Suspension - introduction and theory?

[coyotepondering]

Lucky devil!

And as far as the rope burn goes, resident horse geek says that cotton rope is best for preventing it. I have NO earthly idea how it'll hold up for suspension, though (I imagine it probably stretches too much), so nobody take my word as gospel, ok?

I like to joke that if you get three rope geeks in a room you'll get six opinions about the best rope to use for any given purpose, lol. Some folks certainly like hemp but how its treated makes a huge difference in its feel and burn. Nylon until a few years back was a universal no no but these days there is great diversity in it. I love cotton myself and it can be very easy to dye.

Once you get into cores and braids and so forth it can be pretty intimidating for a new rigger. I use cotton and hemp mostly though I went to lowes and found a synthetic rope that's very cheap I use for throw away use now, where its likely to get blood or stains or I just want someone to keep the karada and that kind of thing.

 

[coyotepondering]

There's no one local doing much rope at all, let alone suspensions. (Well, there is one guy that says he does rope, then he looked at a shinju I did and said "Oh, I tie in a more traditional style". Oooookay. Shinju's are crazy punk-rope stuff, I guess *shrug*) So I can't go to anyone for mentoring.

I always get annoyed at the "I only use traditional shibari" folks and it seems like there's always one in the crowd. What the hell is traditional shibari? I lived in Japan for a while and met some incredible riggers and this crap isn't written down or documented all that well. The great Japanese masters wing it an awful lot. It may look formulaic but that's because they have an incredible sense of aesthetic.

I call myself a rigger and roll my eyes at those insist on japanese sobreiquets to try to endow themselves with an extra air of .... well, I don't know what they're going for, lol.

 

[Netzach]

Lucky devil!

And as far as the rope burn goes, resident horse geek says that cotton rope is best for preventing it. I have NO earthly idea how it'll hold up for suspension, though (I imagine it probably stretches too much), so nobody take my word as gospel, ok?

Do not do. It's pretty weak as lines go. GREAT for static ties though, I still like it for sex.

When suspending, I find that no matter what I do, I still wind up leaving some pinch lines around the chest tie, under the armpits along the sides, where the rope loops repeatedly.

I asked the experts and they said no matter how good you are this can happen, so if you have to be totally discreet put a towel around the chest and hope for the best. I still think that as I get better it won't keep happening as much.

 

[Netzach]

I always get annoyed at the "I only use traditional shibari" folks and it seems like there's always one in the crowd. What the hell is traditional shibari? I lived in Japan for a while and met some incredible riggers and this crap isn't written down or documented all that well. The great Japanese masters wing it an awful lot. It may look formulaic but that's because they have an incredible sense of aesthetic.

I call myself a rigger and roll my eyes at those insist on japanese sobreiquets to try to endow themselves with an extra air of .... well, I don't know what they're going for, lol.

Shibari = california roll. And then you have some guys saying their california roll was handed down from ancient samurai. Horse dookie.

Shibari, to me, is like anime or kawaii aesthetic- it's a Japanese contribution to a global culture that's getting reflected back to Japan with exciting non-Japanese influences too. The newness of it is more interesting to me than the oldness of it.

 

[mirrors2]

Thank you all for your responses and advice. I'll be tracking down some of the leads you folks mentioned ... and I don't mind dealing with physics equations at all - I just want to make damned sure I'm doing it right.

The 'direct-to-flesh' stuff is interesting as hell, but certainly isn't something I can really even consider at this point.

I wouldn't mind learning traditional shibari, but I'm not going to impose a stylistic restriction on myself because rabid Japanese fanboys happen to show up in yet another subculture. Ideally, whatever aesthetic I go for on any given suspension will reflect the psyche of myself, the suspendee, and the onlookers (if there are any). That being said, I'm trying to approach this from a purely technical standpoint at the moment.

 

[Homburg]

I always get annoyed at the "I only use traditional shibari" folks and it seems like there's always one in the crowd. What the hell is traditional shibari? I lived in Japan for a while and met some incredible riggers and this crap isn't written down or documented all that well. The great Japanese masters wing it an awful lot. It may look formulaic but that's because they have an incredible sense of aesthetic.

I call myself a rigger and roll my eyes at those insist on japanese sobreiquets to try to endow themselves with an extra air of .... well, I don't know what they're going for, lol.

Shibari = california roll. And then you have some guys saying their california roll was handed down from ancient samurai. Horse dookie.

Shibari, to me, is like anime or kawaii aesthetic- it's a Japanese contribution to a global culture that's getting reflected back to Japan with exciting non-Japanese influences too. The newness of it is more interesting to me than the oldness of it.

Agreed to both. I don't call what I do shibari or kinbaku. It isn't. I don't call myself a nawashi. I'm not. I'm just some guy that plays with rope, thus what I do is ropework, and I will occassionally call myself a rope artist, I'f I'm feeling full of myself. Otherwise I just tie people up, and that's enough explanation. Rigger is a term that I'll be more comfortable with once I consider myself competent at suspension, and that is a long ways off.

 

[ammre]

Am I the only one who thought of this when reading the thread title?? (ammre, you out there?)

Oh I'm here.
I clicked on the link partially because I'm interested in the rope suspension and partially becasue some part of me had a hope hooks would be mentioned.


I was thinking of making a reply:
"get four hooks with the burrs ground off, at least one good friend, 4 needles, some 550 parachute chord, some pullies and a rig/carabener and you've got liftoff."