It's Los Angeles in the summer, which means it's warm. Not appallingly hot, but consistently in the high 70s to 80s by the coast, getting warmer inland.
Rope... rope is not the ideal kink to have in hot weather. I mean, it's not as bad as leather or latex, certainly. You're not going to die of heatstroke because you got tied up or sweat puddles into your boots. But rope clings to sweaty skin, catching and dragging. Jute fibers attach themselves in itchy scatterplots across your skin. Rigging is sweaty work in the chilliest of conditions, but add heat and god forbid humidity and it's a recipe for dripping.
(All of the above is why I think going to Bondage Expo Denver next autumn sounds divine.)
All in all, it made for a sweaty, sticky night at the dungeon rope party last night.
Joy of joys, I got tied for play! And I have the shin bruises to show for it. Damn those futomalans/Guatamomos.
I gave the Kinoko hip harness another try as a self-suspension harness and discovered why it isn't working for me that way, but is fine when I tie it on other people. When I self-suspend from a hip harness, I load the harness vertically from the front. On the Kinoko harness, this causes the middle wrap to slip upward, off the butt, and go slack around the hips. This could probably be solved by making the passing line that hitches at the back tighter, to better secure that wrap to the thigh cuffs, but I think it still has that risk, and thus probably won't suit me for self-suspension.
I try so many harnesses, but I keep coming back to the Swiss Seat for self-suspension.
I tied my friend Phi. I wanted to attempt a suspension, but I didn't think it through completely, and through a combination of new equipment and general stickyness, it wasn't successful. But no one got hurt, she had fun, and I have a better idea of what to try next time, i.e. not three new things at once and maybe plan a wee bit.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Transitions, week of June 13
It's been a few weeks since my last post; I've been quiet on the rope front since the Kinoko workshops, but I'm hoping to ramp back up again. My parents will be gone for two weeks in July, so I plan on inviting rope partners over for practice funs, and maybe grabbing a frame to set up for while.
The dog is going to be very concerned.
I've had a few small scenes with a new datefriend, just fun sexy floorwork. There's something different when tying new bottoms, even the enthusiastic ones. I think it's more a set of expectations on my part, which I want to break down and reconsider, rather than any lack of "proper" behavior on theirs. Still, we've had some fun, and he went from curious Top to very happy rope switch who seems to enjoy being tied.
The first time we tied was with his own rope, as I hadn't brought any. He uses 6mm hemp. I can't remember the last time I tied with hemp. (God, if I could get jute that smells like hemp, I would be a happy camper. That lovely horsey smell...) Tying with it was surprisingly tiring; the weight and limpness of it forced me to use more hand and wrist strength, and my usual speed got cut absolutely in third. I think using it to practice might actually be good hand/wrist exercise.
Guys, remember like 4/5 years ago when everyone was using hemp, and jute was that new, light-but-kinda-scratchy stuff that hadn't quite caught on? Good times.
At Hitchin' Bitches on Sunday, I got to be a Teacher Creature! We're adding a Rope 101 portion and a mini-workshop to the LA HB, just to provide some starter content for the beginners who tend to show up and want teaching. It went okay; I could have practiced a little more, but they all caught on fairly quickly and seemed happy.
Lovely V came in to bottom for me, and we had a much more successful transition sequence than we'd had previously. Side torsion to inversion to bridge, and no one died! I discovered that attaching to the front of a hip harness on a twisted bottom is a little tricky, and also that I need to work even more on my line management. Later, during an open tie period, I did a lotus and a single futo self-suspension, the first to test my lotus tie, the second to test my futo and my bottoming capacity for such. Lotus tie loaded mostly on the waist, not the legs, especially in inversion, but self-suspension makes upline management on that tie a little tricky. It stayed solid, though. Futo was fine, ouchy, hit the bad spot on my shin, but it held up pretty well, and so did my knee, miraculously.
To work on:
- Upline management
- Play with the lovely new trellis in A & M's place, have fun with multiple horizontal points
- Futo science - play with different forms, find what's solid and sustainable but not finger-breaking to tie. Work on sustaining it in self-ties; explore play possibilities.
- More floorwork fun -- twisting and torture ties and moving my bottom around on the floor.
The dog is going to be very concerned.
I've had a few small scenes with a new datefriend, just fun sexy floorwork. There's something different when tying new bottoms, even the enthusiastic ones. I think it's more a set of expectations on my part, which I want to break down and reconsider, rather than any lack of "proper" behavior on theirs. Still, we've had some fun, and he went from curious Top to very happy rope switch who seems to enjoy being tied.
The first time we tied was with his own rope, as I hadn't brought any. He uses 6mm hemp. I can't remember the last time I tied with hemp. (God, if I could get jute that smells like hemp, I would be a happy camper. That lovely horsey smell...) Tying with it was surprisingly tiring; the weight and limpness of it forced me to use more hand and wrist strength, and my usual speed got cut absolutely in third. I think using it to practice might actually be good hand/wrist exercise.
Guys, remember like 4/5 years ago when everyone was using hemp, and jute was that new, light-but-kinda-scratchy stuff that hadn't quite caught on? Good times.
At Hitchin' Bitches on Sunday, I got to be a Teacher Creature! We're adding a Rope 101 portion and a mini-workshop to the LA HB, just to provide some starter content for the beginners who tend to show up and want teaching. It went okay; I could have practiced a little more, but they all caught on fairly quickly and seemed happy.
Lovely V came in to bottom for me, and we had a much more successful transition sequence than we'd had previously. Side torsion to inversion to bridge, and no one died! I discovered that attaching to the front of a hip harness on a twisted bottom is a little tricky, and also that I need to work even more on my line management. Later, during an open tie period, I did a lotus and a single futo self-suspension, the first to test my lotus tie, the second to test my futo and my bottoming capacity for such. Lotus tie loaded mostly on the waist, not the legs, especially in inversion, but self-suspension makes upline management on that tie a little tricky. It stayed solid, though. Futo was fine, ouchy, hit the bad spot on my shin, but it held up pretty well, and so did my knee, miraculously.
To work on:
- Upline management
- Play with the lovely new trellis in A & M's place, have fun with multiple horizontal points
- Futo science - play with different forms, find what's solid and sustainable but not finger-breaking to tie. Work on sustaining it in self-ties; explore play possibilities.
- More floorwork fun -- twisting and torture ties and moving my bottom around on the floor.
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