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I have just received 6,000m of some 6mm Asanawa from a new supplier. I was expecting 220m reels of the same 15 yarn per ply rope which I had some years ago in, but only in 15m lengths. However, rope suppliers seem to be somewhat capricious and, like hairdressers, tend to come up with their …

Bob Ropemarks recently had an unfortunate incident at a big show: a rope broke and his model fell. Luckily, no great harm was done but there might be some lessons to be drawn. I applaud Bob for making an account of the incident public. As Bob points out, the most likely cause was the sawing …

I recently came across a post on Fetlife entitled ‘Buyer Beware’ and noticed my name in the slug, so opened the thread with some trepidation thinking I might have an unhappy customer. What I found was far from that! It turned out to be somebody asking for feedback about my eBay shop who had had …

I often get asked about treatment, so rather than entirely re-invent the wheel, I have added to and adapted a rather good post by Kernunos. Boiling Methods: Shortest boil time: None Longest boil time: 8 hours Pros: longer boil makes the rope softer and smoother Cons: longer boil makes the rope weaker and darker. Traditionally, …

The question I am often asked is what length, type and thickness of rope should I use? If you want a strict answer, kinbaku is typically performed with equal length ropes of 7m-8m. Whilst there may be historical reasons for the length, it is certainly easy to handle and means you never have to worry …

It seems fairly common practice to run the suspension lines up to the ring or karabiner and then back through the bight where it comes off the knot, depending on how much rope is left, this might be repeated several times. This means that the bight carries a high load on a single strand (see …

I’m delighted to say that all the hard work seems to be paying off and the sales of my shibari tutorial DVDs have got off to a flying start. We have already exceeded a target that I thought optimistic by Christmas and the huge piles of boxes of DVDs look less daunting. Sales have gone …

How long is a piece of string? The question I am often asked is what length, type and thickness of rope should I use? If you want a strict answer, kinbaku is typically performed with equal length ropes of 7m-8m. Whilst there may be historical reasons for the length, it is certainly easy to handle …

• Soften rope by running through a karabiner. Twist the ropes together below the karabiner to increase the effect. It makes a lot of rope dust! • Pick out any coarse fibres • Draw between 2 blocks of hard beeswax • Boil for 3 minutes • Dry under tension • Burn off but twist the …