Basic Knot Tying

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Thanks in no small part to books like Fifty Shades of Grey and an ever-expanding market for fetish videos, bondage and kink in general are exploding in popularity. Right now might be the best time to get into bondage since the Marquis de Sade. If you’re entertaining the notion of trying bondage out, you’re in for a treat. However, there is a learning curve; tying a knot that’s both restrictive and comfortable doesn’t come naturally. They take practice and repetition to master, but with a little guidance, you’ll know the ropes in no time.


Knot Tying

Safety Precautions

Kink can involve simulating potentially dangerous events. Properly managed, there’s no real danger, but you have to know what you’re doing. When tying up your partner or getting tied up yourself, make sure that blood vessels and nerves aren’t being constricted. Don’t tie ropes directly on top of a vein or a nerve. If you’re being tied improperly, say something! That’s what safe words are for.

Using appropriate rope or other bindings is also important. You shouldn’t use rough, industrial rope on skin; it’s extremely abrasive and some of types of industrial rope are treated with chemicals that you don’t want to get into your bloodstream. You should use specialised, softer rope like this Japanese Love Rope: strong, but comfortable.

Now that we’ve got safety in hand, let’s get to the fun stuff.

General Tips

You generally want the knot, cuffs, or whatever the binding tool is to be effectively restrictive against motion but still comfortable. A good rule of thumb is to give the bindee about five centimetres of freedom to move their wrists or ankles. It’s easy to do that if you just ask them to keep their wrists and ankles approximately that far apart when you’re tying the knots.

Establishing at least some general guidelines for what you two (or more) want to actually do or have done to you beforehand is a must. Effective communication is extremely important in bondage for lots of reasons, not the least of which is the extreme amount of trust that a sub puts in his or her dom’s hands.

Bind the Wrist: Your First Knot

There isn’t a single best knot—you need to find out what’s most comfortable for you—but there are lots of good video and image tutorials like this one for a knot called the Zip Snare that cover how to tie a good knot for binding wrists. Personally, I like the zip snare a lot because it doesn’t tighten when struggled against and it’s easy for the dom to loosen or remove. The aptly-named Handcuff Knot and the Rigger Gauntlet are two other easy-to-learn and useful bondage knots.

Once you’re got your sub tied, it’s time to play. If you’ve discussed what you want to do, this is the time to start doing it. You could go as simply as rough sex aided by the restraints to using vibes and other adult toys to the best of your imagination. Actual roleplay isn’t necessary, but it’s incredibly sexy once you get into it, so practice that dirty talk while you’re at it!

If you’re interested in kink and bondage, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from getting started! The only thing you need is enthusiasm and a little preparation with the right equipment, some knot practice and a good pre-bondage talk to figure out what you’re going to do. Once you get the hang of the basics, you’ll be able to take advantage of the many different bondage toys that we have on offer. Eventually, the only limit will be your imagination!