Bolero Single Glove for self-bondage

[Strappado]

If you are not sure what a bolero single glove is, have a look here. This is a modified monoglove, instead of straps over the shoulders it is attached to a bolero, which makes it quite a comfortable and secure bondage garment. Secure enough to require some modification and trickstery in order to be safe for self-bondage. However, before doing anything else, pull the bolero over your neck and close the zipper. Make sure the collar is wide enough to be comfortable. Close the neck strap and remember at which hole it is comfortable. If your shoulders are very wide and strong, the glove might be too small for you. You probably need an assistant to find out. In the worst case, you can return the bolero now, otherwise proceed to the next paragraph.

The original zipper slider on my bolero was bad quality and broke on the first attempt. You might be more lucky, keep it on as long as it lasts.

   

Close the zipper completely.
Remove the three arm straps.
Turn the jacket inside out and find the end of the zipper. Carefully cut the seam that seals off thends of the zipper - see second and third pictures. The slider can move all the way down and be removed from the zipper, no need to do this now but make sure the zipper ends are really free now - perhaps even pull the slider off and put it back on (see below). This opened end is your safety exit and this is the place where a new slider has to be inserted as well.
Turn the jacket outside out again.

Attach a key-ring to the body of the zipper slider, don't attach it to the handle, because that might come lose. The image here is wrong but I have my reasons for that. Prepare a lace or another piece of string with one loop on each end and pull it through the key ring. Pull one loop of the string through the other, move the other loop up and carefully pull tight.

   

The bolero is prepared and you only need one more device, made of a string and a clothespin. Attach the string to the clothespin as seen on one of the next pictures, tie a loop to the open end.

Stick the clothespin onto the back opening of the bolero near the collar.
Wear a tight top, preferably with a wide low collar, or no top at all.
Pull the bolero over head and shoulders and slide the arm in that is on the opposite side of the clothespin. Adjust the shoulder part and zipper line on this side as well as possible. Now attach the string of the clothespin to a hook or anything else suitable and slide in your other arm. Use the string to pull the second shoulder in place. You might feel trapped aeady but it should be no problem to get out one arm again. If you want to proceed, pull hard to get the clothespin off. Now the tricky part: You need to get hold of the end of the zipper string and attach it to a hook that is around your shoulder height. Once done, carefully align the string in a straight line from the zipper over your shoulder to the hook. Put your hands together, straighten your arms as well as possible and carefully pull the zipper. If it seems to block somewhere on the way, pull it down a little and try again. Never pull hard. If you have severe trouble, make sure in a mirror, that the zipper line not wrinkled or perhaps even goes off one arm. When you reach the top of the zipper, you are done and may remove the string from the hook. In order to get free, attach the string to the hook again and pull the other way this time (who would have thought...). The first few centimeters can be hard. Take your time, pull back and forth, give it a gently yank sideways etc. You aren't stuck, it is just not convenient, if you can't open it this way. If you can't open the zipper this way, sigh, then grab the lower ends of the zipper, one with each hand, press a finger nail onto the line of the dents and pull it apart (you might want to practise before you put on the bolero for real). Pull it open further up, eventually it will pop open up to the slider. Take out one arm and try to pull the slider down far enough to still get the other arm out and then your head. If this doesn't work (does't for me), pull the slider off on one side. Instructions for repair come in the next paragraph.

Zipper repair (you need pliers here)

Turn the bolero inside out, find the ends of the zipper, think a moment to figure out the correct orientation of the slider and insert one end of the zipper a few millimeters. Insert the other end and then work the slider up carefully. This isn't exactly easy, but doable, take your time. If the zipper closes behind the slider, it is fine, if not, the sides are too wide open, so use pliers to press the sides of the slider together a bit until it works. You can move the slider back to close the end of the zipper, then move it up to the top to see if it works correctly. Press the sides together a bit more using the pliers - this needs some experience but you will figure out. If it doesn't slide well, it is too narrow, if the zipper doesn't close, it is way too wide. If you got the same zipper as my bolero, the slider will eventually break because of this manipulation and you will need a replacement. Sliders can be bought, you only need to know the type of the zipper (most probably the same as mine - spiral zipper), the width and thickness - well, keep the broken slider and bring it to the shop. If you are lucky, you can find a suitable slider on an old zipper.

