General self-bondage advices and safety tips
This just a collection of tips related to self-bondage safety, reliability, effectiveness and other non-categorized advices in no particular order.
Prepare in advance, keep your tools ready
You never know when you will have time, energy and willingness to play. In order to safe the above mentioned, keep all your bondage tools and fetish clothes clean, ready, sorted and prepared. The ropes must be kept braided or in neat coils (if not too long), the keys must be inserted in the corresponding padlocks, ice cubes or ice-locks frozen in the fridge.
The less time it takes you from the start to the final “click” or “tug” the more concentrated you are, the less energy and time you spend on the “overhead” (e.g. untangling the ropes, cleaning butt-plugs or searching for the key), the less chance you do something wrong.
Do not eat before
While it sounds obvious, I would pay specific attention to refrain from food for at least 2 hours before a self-bondage session. Better 3.
Lay out your tools and clothes
You can have a look at my sessions to get a rough idea what I mean. Laying out everything you are going to wear, insert, connect, turn on, tie, cinch, weave or jump on in front of you will not only make binding easier, but will also prevent from some stupid logical errors.
Again, I’m speaking from my own experience when careful rope tracing in advance revealed such an error – ice-padlock was not correctly connected and would not release me.
Always have a safety knife nearby even during simple tests
This is very important thing. When you do simple and innocent tests, it’s very easy to get stuck. For example, you suddenly discover that you’ve made it too tight, the rope gets entangled, you forgot the direction you twisted the loop the last time, but there is no time-lock to release you. Or another scenario: you tried a new method, but you did not expect it to be THAT restrictive.
Tests are supposed to be not inescapable, not too tight and not serious, but if not taken at least as serious as a real self-bondage session, things might go wrong. Been there …
Think about what happens if you drop the knife.
Measure, make and label ropes in advance
Measure (try it on yourself) and cut the ropes according to the application. For example, the shortest rope for ankles, a bit longer for below the knees, longer for above the knees, longer for thighs, etc. The minimal length will be three turns around, two turns to cinch in between, two knots and at least 10cm free ends.
Make and fine tune karada (rope harness) with permanent knots. That would greatly simplify and speed up the binding. Dealing with a single ~12-20m rope is a very time consuming process.
You may want to use colour codes to quickly pick up the correct cord.
Test devices and methods while sleeping
This is the best test you can conduct to see how gags, plugs, hoods, corsets etc. will behave during your self-bondage sessions. Wear one thing at a time to not to distract you too much from sleeping.
Such test is very important to make sure that you can breath freely in your new “inflatable rubber hood with built in inflatable gag” (or similar ;-) regardless of your uncontrolled movements.
If you test gags, hoods, hoods with gags or any other device which may restrict breathing you must leave your hands unbound and not covered in anything like gloves or pantyhose.
If you test arm ties – do not wear anything on your head and keep knives where you can reach them with your hands bound and asleep. Think about what happens if you drop the knife.
Think about your neck
Nothing should prevent breathing and blood flow. This is obvious. Always check if the collar is not too tight. Think about possibilities it can get tighter. For example, not locked properly, a rope connected to a D-ring pulls too tight, a band from the pantyhose worn over your head gets twisted (see pantyhose hood, pantyhose single-glove).
Think about the topmost karada knot. Is it possible that it slides up?
Absolutely no rope around your neck.
Auto-erotic asphyxiation is not for self-bondage. And I would say not for solo play.
Daisy-chain locks
If you use locks daisy chain them. Should one fail, the other one will release you.
Daisy-chain timers
If you use timers (e.g. for electro-magnetic locks or vacuum cleaners connected to the vacuum bed) daisy chain them. Should one fail or not set up correctly, the will be a chance that the second one will help you to get out.
Do not overestimate your abilities
The less comfortable the position or bind the less time the session should last. Adjust the timers, amount of ice-cubes or volume of ice-locks accordingly. Test in advance if you are flexible enough to get in, get out or stay bound. Test in advance if you can retain the volume of the enema.
Think about your health conditions
Stuffy nose can cause big problems when gagged. Use nose drops or a breath-through gag. If you are allergic to anything (dust, wasp or ants venom, etc) take antihistamine pills. Possible stomach issues? Do not use gags. Heart problems? We are getting closer to Russian roulette, aren’t we?
Think about losing balance
What happens if you fall down? Even if you are on a bed, what happens if roll over and fall down? Falling down if there is a rope connected to the collar can be fatal. Falling down from stairs can be fatal. Falling down from high heels (while bound!) can be fatal. High heels break down from time to time. With a rope on your neck or with your hands tied so you can’t use them to prevent damage to your head, even a little accident (quite normal in our usual life) can be fatal.
