What do I need in my Rope Bondage Kit
So we are always looking at ways we can help our readers and what would be great, today I am going to take you through what makes a GREAT rope kit.
How thick should I use?
Almost any size rope can be used for bondage with enough creativity and care; however, for a lot of the techniques of the cool pictures you see online, you will generally want a diameter between 5-8mm. The right diameter depends on the material of your rope and your style of tying more than on the size of your bottom, although wider rope can sometimes be more convenient for tying larger bodies. A good starting point for beginners is almost always 6mm, and that’s the most popular diameter in general.
But what should my rope be made of?
Some ropes have an outer braided sheath around a core of straight fiber; most ropes made for climbing is of this type of construction generally called kernmantle. Clothesline and other cheap hardware-store ropes frequently also have a core, sometimes of a different material than the sheath. In general, any rope with a core is bad for bondage; it is difficult to handle and produces bulky knots. Rope for bondage should be either twisted most commonly with 3, but sometimes 4, strands, or a solid braid with no core.
Bondage ropes come in only two sizes too long, and too short.
I recommend keeping some of each handy. The main idea when choosing the length of your ropes is how long a rope you can comfortably handle without it becoming unwieldy when you’re pulling it through. This depends mostly on your arm span, and in part on your style of tying. I’m 6’2″ and find anything longer than 10 meters to start becoming awkward for me.
My recommendation is to compose your kit primarily of the longest length that is comfortable for you to work with, and then add in a few shorter ones for when you just need a bit of extra to finish up a tie. The most common lengths offered by suppliers of finished bondage rope are 8m/10m. My approach to building a kit from retail bondage rope is to buy 10 of the lengths they offer in my case usually 10m, take one of them and cut it in half, and another cut about 1/4 way down. That gives me a kit of 8x full length, 1x 3/4 length, 2x 1/2 length, and 1x 1/4 length. For a smaller kit, just decrease the number of full-length ropes. When you are just starting out, or if you are doing mostly bedroom bondage, a smaller kit with a higher proportion of short ropes may be more convenient; I find in the bedroom I rarely use more than 5 ropes, and use each of full, 3/4, and 1/2 length ropes with about equal frequency.
So I have my rope, my rope bunny and we are set what else do I need?
There’s a variety of items other than rope that you may want to keep in your rope bag. THE MOST IMPORTANT is safety cutters, but beyond that here are some other things to consider.
A great and common rope-kit is a first aid supply is ibuprofen, which is traditionally recommended to be taken immediately after a wide variety of the injuries most likely to occur in rope nerve compression, pulled muscles, joint injuries. However the science is pretty mixed on whether that actually promotes healing or just makes people feel better, and you should always be careful that taking pain relievers doesn’t encourage you to ignore the pain that should be listened to. Also in your first aid kit supplies for cuts and scrapes are good to have, although the risk of those isn’t really particular to rope. Some tops like to have a hand balm with them; tying a lot can be murder on your fingers.
A sugary snack and water immediately available are perfect for during play. If you’ve got space in your bag, a thin cloth to lay over the floor where you’ll tie is nice to have if in a venue that doesn’t provide clean mats. Alternately, a blanket serves the same purpose as well as being a great aftercare item. When tying someone who may need emergency medication (e.g. inhaler, EpiPen), always make sure they’ve got it with them and you know where it is and how and when to help them use it.
