How We Learn

It’s the second most common question asked of riggers: “Where did you learn to do that?” Often the answer is “Shibaricon!” or, if they’re lucky, “Oh, I took a few of Max’s classes,” or “I went to one of Midori’s Rope Dojos with my partner, and…”

Occasionally, such as in the recent Ropecast interview with Claire Adams, the answer is “Self taught!” And there’s nothing wrong with that – but how do you teach yourself how to tie?

Get a Book!

If you’re a geek like me, the first thing you reach for when wanting to learn a new skill is a book. Hell, I was so much of a geek that when my friends asked me to come play basketball with them I went out and got three books from the library about the game! I learned all about the rules, about the names of the positions, about strategy and even the trajectory of the ball from a hook shot.

However, when I went to the court, that didn’t help me much. Why? Because I hadn’t bothered to watch a basketball game. Nor had I bothered to grab a ball and go and try out a few shots for practice. In other words, books only did so much. At some point I needed to watch and do.

The Sincerest Form

If you do rope, you should watch rope porn. Period. Look at the pictures, watch the videos, preferably with a partner. At some point, you’ll see some picture of someone tied up, and think “I’d like to do that!” Or maybe your partner sees a picture like this one:

…and says “You know, that looks like fun!”

So you decide to imitate it. You pull out the rope, she/he takes off her/his clothes, lays down and tries to fold into a pretzel, and usually a few things happen:

• You discover that KINK.com models are more flexible than you realized.
• You learn that braided nylon has a high burn rate.
• You learn that braided nylon requires bigger knots than hemp.
• You learn that bigger knots tend to dig into surprisingly uncomfortable places
• You learn that about the time that you adjust the surprisingly uncomfortable bigger knots, her/his feet are asleep
• You learn that it’s hard to have multiple orgasms like Lilla Kat when your feet are asleep

You learn all these things and more. And that’s the point where you reach for the book, or you go over some of the speed bondage tips Lee Harrington or Lqqkout or your humble author teaches. You take a few “practice runs” before you go for that polyorgasmic mindblowing scene.

But First, the Porn

However, it starts with inspiration. Going to sites like Hogtied, even just for a simple casting couch session, you can see how that breast tie you see everywhere can actually work in a scene – or just watch Lochai tie it and study the way he handles rope.

But also watch the bottom, not for her reactions – because A) everybody reacts differently and B) remember they are performers, and while they may be enjoying themselves, they may also be exaggerating their reactions a tad. But watch how they handle their bodies, how they adjust in the ropes, how they move.

Watch for the Little Things

Here’s an example, going back to Lilla Katt. In this shoot, Lochai puts her in a gorgeous semi-suspended arabesque:

Now, if you were going to just put someone up in this, you might think “Hmm, the ankle needs to go up high; I’ll tie a nice thick [boola-boola/prussik/cat’s paw/inverted Jovian Bowline with the half-dragon butterfly variation] and draw the ankle up.” That’s if you weren’t studying the picture. But notice that Lochai put an additional support rope around the upper thigh; I can almost guarantee you that it was not for decoration.

He may have done it because he knew she’d need it. He may have done it because she communicated to him that she could hold the position longer if he put a rope there. Whatever the reason, it’s something that you can see for yourself and already be prepared for it.

Because you watch rope porn.

So if you’re wondering if you can justify clicking on the Hogtied or Bound Gods or Chanta’s Bitches or Fucked and Bound links over there on the right, remember: you get a helluva lot of content for a lot cheaper than most conventions (with the exception of the GRUE, of course).

And besides, they make pretty, pretty noises: