We were very happy to be invited back to BeachBind and we were very much looking forward to it. This is really a unique event taking place over a full week at a beautiful inclusive resort in Jamaica (Hedonism II). The atmosphere and the setting are incredible and the pace of the event is just perfect.
It was wonderful to be back in Tokyo again. We’ve been to Japan a few times and really enjoy it. We were excited but relaxed as we made our way from Narita airport to our accommodation. We like using AirBnB rather than hotels so we can have a private space where we can leave our stuff and relax. Also we buy our own food and eat out a lot more allowing us to experience more of Japan.
We have had some amazing compliments in our time but there is something amazing beyond normal description about learning someone has had your work tattooed on their bodies. We have been told by some that a particular image represents what they love about bondage to them. I can’t begin to tell you how it feels to hear something like that. In recognition of this we have decided to show our appreciation to everyone who has our bondage work tattooed on them by giving them a free print of the image they had tattooed.
Shibari bondage frame made by Handrolld of McKinney, Texas. For a long time our friend Jahc has been trying to get us to come and do a performance at SWAMP in Bristol. A long time in this instance being believe it or not about 5 or 6 years. What with one thing and another the timing has never quite worked out. So it was good to finally be able to do it. We really wanted to give a boost to the rope bondage scene down there and show them a style of bondage they hadn't seen. Not just technique but the way that we interact and the kind of connection that can be achieved in shibari. We were late in the day when we drove down on Saturday and it's quite a long drive (about 160 miles each way) but the traffic and the roads were good and we made good time. Our hosts Jahc and vahine were kind enough to keep some dinner for us and we had a glass of wine and some excellent fish pie for dinner with some good conversation. We even managed to get to bed at a decent time as frankly everyone was pretty tired. We'd had an exhausting week so were glad to get a good night. Sunday dawned wet and windy but on the bright side it also had plenty of coffee and a hearty breakfast kindly provided by our hosts. Nothing like a good cooked breakfast to start a busy day off right. When the time came we pushed off to the SWAMP venue with all our bags of kit and our portable frame to get setup on their stage. Happily the frame fit [...]
If I could be sentimental for a moment... Without a doubt, without question my partner in life Clover is the best part of that life. I cannot imagine life without her and cannot imagine I'd be the person I am now were we not together. She's taken some of my sharper edges off and I'm better for having known her. I've also caused her to be a bit more like me in some ways, you may debate amongst yourselves if that's a good thing or not. Our lives in and out of kink are intertwined with who we are and everything we do to such an extent it's all just aspects of who we are and in all of those aspects she is a part of my life and who I am, who I've become. She loves me and wants the best for me. That's something amazing for me. Something very precious that makes life so much better. I want the best for her too. I so very much want for her to be happy and perhaps selfishly I want to be a cause of her happiness. When it seems people are mad and the world is going crazy we have each other. I'm generally an up and doing kind of person and Clover's usually got a todo list the length of your arm but between us in a morning warm together in bed there is a beautiful stillness where the world can go hang and the world can wait 'just a few more minutes' until we have to get up and get on with the work of the day. This is a love letter. One that could only be sent in the internet age. [...]
A unique course on the WykD method TK over 4 weeks with 2 hours of tuition every week. In this unique course you will receive in depth information and tuition on every aspect of the TK with personal attention and guided tying. After each class you will have a week to digest and practice what you have learned and then return for a review, troubleshooting reinforcement and new information ready for another week of practice for 3 consecutive weeks. One of the problems with one-off classes is that there is no follow up and students leave overloaded with information. Inevitably details and nuances are lost sometimes without even knowing it. Learning needs to be reinforced, reviewed and revisited so that the unintentional mistakes that can creep in can be spotted and rectified. This is a truly unique course providing the most complete TK tuition ever offered. The workshop will contain information for both tops and bottoms including working together with communication and understanding between partners. Course registration is strictly limited to 3 tying couples. Aspects covered include… Anatomy Safety Biomechanics Rope placement Interaction Principles of beginning Principles of conclusion Balance Tension Variation Extension Requirements Models must be healthy and able to achieve the TK hands position as illustrated in the rope bottom guide. There will be no switching during or between classes, the person tying initially must be the person tying for the duration of the course. At least 3 Jute ropes between 7 and 8 meters and between 5 and 6 millimeters in diameter. Location Classes will be conducted on consecutive Saturdays at 2pm in Ilkeston, Derbyshire from 16th of September and run for 4 consecutive weeks. On the final week (7th October) there will be [...]
Tokyo Japan in March 2016. The weather find, the cherry blossoms beginning to bloom. My memory of these events is at one and the same time vivid but probably incomplete due to the time elapsed since the trip and the killer jet lag that plagued me on the trip. If one thing all our travelling has taught me it's new strategies for dealing with jet lag and the importance of scheduling to account for it. I can't even begin to say how excited we were for this trip. We were going to see Yukimura Sensei and learn his style of kinbaku a little more. It was therefore with great sadness we learned of his passing the week before we were due to arrive. Yukimura Haruki is irreplaceable. So we didn't even think of getting time with an alternative teacher. Fortunately for us Osada Steve who's been a student of Yukimura Haruki for many years offered to teach Yukimura Ryu in the time we had booked with Yukimura Sensei himself. In spite of the obvious sadness this caused we had a remarkable trip. As we left from our home in the UK we had mixed feelings about this trip. We had been looking forward to going for a long time. We were going to have a good time and yet it was overlayed with sadness that lent a melancholic feeling to the trip. It was going to be great, but we would miss seeing Yukimura Haruki, he was a tremendous old gentleman when he wasn't tying and we were looking forward to seeing him. It was not pleasant to know that we would in fact never see him again. The flight to Tokyo was a mixed one. [...]
Tokyo Japan in March 2016. The weather find, the cherry blossoms beginning to bloom. My memory of these events is at one and the same time vivid but probably incomplete due to the time elapsed since the trip and the killer jet lag that plagued me on the trip. If one thing all our travelling has taught me it's new strategies for dealing with jet lag and the importance of scheduling to account for it. I can't even begin to say how excited we were for this trip. We were going to see Yukimura Sensei and learn his style of kinbaku a little more. It was therefore with great sadness we learned of his passing the week before we were due to arrive. Yukimura Haruki is irreplaceable. So we didn't even think of getting time with an alternative teacher. Fortunately for us Osada Steve who's been a student of Yukimura Haruki for many years offered to teach Yukimura Ryu in the time we had booked with Yukimura Sensei himself. In spite of the obvious sadness this caused we had a remarkable trip. As we left from our home in the UK we had mixed feelings about this trip. We had been looking forward to going for a long time. We were going to have a good time and yet it was overlayed with sadness that lent a melancholic feeling to the trip. It was going to be great, but we would miss seeing Yukimura Haruki, he was a tremendous old gentleman when he wasn't tying and we were looking forward to seeing him. It was not pleasant to know that we would in fact never see him again. The flight to Tokyo was a mixed one. [...]
Earlier this year on the 28th and 29th of January we did a two day shibari intensive at Anatomie Studio in London.
We had a one day rope bondage intensive in Brighton (or the magnificently named Rottingdean near Brighton) at the invitation of the South Coast Shibari Group. We had a really good day and covered a lot of information for tops and bottoms. We covered a good range of information and maybe fried a few brains during the day. Everyone was good and exhausted at the end of the day including ourselves. Thank you everyone for the great feedback on the day, it was a pleasure meeting you all and we had fun coming to the South Coast if even only so briefly. I want to say how hard everyone who came to the workshop worked and it was a fun as well as a productive day. Thanks for having us. D & C
