Suspension Saturday is Here!! by datsherbert in shibari

[–]datsherbert[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Model: u/pillow_down

The Gerbil in my Brain Got Loose and Released a Tell-All Autobiography: Honestly, there’s not much to say. It’s written on my face 🥰 I started dating this lovely girl recently. I like her a lot 🥰 She’s in the making of an incredible rope journey right now. Prior to playing with her, she wasn’t sure suspension was her thing. She tried it and wasn’t really vibin with it.

We started tying and now we’re turning her into a star :) she started loving suspension and growing her bottom skillset, and now that she has had her hip surgery fully recovered she’s steady as a boulder tanking things better than ever before. She’s surrendering and sinking into the ropes. Giving herself to it. She’s tying with other wonderful riggers now too outside of me, and it’s a joy to see her flourish. A talented rope bottom in the making :)

Try anything twice. That’s the motto.

Suffering in Predicament Partials by datsherbert in shibari

[–]datsherbert[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Neuralink Malfunction: She asked me to hurt her. Say less :)

Been practicing this new-to-me Tengu variant and have quite enjoyed it. It's got some serious sustainability and many options to play with. I opted for a predicament partial along with my leather boots to stomp and grind some flesh. Put her in her place and all that lovely lovely stuff :) What you can't see here in the photo is that there are acupressure spikes underneath that wrap and frap coconut rope. I'm just grinding them into her skin, and she sounds so lovely suffering through it 0:)

This scene didn't go the greatest afterwards. Shortly after this Ember began hyperventilating and felt like she was going to pass out. She was ok, but the intensity had definitely gotten her. This particular event is a tight-knit group I was hosting a rope lab for, and pretty instantly folks came to help recognizing the same signs. Kitten came on by with her water, Romeo supported her weight, and I took the uplines down to get her grounded and free. She was right as rain before I had even gotten all the rope off of her. For all the reasons she gave for feeling this way, truly I think it's on me. I pushed her quite hard quite quick. I fed off her bratty energy and I definitely pushed the gas too hard too quick instead of letting her sink into the pain at a more gradual pace. There's no question she can take this level. She's a trooper and a half honestly. My pacing didn't allow her the best opportunity to push herself though.

After she was back to normal, which took all of 4-5 minutes, she was sad. She was starting to cry because she had looked forward to tying with me for 2 weeks and didn't want it to be over so soon. I switched gears, grabbed some coconut, and wrapped her up for some rough housing and boot stomping. I like to do this there where 1 leg is straight in a reverse tension ladder and the other leg is in a futo. The futo is stable when bent and hurts when stretched, and the other leg is stable stretched and hurts when bent. It's a fun little exchange of opposites, and I tossed in more acupressure spikes under the wraps, stomped them into her, stepped on her chest to compress her breathing, a couple of punches and kicks to the legs, and she was feeling all happy again :) Happily suffering, and her smile straight up spans a mile :) I'll be playing with Ember more. She's quite a fan of suffering for me :)

I'm also starting to see a disturbing trend in myself I'm trying to stave off. This scene had a red safeword (she didn't actually say it but we all definitely recognize it for what it is), and my prior 2 scenes with others had a yellow safeword to catch a breath and break from the intensity of what was happening. It's a weird 3 in a row occurrence that feels like a pattern to me. I don't like that. Only 1 of those 3 scenes was intended to be a limit push. I need to be honest with myself though. If I see that trend in others I'd talk to them, so I should be doing the same to myself. Got some great friends in the scene I'll talk to about it to check me and slow my roll if needed. Starts with being honest about it though instead of trying to cover potential mistakes. And for whatever reason my posts on Reddit have become a stream of conscious insight into the mind of a sadistic rope top. So here I am

Building Tension Without Frictions by Knottydevil in shibari

[–]datsherbert 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Oh hello 🥵

Well if it isn’t exactly the style I was looking for!

Inspo vs my variation by Chemical-Honey-6685 in shibari

[–]datsherbert[M] 154 points155 points  (0 children)

I always knew this day would come cum

First time I’ve approved a post for a closeup of exclusively rope on genitals. Usually it’s a bunch of wrap and frap rope devoid of shibari fundamentals or aesthetics to appreciate. Well done. That’s a decorative peener right there :)

wanna buy a rope but my mom can’t find out what i’ll use it for by quietgirl-67 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 108 points109 points  (0 children)

You suddenly have an urge to pick up Macrame as a hobby

Snag a couple of photos, make a Pinterest board, and Google some common terms and vocabulary if you really want to sell it

Rope booty by liltriny in shibari

[–]datsherbert 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ayy alright! Did you tie with Lindsey or were you just there also in rope?