Hence, either avoid such positions, or properly strap yourself to a stationary object that will not fall together with you.
Use a mirror
Weaving rope harnesses can be very tricky without a big mirror with good lighting
Dry runs can be fun
Who knows, you may want your dry run successful, comfortable and exciting. Why not to prepare and get ready for such a possibility? So before getting in the ropes, do not forget plugs, gags and fetish clothes.
Be fit
It’s always important. But your stamina, flexibility, balance, blood pressure are even more important for self-bondage. Self-bondage is a sport and you must be in a good form to perform.
Also, if you take photos of yourself while bound it’s a double pleasure to look at them if you look good.
11 Responses to “General self-bondage advices and safety tips”
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Pingback :: August 23, 2009 at 20:50 :: Quote
Spot on! -- I’d been thinking about a similar posting myself (though I doubt that I set a good example!)
You mention not eating, but I would also add:
Drinking Water: Always ensure you are hydrated before starting a session -- dehydration can be very unpleasant. But take care not to drink too much. Helplessly bound is fun, but helplessly bound and having the desire to pee can be a nightmare, messy or both (unless that ‘lights your fire’ of course!).
Drinking Alcohol: It is too risky to do self-bondage when drunk – your perception of limits or what is ‘safe’ can be compromised, just don’t do it.
And Health: Tempting though it may seem, I suggest you avoid any serious self-bondage if you don’t feel 100% right. It is no fun at all to have a coughing or sneezing fit when bound and gagged/hooded. The same goes for head colds and after taking any strong medication (it can have the same effect as alcohol). And as for being physically sick – that is BIG trouble!
I think I’ll post my thoughts anyway -- look out for something in the forum soon!
MJ
Comment :: August 27, 2009 at 18:16 :: Quote
Probably we can merge our posts into one “document”. Or divide them in two: safety and general advices.
Comment :: August 27, 2009 at 19:43 :: Quote
Along with no booze, no drugs. Self bondage is dangerous enough as it is, you want all of your wits about you.
For solo self bondage nothing around your neck, period, it’s as simple as that.
No last minute additions to your planned session, presumably you have thought the session through and have taken reasonable precautions. Last minutes additions will not have been thought through.
Always respect Murphy’s Law (Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and at the worst possible time)!
Comment :: September 17, 2009 at 20:51 :: Quote
Not quite my case. Sometimes I don’t know all the details before the last minute. The “layout” helps a lot. You begin to see what it will look like, compare with what it should look like and make adjustments.
Sometimes you simply can’t do what you planned and have to simplify or change the plan.
This is a question of “rational” vs. “irrational” type of people. The former do plan and do follow the plan regardless anything, the latter might plan but act according to the situation.
Comment :: September 18, 2009 at 02:32 :: Quote
One thought about knives: It seems to be much easier to use a knife than scissors on rope that is wrapped around your wrists but once you are in the position having to do that, you are already nervous and/or excited. And handling a knife in that situation is not exactly easy. I had to do that once, with my hands bound behind my back and it was a nightmare, I cut myself at least as often as I cut the rope. A good pair of safety scissors (rounded ends) is much better! In both cases, having a mirror in a suitable position helps too.
Comment :: October 30, 2009 at 22:41 :: Quote
Can’t agree with you on that one. You can’t cut through knots with scissors, you can’t use scissors if you are wearing pantyhose on your arms and hands, it’s very difficult to cut through the ropes if the scissors are short, but you can’t use long ones.
One tip about using a knife -- the edge must be faced outside. You cut from your back -- through the ropes -- outside of your body.
Probably need to make a couple of photos.
Comment :: October 31, 2009 at 02:51 :: Quote
Lets put it this way: Knifes aren’t exactly harmless, when you are restricted and can’t see what you are doing. In bondage I prefer scissors wherever possible.
You mentioned safety-belt cutters elsewhere, that might be a good idea too.
As a matter of fact, anything should be tested for effectivity in a safe environment first.
Comment :: November 10, 2009 at 00:52 :: Quote
I’ve got one in my car. I should definitely try it.
Absolutely.
Comment :: November 10, 2009 at 01:08 :: Quote
[...] knows about selfbondage safety. But still we go for more risky scenarios, forget about or ignore backup release mechanisms or use [...]
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[...] go through the basics one more time, but now with photos and layouts. As I said in the general advices I would greatly recommend to place the clothes and toys on a bed exactly how they will be [...]
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