Gear Information

In this section we will cover some of the basic information you will need to know about the gear used in Rope Bondage/Shibari, and some of the basic philosophy of handling rope. 

Cutters:

  • Always have a safety cutter in reach when tying
  • Safety cutters must protect the bottom when in use. They must have:
    • Blunt or rounded noses, so that the bottom doesn’t get stabbed if they are panicking and moving uncooperatively
    • Strong construction, so that the safety cutter is not likely to become damaged during urgent use
    • The ability to be easily used when the user is panicked
  • Some examples of commonly used safety cutters are:
    • EMT shears
    • Rescue hook

Notes on cutters:

  • EMT sheers can be purchased from equestrian shops as “bandaging sheers”
    • Be cautious to not buy sheers from human medicine/first aid shops as these are often only intended for cutting bendaging and thin gauze. They often have small handles do not allow all fingers to fit inside the handle, further limiting your ability to cut through rope.
    • Be cautious of ‘hook style’ cutters that are not one-piece metal construction; they may have thin blades that are easily blunted, easily damaged, or just simply fall out
  • Examples of cutting implements that are NOT acceptable, and are not to be used are:
    • Knives, either folding, or fixed blade, regardless of how rounded the point is; if the bottom twists unexpectedly, it is possible to present an unguarded sharp edge to someone’s body.
    • Craft, sewing, or kitchen scissors, as these almost always have sharp point at their end.
    • Wire/side cutters, sheet metal sheers, as these do not protect the body of the rope bottom when in use, and may remove fingers or deliver a life threatening cut to the recipient
  • Have backup cutters – especially if the primary cutter is (or both cutters are) scissors
    • Scissors can fail – as they are a mechanical device consisting of at least three parts.
    • Any safety cutter can get lost, covered in clothes or rope that gets thrown during the scene, knocked off the table they’re placed on.
    • Place the cutters such that they are physically separate from each other, so they are less likely to both be lost. Also so that one can be reached without having to fight a panicked rope bottom to get to the one and only cutter in the room.
  • Understand how it feels to cut through rope – Consider getting rope of a similar material and size to the rope you will be using during play, so that you can practice cutting through it.
N.B.: Scissors and Rescue hooks are NOT movie grade laser swords; they will not slice through everything in sight with zero effort.

Scissors have a tendency for their blades to bend away from each other when pressure is applied during a cut. This will damage the scissors permanently and they will no longer function. This may also happen during a cut if a partner panics and twists the scissors in the tops hand

Rope types:

  • Rope can be made of different materials:
    • Jute
    • Hemp
    • Cotton
    • Nylon
    • POSH
    • Bamboo
    • Coconut
    • Sisal
  • Rope has different constructions
    • Tossa
    • Assanawa
    • Twisted
    • Braided

Pros and cons of different types of rope:

Natural fibres – pros:
  • Feeling
  • A feeling of ‘Life’ to the movement of the rope – Natural fibre rope tends to be heavier than synthetic fibres. This makes the rope ‘feel’ more ‘lively’ when handled.
  • Sound
  • Aesthetic
  • Customizability
  • Higher burn speed than synthetic
  • Higher friction than synthetic ropes
 
Natural fibres – cons:
  • Do not get wet (difficult to dry – drying under tension)
  • Needs more maintenance than synthetic
  • No rating/standard breaking strain/safe working load
  • Intimidating appearance

 

Synthetic – pros:
  • Very easy to clean
  • Possibly extremely low maintenance
  • Possibly UV reactive
  • Colour choice
  • ‘Softer’/less intimidating
  • Rateable/standard safe working load

 

Synthetic – cons:
  • Lower burn speed than natural fibre ropes
  • Typically more expensive than natural fibres
  • Less friction than natural fibre

 

Twisted – pros:
  • Feeling on the body – lots of texture
  • Leaves aesthetic marks
  • Aesthetic
  • More friction than braided

 

Twisted – cons:
  • Leaves more marks than braided
  • Looks more ‘brutal’ to the beginner

 

Braided – pros:
  • Uniform structure and feeling
  • Extremely low maintenance
  • Extremely strong
  • Tends to not leave suspicious marks

 

Braided – cons:
  • Tends to not leave aesthetic looking marks
  • Less friction than twisted construction rope
  • Doesn’t have the texture feeling as twisted rope

Principles of Shibari:

  • Shibari is a Japanese style of rope bondage
  • Shibari meaning “to tie”, alternatively “Kinbaku” meaning “to bind tightly”
  • Shibari is typically done using 8m long lengths of rope, folded in half for 4m of working length
  • Shibari starts from the ‘bight’, the centre of the rope folded in half
  • Shibari/Kinbaku/Rope is often much more about the connection and experience you can create with a partner, than the complexity or pattern of a tie you place on a partner
More general principles:
  • The exact length of a tops rope is originally linked to their height, as this relates to the wing-span of their arms. The standard calculation is somewhere around 4 times the tops wingspan, plus 1 meter
    • This gives enough length that once a SCT has been completed, and the rope passed around another part of the body, it only takes two full arm span pulls on the rope to pull the tails through the tie.
  • It is important to use one’s fingers to pinch the rope and pull it through when pulling tails through a tie. Using a single finger as a ‘crochet hook’ may be preferred and is also ideal.
    • It is critical that rope is not pushed under bands. Instead one must pass their fingers under bands they wish rope to go through (fingers are passed under the bands from the opposite direction the rope needs to go), and then pull the rope under the rope already laid down.
    • Once fully formed, this habit will make future tying more graceful, effortless, comfortable for the bottom, and many times faster.
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