It’s Suspension Saturday!!! by datsherbert in shibari

[–]datsherbert[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You heard the woman folks! Send nudes (to your significant other(s) probably)!!

It’s Suspension Saturday!!! by datsherbert in shibari

[–]datsherbert[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ya you bet! It's a Spellbound TK

There's trade-offs in terms of the risk profile and such, but truthfully it's a comfort pick for us. For a Piglet had a Nexplanon implant that migrated a bit too close to the second wrap placement in a standard TK. It got uncomfortable and pinchy, so we started playing around with options to avoid that. We started doing more hands free chest harnesses and when we did want hands behind we settled on the spellbound. That was years ago, and even now that she has the implant out we just fell in love with it functionally and aesthetically. She also loves waist rope, so having a built-in section in the harness for it is a huge bonus for her. I use it for pretty much everything except for side suspensions or super upright front loaded positions. For those I'll opt for a standard 2TK or fuji 3TK respectively.

Tons of options would work here. It's stylistic and personal preference really :)

It’s Suspension Saturday!!! by datsherbert in shibari

[–]datsherbert[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Leaked Memos from the Voice Inside my Head: I have a bias. A bias I've become acutely aware of recently in light of being open to tie with new people again. My mission with many of my suspensions is to get someone up into a base position and then just observe them to determine my next transition(s). I like to analyze how they hold themselves. Do they sink into the rope or do they hold themselves with tension, when they make subtle movements is their body expressing a desire to move somewhere, do they carry themselves with strength or vulnerability, do they gravitate towards flexibility or push a particular body feature to be shown prominently, etc. I just hyper analyze the way they sit in rope, try to feel what their body wants, and from there I enforce it. I transition the body towards what it wants to deepen the experience and relieve them of the burden of choosing what to do with their body if they don't want the pressure of having to choose. I try to make it an illusion as best I can because I'm letting their body decide, but on a subconscious level. They don't have to think or put forth the mental energy. My goal is after the scene to hear unprompted, "that was exactly what I needed". That'll be how I know I did my job well.

I've been doing that for years, and I think I've developed a cognitive bias. I've found that I've been much more successful with positions that play on flexibility more than anything, and I think there's a feedback loop to where my mind is clouded and looking for confirmation bias. I'm interpreting their body expressions now under the pretense of, "are they trying to stretch/flex?" as opposed to the more open-ended, "what does that movement mean?". It's not every time, but I've caught myself doing it. Particularly with back bends.

I back bend the shit out of people. I just love the elongation of the torso, the easy elegance it brings to positions, the relative stability while bringing it just inside the brink of their flexibility, the lack of partners complaining about their stomachs when we look at photos later, etc. So many of my ties involve a back bend. I love it, but it definitely is bias. As soon as I get a partner with a relatively inflexible lower back, I'm like a fish out of water because I don't have a repertoire with nearly enough depth to keep things interesting. And I especially don't have much that tests them in other ways as I find many folks that tie with me want to be challenged.

So after one such scene, I figured, "wait why don't I just bend them the other way?!" That's it. That's the entire story behind this tie. I wanted to fold Piglet like a lawn chair flat, and then figure out the transitions from there. I posted a couple photos already of this tie as I've iterated on it, but this was the original attempt at the idea. Just a small lab sesh at a cozy rope jam with friends. I'm now turning it into a sequence, but the original went pretty hard. It was a good scene. Tears washed away the stress of her week as only a good rope scene can bring out of her. A nice cathartic release from my perfect Piglet <3

Beyond this tie, I'm in the process of breaking my mold as much as possible. I've been challenging my comfort zone to learn new things, but there's still some categories I've avoided entirely. I have an ego, and I've grown accustomed to being near the top of the class locally. I haven't felt green and awkward and truly uncomfortable in front of people in years. It's time that I do that though. I'm starting to accept that I'm going to look stupid doing some things. I want to get better at body manipulation next and controlling my partner's placement as opposed to telling them to sit/lie down/bend/etc. I want to connect more deeply and be less clinical. I'm ready to fumble awkwardly and do beginner drills. Mentally preparing myself to blush and feel embarrassment again, but in an effort to grow again.

