DBRT 004: The art of the self-tie

It’s time to begin the actual tying part of this journey! Luckily, as an assistant and apprentice to TheDuchy, I already have a good understanding of the basics. I’ve got the Foundations class down pat. Lark’s Head Single Column, Lark’s Head Double Column, the Four Fundamental Knots, the Shinju, the Crotch Rope….I mean Unchastity Belt of course. ::sigh:: I hate to say it but, stop trying to make “fetch” happen, Lazarus <3.

Ahem, anyways! I can also do a basic Hishi Karada, a few rope corsets (probably?), and all of the various scenes that can be crafted from those basic ties. Unfortunately, now I have to use my brain and try to come up with a few scenes that will be emotionally transformative, physically impactful, not awkward, and within my skillset – not too hard, not too easy. I also need to look and feel extremely cool while doing all of it. And I need to feel comfortable being in someone else’s personal space.

……..I don’t know how to do any of that.

Maybe I need to set the bar a little lower. Maybe I just need to practice putting rope on a body. Maybe I just start with my body.

I’ve done a few self ties in the past when I’ve gotten a bee in my bonnet about learning how to tie. I did a Shinju in the past for a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening in red nylon which looked quite nice over my black turtleneck. I also got a compliment on it from one of the actors in the show which was such a treat! I love meeting freaky people in the wild. With the help of a mirror, I was able to do most of the harness on my own, but I did ask Master for some help locking things off in the back.

I’ve also tried to do some “chaos rope” on myself before, but I don’t know enough of the principles of frictions and diametric tension to meaningfully improvise. You need to learn what the rules are before you can break them.

Having done a little more self-tying last night, I am reminded of how much less fun it is to tie on myself. Well, to be fair, I didn’t exactly make an evening out of it or anything. If I really wanted to make it a fair comparison, I would set aside a specific time where the mood is set and nothing else is pulling my focus but me and the rope. I would also have a better idea of what I actually want to do. I just messed around with some Lark’s Head Extended Double Columns and a Single Column collar and lead.

Take two: I set aside some time on a sunny day to mess around some more with my ropes and this time was much more successful! Here’s what was different:

I started tying when I was already in a good mood. Why was I in a good mood? Because I felt cute. Sometimes taking a shower and prettying myself up does wonders for my outlook on life.

I tied in a cosy little corner with no other distractions around (other than my phone goddamnit). I didn’t have to run around to get a meal started or feel time pressure to get ready for bed. I wasn’t half paying attention to a movie or being interrupted.

I had a plan, kind of! I’d written out a list of ties I already know how to tie, and marked which ones I couldn’t tie from memory. Then I picked one of those ties and looked up a tutorial on TheDuchy and did my best to follow along. I think I did it right? This time I chose the Swiss Seat, which I first tied at a workshop at Ropecraft taught by Shay Tiziano. That was also my first self suspension (yes, I realize that’s kind of wild to say given that I consider myself to be a “Baby Rope Top”, but in my defense, I didn’t actually want to self suspend that day. I just sort of fell into it due to a slight miscommunication on my part. Also, I had the direct supervision of a very experienced rope Top, though I was still sweating bullets the whole time. Talk about jumping into the deep end!).

I set the mood. Again, kind of. Music is a big part of my life, and part of the fun of getting excited to start creating my own rope scenes is making playlists! So far I’ve made two; “Casual Rope ” and “Vibe-y Rope” because I couldn’t come up with a better name. I think that gets the point across? Not sure. Anyways, I put on my “Casual Rope” playlist and had a lovely time listening to my tunes. It was very … “Gen-Z-child-of-Boomer-parents-with-a-Millennial-sibling” if you know what I mean? An eclectic mix.

I would say this second round was far more successful than the first self-tie attempt.

Takeaways:

Set aside some time and space that is pleasant and unhurried for self-tying since it’s harder to keep my spirits up when I’m not playing off of another person.

Overhand knots are harder to pull through than Matthew Walker knots, so that’s got to be something to learn soon.

Use the bathroom before tying a hip harness!

Maybe have a snack or beverage on hand next time?

This rope does like to twist around and isn’t very tightly twisted, so it hyper-threads easily. Now I see why Master didn’t use the ropes from this spool for teaching. It’s definitely a beginner set, and not something that I’ll tie with long term. But it’s enough for now!

This writing is part of a series called “Diary of a Baby Rope Top” by Kajira Blue, the rest of which can be found at TheDuchy.com/blogs.

DBRT 004: The art of the self-tie

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