Week 16: Elbow Ties

Controlling the elbows is a powerful way to create restriction of the upper body. Playing with the angles and positions of the elbows opens a lot of possibilities. Some of these positions may be difficult to sustain while others can be very comfortable. Warm up the arms, especially the shoulders, and find out which one is your favourite.

The goal of this week is to play with different positions that involve the elbows to create restrictive ties.

Activities

Day 106: Elbows Together in the Back

Bring the elbows together in the back. Bind the upper part of the arms and from there you can decide if you keep the wrists free or if you want to separate them for a more exposing tie.

Day 107: Bending Elbows

Tie the forearms together and explore how you can use this structure to bend the elbows by attaching to the chest.

Day 108: Waitress Tie

A classic tie from the damsel in distress style. Bring the elbows together in the back and tie the wrists in the front. Some variations bring the wrists closer to the shoulders, bending the elbows in a more extreme position.

Day 109: Elbows in Front

Tie the wrists in front, then tie each elbow and pull them toward the back to create this deceptively restricting position. This position was inspired by A-Nicolas.

  • Coming soon

Day 110: T-Rex Tie

Aka tōrō shibari 蟷螂縛り(Mantis tie). Feel like a dinosaur! Bend the elbows and tie them parallel to each other on each side of the body.

Day 111: Demon Tie

Also known as tengu shibari 天狗縛り. Bring the wrists to each side to create this very open position and then catch on the elbows in the back to make it truly restrictive.

Day 112: Angel Tie

Aka Tenshi shibari (angel tie). Pull the two elbows in the back to create wings. Note that the tension on the arm should be very loose in order to make this tie safe. The pattern showed is based on a design by Tifereth.

Review

To complete the overview of this topic, you can look at explorations from previous chapters:

You can also skip ahead and look at future chapters that includes some elbow ties:

Video References

We compiled a YouTube playlist with various videos on this topic; let us know if you find any others we should add to it. Note that video references may display risky or unstable techniques; viewer discretion is advised. 

View the playlist on YouTube

Inspirations and Resources

  • Got more resource suggestions? Write it in the comments!
Let’s continue with Asymmetric Arms

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