Well, this is about it. The method needs improvement, such as a lockable zipper end, perhaps timed release etc. It is probably hard to impossible to use the arm straps for self bondage, at least not tightly. But if you find a way, post it here 😊 If you feel comfortable about it, close the neck strap. But remember, if you pull the string through the neck strap, you won't be able to open the zipper and have to use the emergency exit, which degrades both, zipper and slider slowly.

Future features: I succeded to add a second slider that would open the zipper from below, making the emergency release less degrading for zipper and slider. If I can find a suitable tailor, I will have some metal parts been sewn into the collar edges, to stabilize the zipper and make sure it can be opened more easily by the string. If you use a real long string for the zipper, you can double it, make one loop into each end, pull it half through and put a something on one side to prevent it from sliding through. Pull close using one loop on the hook, pull off using the other loop. Use the emergency release to get free.

If you have any questions, remarks, ideas or if you see safety issues, please post here, so we can discuss. It would be nice to hear when you have succeeded to use my method.

Have fun and stay reasonable!

[Like Ra]

Just in case, this is the original post about the bolero single-glove: http://www.likera.com/blog/wp/archives/4504

[Strappado]

I have installed a second slider to the zipper of the bolero and so it has a two-way zipper now, except that I didn't install stoppers yet, the slider can be pulled off. My first idea about a two-way zipper turned out to be wrong. The second slider cannot be moved up to the collar manually. Actually, I didn't even try because I was afraid that it could get out of reach completely. The arms are simply too restricted for this!

Alternatives:

- attach a string to the slider. This leaves me with the usual zipper troubles, it could get stuck. At this point though, you can get your hands out and grab a tool, so you can actually help yourself out. Unfortunately, this might break the bolero beyond repair.

- use the second slider only to secure the lower end of the zipper, pull it off and then break the zipper open as before. This could still be used to implement a timing method or a secure locking when you have a partner sometimes. But I don't quite know how yet.

A couple of times, I tried to sleep in the bolero. It doesn't want to work, actually I never ever managed to sleep in self-bondage, indeed I am not using any timers, there is always a more or less instant way out. Getting out is a routine now, in most of the cases, I can simply unzip the bolero since the day I found the right size slider for the zipper. But from my first experiments, the zipper spiral is a bit uneven on the collar end, where I had to tear off the slider a few times. Now sometimes it gets stuck there (I am guessing, this is the main problem) and would require stronger pulling while at the same time the collar should be pulled up. When I am wearing the bolero, I can't possibly pull up the collar and so I have to use my alternative release instead. This is a small problem only and it happens way less often since the day that I am using the correct slider.

[Strappado]

I have a new idea for the bolero: While using straps does work, it is very iffy and uncomfortable. So instead I will put key-rings into the lashes for the straps and put a rope through, just like lacing. This will tighten the glove and it seems relatively easy to add an ice timer as well. As usual, I will proceed in steps to make sure that everyting goes as expected. If I succeed, I will report with the full solution here.

By the way, has anyone else got a bolero single glove yet?

[Like Ra]

So instead I will put key-rings into the lashes for the straps and put a rope through, just like lacing. This will tighten the glove and it seems relatively easy to add an ice timer as well.

This is what I meant in the original post. But I thought that the straps aeady had D-rings sewn in.

By the way, has anyone else got a bolero single glove yet?

Not yet. I'm waiting for the rest of the orders to arrive (that's quite a bit of money). Anyway, I will not have a chance to try it out in the nearest couple of months or so...

[Strappado]

I used a wrong word in the last post. It isn't "lashes" but I can't find out the correct word. There are small leather bands on the back of the bag that keep the straps in place. I put key-rings there for the lacing because the friction would be too high otherwise - even for tightening. There are two d-rings on the sides of the collar and one big ring at the front, as well as a d-ring on the end of the bag.

[madjack]

Hi All

This thread is proving really interesting and thanks to all who have contributed so far, but I do have a general question about using this or any other single glove.

How comfortable is this set up and is there a maximum time limit for staying bound?