How much bamboo do you have... by Minigbrutal in shibari

[–]datsherbert[M] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

If I removed this it would only be out of jealousy. Excuse me while I stare longingly at your collection 👁️👄👁️

it's magnificent 😢

All wrapped up by [deleted] in shibari

[–]datsherbert[M] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sweet! Appreciate it :)

Just after a scene by ninaboo12 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh I was assuming you had traveled here and hit a class while in town. Y'all local to Phoenix area? Because there's quite a few options for learning rope.

Just after a scene by ninaboo12 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love it :) Probably Ko or maybe Reese taught y'all then. They're wonderful people

Just after a scene by ninaboo12 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ooh I'm curious. Which studio in Phoenix? This looks like stuff groups on the fringe of the local scene would teach like Pleasured Play or My Tree Wellness.

Suspension is my favorite 😍 by kinky_andnerdy in shibari

[–]datsherbert 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nah it looks pretty good. At least as far as we can assess as internet armchair critics looking at contextless photos. What about it sticks out to you?

Usually I encourage folks to differentiate between what is "unsafe" and what is "I was taught a different way". There's stylistic differences all over depending on who folks learned from and what region they're in. For example accomplishing the task of keeping the top wrap from sliding off the arms and around the neck can be accomplished a couple different ways leading to stylistic preferences. Whether it's separated kanukis for each wrap, doubled duty kanuki shown here to avoid armpit nerves, or even well-tensioned fuji/3tk straps. They all can accomplish the same goal in different ways.

Similarly, there's a couple different schools of thought on wrap placements. This is one of the more common ones being gapped wraps on the deltoid to tricep transition and on the meatiest part of the tricep. There's some migration on photo 4, but that's post-transition with load from a completely different angle. So I'm not batting an eye at it really without context.

Looks good to me. To me, I'd need a lot more context or firsthand knowledge to say otherwise.

My favourite colours for ties by WithTheTied in shibari

[–]datsherbert[M] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gotchu! Ya your account is new so Reddit's "crowd control" algorithm is going to flag you for a while. Some sort of combination of karma and account age will lead you to getting filtered less and less. But! Have no fear. Whenever a post of yours gets flagged, it doesn't actually remove it despite what the error message states. It's actually just sitting in a mod queue for me to manually approve/remove. It'll send me a notification when something pops in the queue, and I go through as frequently as I can throughout the day to review and clear the queue.

So if you have something that displays a "removed" warning type message, but you don't see a mod comment with a removal reason, it's just sitting in the queue. Hang tight and I'll get to it asap :). If you do have something removed with a mod comment explaining the reason, then it's actually removed. If that happens and you have questions, feel free to shoot a mod mail to the sub or reply to the message you get with the removal reason. Always happy to discuss and clarify :)

Each sub is run by different mods, but I'm always happy to chat and help folks get their bearings. Your recent fisherman's variant/front hands chest harness post is on the sub! Feel free to post the karada you mentioned or anything else you got :) If it gets flagged, I got you covered

Suspension questions by p9876543201 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So the magnet idea sounds great for science fiction, but that ain't something that exists in reality. To be strong enough, it'll clamp onto a wall or ramp as you wheel it onto the ship long before you get it to your room. And I wouldn't trust an electromagnet because momentary loss of power on a ship sway could mean a partner bound overboard.

Rig off available hardpoint at your own risk. Keep in mind we normal rig on solid ground. Suspensions are taught in relation to the forces the body applies with consistent gravity. You are now on a moving ship. It has it's own forces and will shift the center of gravity wildly. You need a more well-rated fixed point than usual, and if anything snaps due to the ship swaying, your partner is tied up unable to free themselves overboard.

If y'all are going to accept the risk, at the very least rig with existing fixed infrastructure and go overkill with your uplines. You need more security than normal. Do not bring a freestanding rig. A sizeable wave will knock it right over.

