All = All levels
B = Beginners, i.e. no or minimal experience
I = Intermediate, i.e. some experience of authentic shibari techniques
A = Advanced, i.e. some experience of authentic shibari suspension techniques
E = Expert, i.e. extensive experience of authentic shibari suspension techniques
P = Performer, i.e. Experts wishing to learn performance techniques

Some of the subjects planned will include:

• Tying people, not parcels (All)
The use of rope for domination and communication.

• Bondage safety and nerve injury (All)
Essential information for all levels with special attention to avoiding nerve injury.

• Protocol and bondage (All)
Combining rope and D/s protocol for domination and control.

• Elementary bondage (B)
What is says on the label! Many ways to use 1 and 2-column ties.

• Bondage for sex and play(B)
Tying for ‘Access All Areas’ for bedroom fun and games.

• Lacing legs & arms (B)
Attractive and restrictive ties to fix limbs to each other or to furniture, poles etc.

• Pole bondage (B)
How to use poles, e.g. bamboo spreader bar, to enforce positions.

• Hip harness (I)
A versatile tie that can also be used as the basis for comfortable suspensions.

• Takate-kote (Kazami ryu) (I)
Kazami Ranki’s box tie.

• Takate-kote (Esinem ryu) (I)
My box tie, inspired by Yukimura and others.

• Takate-kote (Osada ryu) (I)
Osada Steve’s box tie.

• Hishi takate-kote (Kazami ryu) (I)
Kazami Ranki’s diamond pattern box-tie.

• Hishi shibari (Kazami ryu) (I)
Kazami Ranki’s diamond pattern lower body tie.

• Floor-based suspension (I)
A stepping stone into suspensions where the model’s weight is mainly on the ground.

• Suspension basics and rope control (A)
An introduction to suspension: How to safely place and manage the ropes and load.

• Yoko tsuri (Osada ryu) (A)
The classic sideways suspension

• Futo momo (Osada ryu) (E)
A spectacular and intense bent leg suspension using Osada’s clean and simple method.

• Futo momo (Esinem ryu, bent leg suspension) (E)
A spectacular and intense bent leg suspension using less structured methods.

• Performance technique (P)
How to create a performance not just a demonstration. Tips from hundreds of shows.

Booking

All classes will be 2.5hrs unless otherwise stated. The fee will be £30 per rigger with partner/model but blocks of 10 classes can be bought at a discounted rate representing a 25% saving.

Modular classes

5 June: (I) Takate-kote (Kazami)£30.00 GBP 12 June: (All) Protocol & bondage£30.00 GBP 24 July: (B) Bondage for sex & play£30.00 GBP 31 July: (All) Bondage for people, not parcels£30.00 GBP 28 Aug: (I) Floor suspension£30.00 GBP 4 Sept: (A) Suspension basics£30.00 GBP 10 class course£225.00 GBP

IMPORTANT BOOKING CONDITIONS

Classes marked All (All levels) or B (Beginners) are open to all over the age of 18 regardless of experience and provide the foundations that are essential for solid, safe technique and good rope handling. However, I teach communication and domination with rope right from the beginning as if this cannot be achieved with a single rope, adding more will not enhance the effect. I firmly believe one should start to tie as one means to go on.

Attendance at all other levels of classes, i.e. other than those marked All (All levels) or B (Beginners), is only open to those who have been pre-approved. Pre-approval will be by prior personal contact, either by using the Contact Form or in person at a beginners class or other event. This precaution is for safety and to avoid others being held back by students who do not have the correct basic skills.

By ‘authentic shibari techniques’, I mean those used by the masters in Japan and not ‘Japanese style’ or fusion as is frequently taught in books on the subject. Unless you have had first hand tuition from a Japanese master, or from a competent student, you are unlikely to be aware of the important nuances of their methods or aesthetics. Be cautious about over-estimating your skills, as I constantly find serious errors in reproductions of ties, such as the ubiquitous takate-kote, even when people have had classes with experts. It is all too easy to produce something that looks like an aeroplane but doesn’t fly like one! In spite of being able to do this tie blindfold, I spent a very productive couple of hours with Osada Steve recently studying it in detail. Do not underestimate its complexities. Like many things, it takes a short time to learn but a lifetime to master.

What I actually got was very similar in construction to my Ichiban in a true 6mm made from tossa jute. It is not as red as the Asanawa Tossa or as pale as the white jute Ichiban, more a dark gold.

Each ply is made up of 7 double twisted yarns. The Asanawa Tossa uses the same double twisted yarn with a tight lay (twist) and I have found this creates excellent resistance to ‘high-stranding’, i.e. where the plies go out of balance and kink, common is light-weight premium Japanese rope. However, the lay is looser than the Asanawa Tossa so the rope is very flexible and weighs in at a mere 16gm per metre, the same as the 5mm Tossa or 30% less than the 6mm Asanawa Tossa. I just threw a hank at Das Falke who is staying with me for a few days and he said “Oo! That’s light! I like that”. Anyway, we will be duty bound to carry out tests on a wide range of victi…erh, volunteers in the furtherance of human knowledge. Time to hit the social networking aka Little Black Book…;-) Field test reports to follow.

