NOTE: This page is now deprecated. See Shopping and Vocabulary

Once you have a good grasp of the main safety points and communication concepts, you’ll need some rope and a little bit of vocabulary to get ready to learn your first tie.

Your First Rope

To get started, there are many types of rope that will do! Most Rope365 tutorials were made with 8m jute ropes of 6mm diameter. Each type of rope has different characteristics; hemp, jute, nylon or cotton ropes of 7-10m in length with a 5-7mm diameter are all great for bondage. To start, 8m long cotton rope of 6mm diameter is recommended, it is usually available for cheap at hardware stores. It is cheap, easy to wash, and available in most hardware stores. Week 7 contains many activities to help you discover the best rope for you, but it can be difficult to know your preferences before learning a few ties. If you want to expand your options right away, check out the Rope Shopping Guide for more cues.

Anatomy of a Rope

Let’s look at the rope and a few words we will use to describe the different parts of a rope.

  • Bight – U-shaped arc of rope, usually the middle
  • Tail – The part of the rope away from the bight that we haven’t tied with yet
  • Loop – When the rope crosses itself to make a circle
  • Overhand knot – Simple stopper knot made by passing the one end of the rope through a loop

Rope has been around for a while, from sailing to bondage with a detour via macrame, this creates a huge legacy on the vocabulary. The more foundational concepts tend to have acquired many names, and sometimes the same word can have different meanings from one community to another. For the sake of simplicity, we try to stick to one term per concept while mentioning alternate names. Which one was chosen is often a subjective choice and is a reflection of the period of time these texts were written. Language is fluid and continues to evolve. Check out the Vocabulary Guide to get deeper on this topic.

 

Continue with Learning Rope Bondage

 

Or skip directly to Spring to get hands-on with tying.

Or return to Getting Started for more options.

Credit: R/P: Ebi McKnotty