I ask this because my own experiments with alternatives to single glove (lycra cycle shorts or pantyhose) have given mixed results.
The Lycra was amazingly effective (tight!) but I couldn't last more than around 15 minutes without suffering numb arms or cramp.
At the other extreme, when using pantyhose (normally multiple pairs) with my arms down a single leg I could stay bound for much longer, but the bondage wasn't tight enough - DOH!

Is this single glove comfortable enough for extended sessions?

Thanks

MJ

[Strappado]

I tried the lacing. When tightened, it builds a straight line along the zipper and shortens the glove a little bit. Getting a door handle in between to pull it open is difficult, even with the 8mm rope I used. I had the slip knot on the lower end but it withstood my attempts to get the hands apart. I think the key rings next to the knot tighten the knot. Without losening the lace, it is not possible to open the zipper far enough to get an arm out, even though the wrists are not bound tightly, so a struggle with the door handle is necessary first. In the end, it is a matter or patience, sort of a soft timer. A real timer would simply have to keep you away form door-handles and similar devices. Opening the lower end of the zipper won't help because you can't open it any further as your fingers can reach and opening the zipper the normal way (well, this requires a door handle as well but there might be other ways) doesn't guarantee freedom either.

I think, it might be even more secure to have the slip knot at the lower third of the lace instead of at the end, and tie it in a way that builds an extra loop for pulling it open or have an extra safety knot.

Anyway, lacing is a nice alternative to straps, it doesn't cut off blood vessels and still is much tighter than the glove alone.

---

Is this single glove comfortable enough for extended sessions?

The glove itself is quite comfortable and I had no trouble wearing it for two hours. If you like to struggle, your arms and shoulders will probably get sore after a while but I don't think that is an issue. I had no numbness at all. With the "real" single glove that I have, numb arms are a real issue after a few minutes aeady (no straps around elbows are needed for that).

I measured the inside of the flattened collar and it is quite exactly 21 cm wide, height is about 4.5 cm. It doesn't stretch at all. The strap there can make it shorter by about 2.5 cm. You could use a belt and test it on your own neck. Just measuring might not tell you about comfortability.

Of course restraints are never perfectly comfortable. I noticed the urge of doing much wider movements than the glove allowed, but indeed, this is part of the fun 😊

PS: The original zipper (not the slider) is still in good condition and needs no replacement!

[Strappado]

I got an idea for a possible timed release:

Currently, release is done by the string securely attached to the zipper.

Instead, it could be removable like that: Double a string and tie a big knot to join both ends. Either this knot is big enoug to prevent the string from sliding through the zipper handle or it would need something to be tied in for that purpose. The nose on the other end is attached to a hook for zipper operation. Underneath the knot, there is another nose to pull off the string. Once the string is off, you are stuck until you get it on again or someone releases you.

Re-attaching the string is a bit more complicated and probably requires a mirror. The basic idea is to have a long hook with another string. This hook would need to be fixed somewhere in order to manipulate it into the handle of the zipper. I have to work on the details of this. Timing is easy, the hook is simply frozen "away".

For emergency release (never trust your life or pride to a zipper!), I consider adding a small pocket inside the bolero with a safety belt cutter or a small knife. This should be enough to either open the zipper from the wrong side (it is sewn again) or even cut through the zipper seams to break free. I like the idea of the pocket because like that, the knife won't get into the way until it is needed - hopefully never.

By the way, once my finances are re-consolidated a bit, I consider buying the other item, that bag that keeps your arms in a box-tie. I have no clue if it is useable but I like such challenges. I would love the pvc model with rear-zipper that is available in US (see picture below), but I am not ready to pay that price, it is way too expensive! And I am not sure if it is large enough for me, looks smaller around the shoulders than the bolero. So far, I have been able to successfully use all bondage items I bought for self-bondage sooner or later. The hardest challenge was a leather armbinder that I described elsewhere in this forum. It took me years to get that simple idea and I even accidently destroyed one armbinder on the way.

   

[Like Ra]

This is the glove (described here: http://www.likera.com/blog/wp/archives/4965 , this is an alternative http://www.likera.com/blog/wp/archives/3073 , but the former looks much better) I would definitely like to use for self-bondage because the position is very comfortable, the hands do not go asleep, yet it's a very secure and inescapable. Not going to buy it right now (just made quite a big latex order), but it's in my wish list.