The lower thread count means the rope is not quite so fine but it does mean that it will soften nicely. My initial test of only oiling, burning and running it through a carabiner a couple of times shows that it really doesn’t need wet treatment. Unfortunately, the UK is getting ‘the wet treatment’ at the moment so drying rope is a no-hoper. I suspect it might be amazing with wet treatment and it looks like it won’t increase in diameter significantly. As soon as it clears up, I’ll give it a go and let you know. I might even get creative and dye them.

Above, you can see the 5mm Tossa on the left and the new Asanawa Tossa Lite on the right with a ballpen for comparison of diameters.

I will put up eBay listings tonight.

UPDATE:

I wet treated a batch and it responds beautifully! The rope is unbelievably soft and flexible once wet treated. This rope is going to replace the Asanawa Tossa in my rope bag even though I only just treated a set for Boundcon. It came up exactly as 6mm after treatment but it might slim down a little more with use. It already looks like my old set when it was nicely worn in.

You can buy it here in my eBay shop with 15% discount for the next few days.

So, what news? Well, in spite of appearances, I have been doing some work on this. Last year set the bar incredibly high with an unprecedented number of top performers from Japan with Kinoko Hajime and Kazami Ranki topping the bill. My big problem was where to go from there? Mind you, we have said that every year and somehow manage to pull something even better out of the bag. The downside of having so many incredible artists from Japan last year was that we had to take the agonising decision of excluding a lot of western talent. This year we will make up for it. We have quite a few names in mind but we welcome applications from riggers who can provide evidence of being able to perform and not merely demonstrate technique. Exposure at LFAJRB can make or break your reputation; there are too many knowledgeable audience members to get away with anything other than a totally professional show and, of course, we have the festival’s high standards to maintain. So, no pressure

Of course, we will have at least one big name from Japan to star and run master classes. In the frame so far are Kazami Ranki, who ran a very successful 5-day master class here recently, and Kanna, who is perhaps the most respected ‘bakushi in Japan and a disciple of the ‘grandfather of shibari’, Akechi Denki. Kazami has also mentioned the possibility of bringing over one of their best female riggers. Who or what combination we will be able to arrange for this year is yet to be decided. One or other will certainly be running master classes before or after the festival.

I have no reason to believe that the festival will not be at Resistance Gallery in late September but we will need to check for clashes with other major events. I will be pushing to get more space in an adjoining unit as I am sure it will sell out again and people will be selling their souls for tickets. In addition to allowing extra capacity, it would also be more conducive to running workshops or shows in parallel.

We welcome applications for running workshops/classes and from others wishing to present relevant work or subjects, e.g. art, photography, cultural interest.

Jenis’s mischievous side came out (ed: Does she have another?) and her double column wrist tie swiftly got routed via his crotch. I didn’t get translations of his quite animated comments but I did recognise the word for ‘penis’. I suspect his expression in the photo will give the gist of his meaning.

Kinoko’s crotch wasn’t the only one to get a battering. A certain two young ladies entertained the masses outside Boundcon with a playful, but very few holds barred, cat-fight. During the course of this, one of our lady pugilists suffered an eye-watering front ‘wedgie’ and ended up knickerless with tights in tatters. That’s in addition to two very clear sets of teeth-marks on her upper arm, one of which drew blood. As they say, it’s not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog. I hope to be able to get their permission to post the video, although the up-skirt footage of a certain well-known nawashi and his translator is considerably more X-rated! That said, I will be posting video of the soon to become infamous knicker-eating incident that followed

The Knot is a great opportunity for those who prefer a less hectic environment to bigger events like BOUND or peer rope workshops. I always have a lot more time to give you more personal attention and answer questions, unlike most public events where I am running around like the proverbial blue-arsed fly with barely a moment to dally.

It has been very rewarding to work closely with attendees to develop their talents. For example, Mo, who has been tying for a relatively short time, honed his skills to a stage where he put on a very professional show at BOUND. I am very excited by the potential of another student who showed he innately understood the art of communicating with rope, in spite of having no technical skills; when he gains the latter, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Even if you are sure you know what you are doing, it is often worth getting a second opinion as I frequently find basic errors in the rope work of very experienced students!

See What’s On for booking and other information.

