’t think an over the nose/mouth gag is going to look any appropriate. The most attractive gag I think is a properly sized Ball gag. People are attracted to colors, and nothing is sexier than a woman in a red dress, with matching heels, and nails, with a matching red ball gag. A proper ballgag should fit snugly inside the woman’s mouth, and her teeth can be visible if she puckers her lips. Ring gags are almost the same as ballgags but leaves the woman’s mouth open to anything. Scarf gags are perfectly associated with love/sensual bondage, and tape gags are the quick playful solution, also the most common choice for my friends.
Definition: shibari (縛り ) : (verb) to tie or bind
Lauren's Definition: "That hot japanese rope thing" ...
So wow, just yesterday i realized how kinky me and my friends really are. I was doing some disk clean up and was backing up my .psd files and other stuff, and came across all the pictures me and my friends take together when we spend time with each other. The folders are organized by day, and it seemed like each other day's folder was a day when we spent time playing with rope or cuffs or whatever. I know I batch processed all the pictures so they would be around 300kb per picture, and in total i have 3 gigs worth of pictures with my friends...
An old time set I did with my buddy lauren is the focus of this journal.
This was last year when she was trying out to be part of Suicide Girls (cosmo for hot punk/goth girls) and i was her photographer. Each set to send for her application required that by the end of the set she'd be nude but this was before she got that awesome tattoo that's now on her chest and got a couple piercings so we felt her vanilla skin would be a little plain if she wanted to get the higher ups' attention at the time. So the theme we did for the set was a subby japanese girl. Lau had semi long black hair, and mixed with her uber bright blue eyes and fair skin, some brown rope would really stand out in her adobe colored room. We did tons of research and we eventually literally went out to Barnes and Nobel to look for a book that dealt with japanese and rope (the same one that another friend showed me one day). Eventually we found a book that illustrated and gave step by steps to several different really awesome looking ties. Being the cheapass artists that we are we just took notes, grabbed a sub and coke and headed back to her place to get started.
What we did was a 'Karada' or rope web/dress.
Just like many japanese things, it not only looks hot but there's a ton of symbolism behind it. The pattern on the karada almost looks like a net, like a fish that was just caught by a fishers boat yada yada.. Anyway in the end, it really made accentuated lauren's 'features' and we did the set. Our set didn't get accepted unfortunately, but she did get called to go to LA to try with one of thier photographers, in the end Lauren decided not to join up with them because she heard about how badly the girls are treated(excessive inappropiate comments, verbal abuse ect.)
The tie itself has a side effect. I've not only practiced the karada on Lauren, but also Vanessa, Kayce, and Victoria, and they all hinted the same thing: "it made them aroused" Now we deduced that it is all due to the 3rd step after you make the knots in the front and go between the legs behind the back and up through the collar loop. After that when you wind the rope around the body, any tug or pull to the rope translated to that part right on their crotch. Vicki already told me she loves struggling, so when we played with it, it was no wonder she said to give her more time before i untied her.
All in all, i think eastern forms of bondage is meant to look damn good and have an additional effect on the victim while western style is meant to get the job done, which is why it seems right with the classic Damsel in Distress genre.
Lastly, some things me and my cohorts picked up while playing with rope: It's easier if you have a lot of 10' pieces of rope rather than one long one. Save a 35' piece of rope for karadas or other harnesses. Go around limbs 4 times (2 times with a double strand of rope) it's more comfortable and it looks better. Tie toes with flat, not round, shoe laces and go in a figure 8 pattern so you don't cut circulation. Buy some of those emt scissors (we had an emergency once when vanessa's work called her in in the middle of play).
Personally, my favorite type of bondage is one that's very appealing to the eye and is completely practical.
I believe the most visual appealing bondage, is the ones that accentuate the already gorgeous features of a woman and not cover them up.
This means that excessive rope is out, because it’s no longer about the woman but the sea of fiber covering her
This also means no mummification, because obviously, even though her figure may be visible, her skin is covered, there’s no easy access to please her, and frankly, it does not look comfortable or attractive.
A big mistake I see very often is the tying and cinching of rope below AND above the knees, tying above the knees is a bad idea, try it right know, put your hand below your leg right at the knee, then flex your leg, now imagine that tendon being restricted by rope, OUCH! Not only is it just a bad idea, but it’s also unattractive and just seems excessive if you already have rope below the knees. If you really want to do it, i think what looks nice is two passes above and below the knees and a single cinch for both passes at the back of the knees.
What the woman is wearing I believe directly relates to what bondage is appropriate for her. Lets take Vicki for example, in the times we play with rope, the best pictures we take are always ones of her when she’s hogtied. Vicki’s usual clothing choice is a babydoll shirt, and snug jeans. The hogtie really works because it’s a very western, playful tie and also because Vicki has very nicely shaped feet so you can see them as well as her face.
For Vanessa’s birthday, I ordered for her, directly from china, a silk cheongsam mini dress (because of her petite build) when we spent some time together that week, she wore the dress, and some heels. The most attractive position for her in that outfit was sitting up, knees bent and to the side, with her ankles bound, her knees bound, and arms behind her back. Because her arms were held back, this pushed out her chest, and her bent knees with the heels made her legs look very attractive and because she was sitting up, her dress which looked beautiful already with her long hair made for a very nice picture.
Now about gags, Gags are meant to muffle, not silence, as long as we can breathe we can make noise. Sound is just vibrations in the air, and the sound of humming can go through cloth.
One thing I always see is some people’s obsession with OTM (over the mouth) or OTN (over the nose) gags. Frankly, these do NOT look attractive. Unless you’re trying to play a western bandito and trying to block a cold, I don’t think an over the nose/mouth gag is going to look any appropriate. The most attractive gag I think is a properly sized Ball gag. People are attracted to colors, and nothing is sexier than a woman in a red dress, with matching heels, and nails, with a matching red ball gag. A proper ballgag should fit snugly inside the woman’s mouth, and her teeth can be visible if she puckers her lips. Ring gags are almost the same as ballgags but leaves the woman’s mouth open to anything. Scarf gags are perfectly associated with love/sensual bondage, and tape gags are the quick playful solution, also the most common choice for my friends.
