Rope Podcast

We interview @Pyth01 and GuiltySmile, the founders of Singapore Rope Studio ‘0101 Studio’. The D/s couple studied at Anatomie studio in London for four years, and when they moved to Singapore, decided to open up their own space for rope jams and practice. Listen to this interview to hear about: * The challenges and rewards of setting up a new studio * Integrating into a rope community successfully * Attracting new people to rope * Visiting riggers and rope people * Silly rope! * The differences they’ve seen between European and South-East Asian rope communities And a lot more! If you’re flying through or visiting Singapore, they’d love to see you at Studio 1010. Let us know how it goes.

Fox and Mya often get asked by listeners how to come up with ideas for rope scenes. In this episode, they discuss how to find sources of inspiration for rope scenes, and Fox generates some ideas on the fly to show how you could do it. He discusses his own creative process for rope scenes, and the building blocks that he uses. The rope team share plenty of ideas to get your own creative juices flowing, and to make sure you never run out of new ways to do rope.

Fox and Mya discuss the marks on their bodies bottoms might get when doing rope bondage. They discuss: * Factors that might create marks on different bodies * The various kinds of marks you might get in rope bondage play * Mark envy * How we might cause marks intentionally and by mistake * How the bottom and the top might feel about the marks * How to treat the marks

Fox and Mya discuss the Hip Harness, a fundamental of suspension and usually one of the earliest suspension ties rope tops learn. It’s a very versatile tie that can be used in a large variety of ways. The episode includes discussion of shape, function, variations, difficulty level, safety and risk of the hip harness, what it feels like for the bottom, as well as some ways it can be used in suspensions or even floor work. Fox and Mya also discuss scenes where they have used the tie.

What to wear during your rope scenes might feel frivolous, but it can make a big difference to the tone of your scene. In this episode, Fox and Mya discuss factors both tops and bottoms might consider in their choices for scene clothing, including: * Safety * Comfort * The activities in the scene (including sexy times) * Why and when you might want to (or not want to) be naked * Clothes to enhance how you feel * ‘Dress up’ clothes

Mya and Fox share their philosophy that rope is a journey, not a destination - and you can always keep learning in your rope practice, no matter what your role, or your level of expertise. The rope partners discuss: * Why should we keep growing in our rope practice? * A ton of different areas where you can develop your practice - including several you might not have considered. How many can you tick off so far? * How learning ‘default world’ (or vanilla) skills can also help with your rope * Where you might pick up these skills, even if you’re not based in a big rope community And remember kinkies, Competence is Sexy!

Fox and Mya have built several permanent spaces for rope both together and individually since they started doing rope, with and without hard points. They’ve also created many temporary places to do rope on their travels, and have visited the studios or spaces of many others. In this episode, they discuss the space where you do your rope, and some of the factors you might want to consider when putting your own rope space together. In this episode hear them discuss: * The purpose/s you might want the room to serve * The kind of feel you might want your space to have, and a number of ways you might achieve this * Some things to watch out for, such as hazards * A few practical things to make sure your space has, or doesn’t have * How you might create a temporary space * Some of the rope spaces they’ve visited and the features they had

Fox and Mya discuss a less-commonly explored topic, around the hows, whys and whats of emotions in rope. They share thoughts about: *Why we have emotions in rope, from a psychological and physiological perspective *What happens when these emotions come up - when we do want them, and when we don’t *Examples from their own scenes of the range of emotions rope can explore *The difficult of explaining feelings in rope *The challenge of a mismatch of feelings in rope, and Fox’s interesting and useful idea of how to channel sexual emotions in rope as a top when you’re bottom wants only non-sexual rope *The question they suggest you add to your negotiation to ensure you’re on the same page as your rope partner emotionally during the scene

Fox and Mya discuss single rope suspensions (where a single rope takes all your body weight and you fly from that one rope). They discuss: *Types of single rope suspensions *The benefits and where and when you might want to use them *The risks and the challenges *The perspective on these ties from the rope top from Fox *The perspective on these ties from the rope bottom from Mya *The single rope suspension that Fox loves and Mya is starting to like more…

We interview associate Professor of Sociology and kinkster Dr Julie Fennell shares with us why she thinks people need to care more about rope bottoming, especially given the challenges of some of the issues in the rope community today. Listen to this fascinating interview to hear about: * Rope escape games * Why she shifted her energy from mostly rope bottoming to mostly rope topping   * Skill versus talent in rope bottoming * How she did an unusual (and dangerous?!) quest for a year to gather ideas for a rope bottoming curriculum in * Some of the skills she believes rope bottoms benefit from, and some examples of exercises she can suggest that can help them  * The difference between concrete and soft skills in rope bottoming   And a lot more!

For many bottoms, one top sounds good, but TWO sounds even better - and tops can often feel the same about bottoms (ahem!). In this episode, listener and Patreon supporter @Happy_Tortoise, and his partner Dragon ask Fox and Mya to share some of their favourite multi-player scenes, and they talk through some of their learnings and most fun experiences when they’ve been playing together with another bottom (or two!) Fox and Mya discuss combinations of: • Two bottoms - one top • Two tops - one bottom • A top - a middle - a bottom • A top - a bottom - a switch • And more! They also discuss their learnings from this kind of scene, and the factors that make them more complex that you might need to manage if you decide to play in this sexyfun way.

Another one of our rope erotica pieces. Mya’s turn to read one of her rope stories, which contains rope for restraint, orgasm control and predicament, impact and ass play. So far, the rope erotica pieces are some of our most popular episodes, so we hope you enjoy this sexy story from us!