In one case, I heard of on the grapevine, a dropped handcuff key meant having to wait three days until the unfortunate victim’s brother dropped by and let himself in. It is just as much a problem if knots jam and rope snags. Escape attempts can be further hampered by numbness or loss of mobility to due to nerve damage or compromised circulation. A friend, who is quite well-known on the scene, had to be released from a botched self-suspension in her bedroom by her mother! If you can’t solve the problem, or are likely to exhaust yourself in the process, things can get very serious quickly. Panic and pain are likely to mean that you might not find an obvious solution. Many positions can become stress positions in short time and this risks fatal positional asphyxia, i.e. the stress causes the muscles you use to breath to become exhausted. Even excluding simple gags causing problems, e.g. choking from vomiting, or dangerous practices like erotic asphyxiation, there is an ever present danger of accidental asphyxiation. It is all too easy for a rope to slip, a fall or unconsciousness to cause a rope to end up around your neck. This page summarises a few tragedies. Some involve bizarre accidents like this one that included a lawn roller. Being famous is no help, as David Carradine, amongst others, discovered.

Of course, it makes sense to have some way of releasing safely yourself in an emergency. That means some form of safety cutter, which obviously needs to be accessible and impossible to lose. In more than one case, having some means of cutting yourself free has proved to be no guarantee of safety or even survival. In fact, it can even contribute to death!

Being alone is a common factor in the vast majority of bondage related deaths. Fatalities are pretty rare with a third party present. Without another person, there is no help if things go wrong and things can turn serious very fast. Don’t add to the statistics. If you must do it, do try to be aware of all the potential hazards, plan for those eventualities and then for when those contingencies go wrong! Sod’s Law dictates what can go wrong, will go wrong. Take that as a fact of life or it could become a fact of death. Be aware that, unless you are desperate for a Darwin Award, some things really should never be tried alone.

Our star performers were WykD-Dave and Clover, who were on stage at LFAJRB and Shibaricon. They did a show based on one they did in Memphis, which wowed the crowds there and had a similar effect here. These two are amongst the best in the west and you’ll see what I mean when you see the video, which I will be posting shortly.

The first show was by Jack the Whipper and Bianca. Jack has become an impressive performer, with incredible flow, speed and energy. I just love to see this kind of tying. Bianca seems to be of the bomb-proof school of models and takes everything he throws at her with grace and stoicism…and Jack doesn’t pull his punches.

I think people will be talking about Nina’s ‘Hana to Hebi’ inspired show with Adreena and the snake for some time. The video is up in the gallery. So far it has drawn comments like “the most erotic piece she’s ever seen. I loved it. Nina you are a rock star!”, “I’m in absolute awe of this performance. What an amazing talent Nina is. So beautiful” and “Brilliant work, it’s great to see a really sensual suspension”. I don’t think I need say more as you can see for yourself as the video is open to non-member for the time being.

Nina and I did a jam session to finish off the night. It was entirely ‘off the cuff’ as we had no plan nor was I familiar with the music, which reminds me…I really must prepare something for Boundcon.

Early-bird £8 tickets on sale here.

It is simply not good enough to leave unsecured bights, except possibly with some bowline derivatives, and use quick release tie offs without plenty of back up, e.g. a couple of hitches and double tying your quick release or a damn good friction. If they can come undone, they will! I saw a very close call at one of the London festivals, where a model came within an inch of hitting the deck head first and was only prevented from doing so by an end knot jamming in the bight.

I hate to say it but this will be the cause of a very serious accident before long. It’s a numbers game. More and more new people are trying suspension and there seems to be a lot of competition. This is driving them to work outside their ability. In most things, confidence rises faster than ability. I have heard it said that a motorcyclist is likely to have more accidents in the first 5 years than the next 50. I take the figures with a pinch of salt but there is some basis of truth. There’s a big difference in riding a bike at speed and being experienced enough to deal with it if things go wrong. You also develop a 6th sense and all round awareness. Same with rigging. You need to be keeping an eye on your model, ensuring things aren’t coming undone, checking the wrap positions, wrist tie tightness, that your candles aren’t setting anything on fire, you aren’t tripping over your ropes or going to crack her head on anything…a million other things to take your eye off the ball. Home, public and performance situations all bring their own special distractions. When the proverbial does hit the fan, you need to be ready to act instantly by reflex and not panic. This is where practice and experience come into their own. This is exactly why emergency drills are practised, so personnel are trained to act instinctively when the chips are down.

If a main line fails during an inversion, there’s a high chance of paralysis or death. Of course, there are legal implications, the end of your rigging career and a whole load more grief. It really isn’t worth chancing to save a few seconds! Instructors and well-qualified riggers, watch out for this. Keep an eye out for each other and the beginners.

I will make a short tutorial to illustrate some tie-offs that I would be happy to use and also how how easily some can come undone. However, don’t take this as a ‘how to do suspension’. This is a subject that should be ideally learned hands-on with a well-qualified instructor. There are far too much ill-informed techniques and bad habits being passed on as the blind lead the blind. I think most people, if they were learning mountaineering, would want a qualified instructor before risking their lives. I think if you are risking other peoples lives you owe it to them be even more careful; what you do with your life is up to you.

I have just uploaded my show with Jenis after my five day teaching stint at Schwelle 7. I’ve dubbed it ‘Drowning by Numbers’, a nod to the use of Michael Nyman’s music and more literally due to Jenis ending up with her head in a large bowl of water during an inverted suspension.