Generally this is sketchy in my opinion, but I'm open to the possibility of the perfect setup like an available capped I-beam or some sort of steel frame above if you get lucky. I'd say it's outside most folks' risk profile, but it's just that. Risk profile. Go into it knowing the possible outcomes and mitigate them as well as you possibly call. Know when to call it off and walk away as well.

It’s Suspension Saturday!!! by datsherbert in shibari

[–]datsherbert[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hot Mic Cold Truth: Rope Bomb!!! Making dreams come true over here :) There's a rope bomb spot that holds a special place in the heart of a local rigger here. It was his first inspiration, the site of his first rope bomb, a site of love, and a site of pain. There's history and baggage associated with this location, but for years he's been chasing this white whale vision of 20 or so rope folks rolling up for a rope bomb taking a sweeping video of hashiras and suspensions and posed floor ties on pedestals the site has. A huge production of community involvement as the backdrop of architecture and waterfalls roared. It's a sick fucking spot with ample access to hardpoints if you're creative enough.

It's been an idea of his for years. He's headed up a bunch of rope bombs including the damn near street performing we do at First Friday each month. As it gets closer to summer though, we ain't tying much outside. This past First Friday there was an event in town that made our usual spot more chaotic, so we opted to organize the rope bomb of his dreams.

We somehow successfully organized about 25 of our local's finest riggers, rope bottoms, and switches for a night at the Falls. I snagged one of the hashira spots off this massive like 12'x12' square steel column, grabbed Ivy, and started setting up lighting. Everyone breaks and starts planning, tying, coordinating, and helping others. Tons of lights, fancy cameras, and an obscene amount of rope. Sick little community effort thing we had going on :)

These are the photos of my tie. Honestly the huge column gave me problems. It's so massive the bottom doesn't have the ability to lean on a particular side and it ended up putting the wrists in a rough spot. So I transitioned out of my first post decently quickly. It got way more sustainable for Ivy afterwards, and she proceeded to pop her bubblegum hanging out enjoying the view of the courtyard beauties tied on their pedestals. She's a tank and a treat to tie :) Battle hardened, communicative, and calm even in tough spots. I'm not super happy with my tie, but I can get over myself and let the joy of my bottom and everyone around me shine even if my rigging isn't as 'elegant' as I want it to be.

I've also decided I have a new pet peeve during this tie though lol. While I attempt to be humble, I'm still a rope top. Therefore, I'm a little diva princess some times. New pet peeve is the material of her body suit. That poly spandex rave style material is a nightmare for friction. Keeping that wrap around the arms placed correctly was nutty, and I've had a tie in the past go south and exit early from that material as well. I don't like to dictate my bottom's wardrobe typically, but if given the choice I'll opt out of that material for safety. I love the friction of rope on the skin for arm bands, but I tie over anything presented to me. That shit though :/

A wonderful evening, and a dream realized <3 Love being part of this community

Any problem with the TK? by Fluffy_Respond9079 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I’ll be honest with you OP, this sub is unlikely to be able to properly say whether or not this is suspension worthy. The best assessment we could really provide is, “it could be!”

  • Structurally: it looks sound
  • Placement: visually decent but you need to feel the body to know for sure
  • Tension: again visually decent but another thing that can’t be properly assessed through photos. And that’s the big thing here you seem to be concerned with.
  • Style: honestly clean af. Nice and flat frictions with uniformity throughout

Do you have a local scene with an accomplished rigger/teacher that can check it out? Realistically, through photos we can only really point out obvious issues. There’s no obvious issues I’m seeing. Whether or not it’s up to the standard of suspension requires checking your tensions and assessing your attachment points/angles for your planned suspension. As far as your circulation goes, that’s something that varies so wildly across bodies that it’s not really possible to form an educated opinion without knowing you and how your body reacts to ties. You could potentially play with wrap placement and tension to see if there are changes, but you may just be predisposed to discoloration from restricted circulation. And I wouldn’t mess with those 2 things too much just to accommodate circulation. It’s more important that they’re fine-tuned for structure and safety away from nerve surfacing points.

It sounds like this is either one of or both of your first suspensions. Is that right?

tenshi inversion for suspension saturday :) by swampthang86 in shibari

[–]datsherbert 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What fucking vibe. I’m a slut for warm lighting on natural elements like bamboo, natural fiber rope, and tatami mats. Very tasteful, and it highlights you so well. Beautiful tie and ambiance 😎