The Single Column Tie
In this unit we will look at the most elementary tie in Shibari, the first tie you should learn; the tie that virtually all other ties are based off.
This is what we will cover in this module.
The Burlington Bowline – a non-collapsing, single column tie
Personally, I teach the Burlington Bowline as the first single column tie when I run introduction classes
“Why the Burlington?” – there are many reasons:
- When tying to a column (persons limb)
- Because it does not collapse
- Because it is fault tolerant; it is possible to tie the Burlington wrong, and have it turn into another (safe) non-collapsing SCT
- Is simple to learn & doesn’t require precise handling or dressing
- Is direction/orientation/direction of pull agnostic; it does not need to be set up in a specific orientation depending on where it’s being pulled
- Because it can be easily, quickly, and safely adapted into a ‘slipped’ tie (making it a quick release SCT)
- Because it can be easily, quickly, and safely adapted into a double column tie (“DCT”)
- Because the DCT variation of the Burlington Bowline can be made ‘slipped’/into a quick release in the same manner as the SCT variation
Below you will find a more detailed breakdown of all of the individual steps in the Burlington bowline with explanations and helpful hints next to each picture
Beginnings
All Shibari starts from the middle of a doubled over piece of rope. We call this the ‘bight’.
Lay the bight over the top of your partners wrist/ankle (or your own leg, with your ankle resting on your opposite knee when sitting in a chair).
The bight would be going away from you and the “working end” (the long length of extra rope you’ve not yet gotten to) should be behind you and to your left
As an aside, reverse all right and left instructions if you happen to be left handed.
Note that here I am pinching the rope with my two first fingers and thumb. This is very important and you should copy it exactly.
The two fingers under the rope (and resting on your partners wrist) create space for the tie that you will need later.
The pinch also creates tension in the line, which keeps things neat.
Anyway, reach under your partners wrist and grab the bight, pull this around your partners wrist and let extra rope slide through your pinch grip.
Bring the bight up to your fingers and add it to the pinch grip you had before.
Again, this step is important, and you should attempt to copy it early so you set the good habit.
We now need to ‘pay out’ more rope to make the bight longer.
Keep your right hand pinching the bight, you should have constant tension on this rope. Not enough to tighten in to your partners skin, just enough to keep the rope straight.
Loosen your pinch grip on the bands, and slip your fingers around and ‘under’ your partners column like shown here…
…pinch the rope again and move your fingers back up to where they were before. this should rotate the bands around your partners wrist, and increase the length of your bight.
Now make one more pass around your partners wrist. Add this 3rd pass to your pinch grip.
Bight now crosses over all of the bands
New technique!
Very important here, learn this and get into the habit of doing this at all costs; always pull rope through, never push.
Here you want the bight to be pulled under the bands from left to right (not pushed). Second important point; when you pass your finger under rope that you want to pull rope around, push your finger all the way under. Do not be shy and only push your fingertips under the rope; go all the way to your knuckles.
I don’t show myself using my fingers this deeply here because these photos are aspirational; eventually you will be so fluid you will know how to move your fingers so that you only need a small part of your finger to pass through the bands. For now however – go deep.
Pass your finger under the bands from the right side, and hook the bight like a crochet hook.
If the ‘crochet hook analogy isn’t sitting well with you; you can use two fingers underneath your bands and ‘pinch’ before pulling your fingers back through…
I can’t stress this enough; never push, always pull.
This will make you faster, more fluid, more accurate, and able to connect with your partner better.
This might sound like a rubbish claim, but your fingers are more dexterous, stiffer, and have more feeling than does the end of a piece of rope you’re trying to ‘thread the needle’ with.
Pull the bight all the way through and keep light tension on it, always keep tension on the end of your rope; it makes things neater and easier to follow as you’re tying them.
Note this step:
Setting up this hand position should feel unnatural & awkward the first few times. Setting up the hand position in this way, however, will position the fingers to conveniently fall into the correct location for pulling the bight through the loop.
Make this loop with an anticlockwise twist (if the working end, the long bit of rope, is on the left of the bands)
Note how the fingers conveniently fall through the loop
Do your best to get into the habit of keeping tension on the bight rope.
Pass the length to your fingers. Do not grab the very end of the bight; you do not need to ‘thread-the-needle’ by passing the end of the bight through the loop (see previous rant about pulling through, rather than pushing through).
Keeping tension on the bight rope will help form the knot more cleanly.
‘Threading-the-needle’ will mean that you loose tension, and it is also an unnecessarily complicated action.
Pull the bight through, keep tension.
Pass your fingers under the bands from right to left…
…pinch (or ‘crochet hook’) the bight…
…and pull under the bands.
Pull the bight through the loop once more….
…and keep tension on it.
Adjust your grip on the ‘working end’ (the long length of extra rope) as shown here, and slowly ‘encourage’ the loop to close.
Close the loop
Compacting the knot:
In Shibari we do not ‘tighten’ knots; we do not use knots that will ‘tighten’, as we use non-collapsing knots. We will frequently ‘compact’ knot (and ‘frictions’) however. Feel how spongey the ‘knot’ (loop and turns through the loop) of a loosely tied Burlington Bowline feel.
Work through the following section and repeat this test of ‘sponginess’, the knot should now feel much firmer.
Grip the working end firmly with one hand (in my case it was my right), and loosely with the other (left for me), now slide the loose hand up the rope as if you’re opening an umbrella until you hit the knot. Push the knot away from your other hand.
Repeat this same concept with the bight.
The first step in compacting the knot will make the loop more solid, this second step will make the turns through that loop more solid.
This will make for a more stable, more well presented tie that is safer and more resistant to failure.
Final notes on single column ties – Remember the Burlington bowline, remember there are many S.C.T’s, the Burlington bowline is just the one I learned and prefer to teach because it is fairly fault tolerant. If you make an error, it won’t roll or fail as easily as some other S.C.T’s might.
Some others require that they be set up the correct way for the direction you wish to pull them in, otherwise they will roll and fail in a potentially dangerous manner.