Let me start off by saying that I am, in no way, an expert when it comes to rope bondage. While yes I make and sell some of the best rope on earth, I’m not about to claim that I know it all. Quite the opposite really, I am astounded by the creativity and beauty that comes out of the rope community. I watch other folks work, I make mental notes, and I try to take every class (beginning and otherwise) I can. So when a friend asked me recently if I could show him, “Some rope stuff” my first inclination was to send him straight to Max for instruction. Now there is an expert.

Unfortunately Max tends to teach public classes in the fall and winter months. So rather than make my poor friend (or his lovely girlfriend for that matter) wait, I figured that at the bare minimum I could prepare him. Teach him the basics and start getting him equipped. That way when classes do start up, he will be well prepared and ready to learn the really good stuff.

His first lesson you ask? Coiling rope. That’s right. He spent 3 hours sitting on my couch turning piles of loose rope into tight, neatly wound bundles. Granted, we did have a huge order that needed to be prepped but before you accuse me of pulling a Tom Sawyer hear me out.

You can tell a lot about a rope top by how they handle their rope. I always tell my customers, “love your rope, and it will love you back”. The more you handle your rope, the suppler and better it will become. One must touch and feel the rope, make a physical connection with it before they apply it to another’s skin. Next time you’re at a play party watch how folks handle their rope. Do they pull handfuls of tangled line out of the bottom of a bag or do they lay out each tightly wound bundle? Do they reach into their bag mid scene, find a line, find its middle and then go about wrapping it around a lover’s body or do they take a previously laid out neatly bound bundle, uncoil it, and pass it through their hands not only feeling for barbs but also building the tension? See where I am going with this?

Rope bondage is a very kinetic tactile thing; the more familiar you are with your tools the better you will use them.

And what of my young student? By the end of the night, as he placed the last bundle of rope away he turned to me and said, “Ya know, that was kinda fun.”
“Cool, now this is a wrist cuff tie. See how you place the knot….”