As a general rule, I keep my jute rope pretty clean. Because I really like my rope; I put a lot of time into purchasing it, cutting it to the sizes I like, and treating it so that it becomes a joy to tie with as soon as possible.
So as you can imagine, I go to a lot of effort to take care of it.
I store it in bags, put it on high up shelves away from the floor, NEVER EVER TIE IN THE MUD, that sort of thing.
However, inevitably, it does become less than pristine. With the play I do, it’s bound to get sexual fluids and other stuff on it at some point. It’s going to need cleaning.
Below are my notes on doing that, based on research through my favorite rope forums and books.
This is a response email I got from a guy named Sean who had read my “What Kind Of Rope Is Best For Bondage” post. And you know what? I’m really impressed with the amount of work he put into his response.
I really enjoy interacting with those that comment on the blog. It’s a great opportunity to share knowledge and learn from others experience. There are so many of you out there with a lot to contribute, and I’ve learned from some of you already; which tells me that Rope Connections is doing what I created it to do, sharing and pooling knowledge so we can all develop our skills and enjoy rope and rope bondage together.
The reason why I’m putting this response into a post of its own is that I really feel this guy went the extra mile. He shared his story, his knowledge and experience, and some very practical information about the advantages of the rope he’s talking about, and where to get it.
I did some rope practice recently with someone I am very lucky to be involved with… and since I found my old digital camera recently, I took some photos.
There’s often a bit of a debate about how to finish your rope ends, whether to knot them or whip them.
They do need finishing, because otherwise your rope tends to unravel.
Honestly, I started off with knotted because it just seemed like the simplest way of doing it. It’s quick, easy, and takes no time at all. Just a quick overhand knot, and you’re done.
But after awhile, as I got more into rope, and I began enjoying the smooth flow of the movement and the interaction with people as I tied them, I began to encounter something that irritated me more and more over time.
This. This right here.
There’s something incredibly annoying about when you’re in the middle of a smooth pull, you’re in the zone, the person you’re tying is caught up in it all, and then your rope gets goddamned stuck as you pull it beneath some wraps or behind your stem.
And you have to pause, jerk at it, untangle it. It’s freaking frustrating! Because, as the Emperor says, it throws you off your groove.
You’re no longer feeling zen and caught up in the moment; you’ve experienced a spike of irritation which has messed with your scene. The person you’re tying may not have noticed, but you sure have.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve had that happen, and had it detract from the flow of the moment during a rope scene.
One of the best things about shibari is that the lengths of the rope you use are reasonably short and manageable.
Two joined lengths of rope
This means you don’t have to waste tremendous amounts of time pulling through enormous lengths of rope and risk getting it tangled around your feet, making you look silly.
That said, you do need to add on additional lengths from time to time, so this post shows how to do that.
One of the most common causes of discontent regarding rope bondage is having vague, unrealistic expectations, or worse, floundering around because you just don’t know what you should or shouldn’t expect.
And that’s a troublesome thing – when you don’t know the expectations for a particular situation, it’s easy to entirely misjudge what’s going on or even what the point of what you’re doing is supposed to be.
I’ve come down with some annoying variant of plague this week, which has limited my ability to post to my usual standard, so really sorry about that – I’ll try and make it up to you with a video tutorial next week!
(It’ll be the first one I’ve tried, so I’m a bit nervous/excited about that; this website is helping me to do all kinds of new things and push my limits. Here’s hoping it goes well!) Continue reading An Unexpected Peril of Practice
There are two reasons why I wrote this particular post.
1. The first is for myself. I think it’s really important to know why I do what I do; what I like about it, what I love about it. I think being able to articulate why I do this stuff – why I like to tie people – is really important in keeping myself motivated in learning more, and also in keeping my focus where it should be – having a really hot time with someone I want to have a hot time with.
2. The second is for you guys! For people who are interested in learning, and for people who just don’t understand why one person would want to tie another up, and what we get out of it.
I mean, people who enjoy being tied up probably don’t get it why it’s fun for someone to tie them up; they know how it feels to be tied, but why is it fun to do the tying?
So this post is for people who enjoy being tied, too. People who might like to know what it’s like on the other side of the rope.
I’m a kinky guy who once upon a time was challenged by his girlfriend to tie her up… and at the time, didn’t have a clue how.
That was six years ago.
A lot has changed since then… to the point where I’m now documenting, sharing information, and showing other people how to do all the things I couldn’t do back then.
I even wrote a book, designed to help everyone who comes here get past all the problems and difficult bits quickly, easily, and a lot more smoothly than I did.
Learning rope bondage in isolation is really, REALLY hard…
So I want to make it easier. For me, and for everyone else!
Try the “Start Here” page first; it makes it easier to find the good stuff!
As a general rule, I keep my jute rope pretty clean. Because I really like my rope; I put a lot of time into purchasing it, cutting it to the sizes I like, and treating it so that it becomes a joy to tie with as soon as possible.