We interview @Kinky_Engineer, a kinky educator who has been practicing elements of BDSM and kinky play his whole adult life. His personal play style draws on a professional and martial arts background, and is imbued with a strong focus on safety, Risk Aware Consensual Kink and a joy of playing near the edges. We interviewed him about his experience as an engineer designing and creating kink gear and equipment. Essentially, what’s useful for doing rope bondage - besides rope?! He tells us: * How growing up on a farm makes you kinky! * His Western bondage versus Japanese bondage experiences * Why he prefers a suspension ring to carabiners and how that led him to design a better suspension ring * The best cutting tool to buy * His very surprising choice to answer ‘if you could only have one piece of non-rope gear in your kit, what would it be? * Where suspension equipment tends to fail most, and how to prevent this * How best to check hard points in a new venue to you

Fox and Mya rope tourist in their own town! Some highly experienced Japanese and other international rope bondage enthusiasts come to Bangkok, and your podcast hosts were lucky enough to be invited to an event with them run by the Thai community. Fox and Mya attended a public event at a new dungeon opening up who hosted a rope salon, and then a private event with a lot of rope - and they share their personal experiences (whilst noting they really did feel like tourists this time as they had no idea what was happening for most of the time during the events!). (And Mya shares she still has no idea which part of Bangkok Fox actually took her to the event!) Hear from them about: * What they think is the difference between a Rope Salon and a Rope Jam (listener comments invited!) * The incredible new RedRoom Dungeon they visited, with fantastic furniture and other equipment (Mya liked the cages especially, Fox more the giant anal toys) * Which animal the majority of the latex masks in the dungeon were of * The t

Mya has been both a naughty and a nice bunny and has been working with Fox to bring you a Christmas present - new bonus material from our interviewees this year, where they tell us about some of the favourite scenes. We share our thoughts on the themes that come out, and the lessons and ideas that we can all put into our scenes even if we’re not as experienced as the illustrious interviewees. The episode includes: @Raiju telling us how she tied up, beat and humiliated a germophobe in rope - and the catharsis that experience brought @Belle- telling us about two very different scenes that pushed her to new levels of intensity @ChristianRed telling us about his favourite takedown rope and forced exhibitionism scene (includes neck rope, yay!) @-EM- telling us how one of his rope/drowning scenes might have saved his bottom’s life @IpCookieMonster talks about the most powerful, intense rope scene of her life - one that took several days to decompress from and included sex and rope magic

We interview associate Professor of Sociology and kinkster Dr Julie Fennell exploring her background into rope and kink, and her research on rope subculture, one of her key areas of interest. She tells us about: Her first rope scene * The tie that actually got her into rope (despite her having tied several times before) * Why she doesn’t feel she fits into ‘ropeworld’ * Circus Bondage and how contrarty to many people’s opinions, performance can still be connective * ‘Expectations’ in rope and how she likes to mess with them * What her research has taught her about rope subculture * How sex and rope connect in American shibari Listen now for a fascinating insight into rope subculture!

Fox and Mya discuss the Strappado. Originally a torture method, the rope community adopted the position for a tie. The episode includes discussion of shape, function, variations, difficulty level, safety and risk, what it feels like for the bottom, as well as some ways it can be used in floor work or suspensions. They also discuss two example scenes where they have used the tie.

Trying to develop your edge-play in rope? Fox and Mya talk to experienced edge-player -EM- on the podcast this week in the second part of their interview with him, to understand more about how he has built up his experience in the collection of ‘abnormally horrible’ things that he does to his partners, and the many sadistic activities which he blends with rope. Among the many interview highlights, you can hear: - How he built up his experience to be able to safely (as much as one can) do many high risk activities, from suturing to waterboarding, from cutting to whips, along with his rope. - How he deals with injuries - How he has amazing photos - but doesn’t do photoshoots - How he approaches the first scene with a new partner to make sure they’re a match with him We got so engrossed in chat with -EM- that we had to cut the interview into two parts. Check out the previous episode to hear part 1 of this interview!

Want more ideas on how to be a better sadist in your rope play? Fox and Mya talk to respected edge-player -EM- on the podcast this week, a man whose kink risk profile is pretty out there even compared to the fetlife norm. -EM- considers rope a versatile tool in his BDSM kit, rather than considering himself a ‘rope person’, and yet is definitely a ‘name’ in the world of rope. Among the many interview highlights, you can hear: - How he takes things from the very physical world of whips and sadistic rope to the emotional and mental play space that is his focus - The point at which many Dominants or Tops stop, but which for -EM- signals when play really begins - How he built up his experience with choking his partners to unconsciousness We got so engrossed in chat with -EM- that we had to cut the interview into two parts. Look out for the next one coming soon!

Negotiation and consent is a highly relevant topic in rope bondage, and one of the Rope Podcast’s listeners, @Sensual_Dominant, asks Fox and Mya to share their thoughts on the best way to safely negotiate. Fox and Mya discuss what consent and negotiation is, and the basics of what we’re looking for in the area for a scene, and when it is and isn’t a good idea to negotiate. They share examples of the methods and content of a negotiation, as well as some of their suggestions from their own negotiations as a rope top, and a rope bottom. Also discussed are a number of key points to look out for that might make *you* safer negotiating - remembering that we all have difference preferences, and doing it in the way that suits you is likely to make sure you negotiate in the safest way possible. They also share an important definition about two different forms of consent-based negotiations - and Mya even manages to convince Fox of an even safer approach to negotiation for the future.