Rope Podcast rope partners Fox and Mya, The Rope Podcast is an adult podcast about rope bondage, Shibari and Kinbaku. Listen for discussions of ties, rope topics and news, interviews, reviews of events and rope gear, and listener questions.

An unusual and somewhat mysterious tie, its origins obscured, the Five Flowers tie was purportedly used for leading Chinese prisoners to execution. Fox and Mya were lucky enough to go to a class on the tie recently and in this episode share their experience and understanding of the tie.

As always, if you know more or want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments!

In this episode hear about:
• What the Five Flowers tie is
• How it can be tied and variations
• The pros and cons
• How it feels to be tied in
• Its risk profile
• And more!

Ps - Mya used the word ‘terrifying’ quite a few times about this tie in this episode - definitely gives you a clue to her view!

In the second part of our interview with the nylon rope maker, photographer and rigger KnotHead, the focus is more on rope photography. Listen now to hear Fox and Mya ask him about:
• How he got into rope photography
• How rope photography evolved in the West
• Collaborating on rope photography
• His photo influences
• What he looks out for in a ‘Berry Nize’-worthy bondage photo
• Working with the model you have
• Great tips for rope photography models to best show off the rope they are in
• Model releases and why they are important
• The importance of the order of tying in a photoshoot versus play
• How rope events have changed over time
• The downsides of people teaching too quickly

Beginning 30 years ago with a mix of flea market handcuffs, bathrobe belts and neck ties, knot_head has always loved bondage.

Although he began with Japanese style rope, he quickly gravitated to the strict, clean, efficient, Western style of riggers like Jay Edwards, Matt Williams, Lew Rubens and Claire Adams. For him it IS about the simple, strict, positional bondage, and “what happens once they're tied”, challenging predicaments being his favorite.

About ten years ago he caught the photography bug and loves showing kinksters how easy it can be to get better shots with their gear, even phones, in almost any setting.

His schtick is to make bondage (and photography) simple and fun for anyone willing to learn.

Beginning 30 years ago with a mix of flea market handcuffs, bathrobe belts and neck ties, knot_head has always loved bondage.

Although he began with Japanese style rope, he quickly gravitated to the strict, clean, efficient, Western style of riggers like Jay Edwards, Matt Williams, Lew Rubens and Claire Adams. For him it IS about the simple, strict, positional bondage, and “what happens once they're tied”, challenging predicaments being his favorite.

About ten years ago he caught the photography bug and loves showing kinksters how easy it can be to get better shots with their gear, even phones, in almost any setting.

His schtick is to make bondage (and photography) simple and fun for anyone willing to learn.

In the episode, Fox and Mya ask him about:
• Why he loves Western bondage
• Many of his influences in bondage, film, photography, art and more
• How he defines Western bondage
• Differences between Japanese and Western rope styles
• Cool Western positions
• Functional rope positions versus positions for photos
• His passion for predicaments
• Why he started making nylon rope
• Pros and cons of different rope materials
• Tips on how to tie with nylon
• A game-changing knot that changed how he ties

Ceci Ferox is a Berlin based queer, kinky and fat sexologist, kink activist, and rope nerd. They have been teaching Japanese inspired rope bondage since 2014, and are currently working as one of the house teachers at Karada House in Berlin. Ceci is inspired by creativity and understanding the smallest details of tying and communication technique. This has led to Ceci being an expert in tailoring ties for different needs. They are currently stoking a fat rope revolution.

In the episode, Fox and Mya ask them about:
• What being a House Teacher at Karada House entails
• Learning through embodied experience
• Why it is important to them to accept failure as part of their learning
• How they experience topping, bottoming and self-tying
• Why it’s important to use the word fat
• Fat as a descriptive word, rather than a moral judgement
• Who is fat rope for
• The advantages of a fat body in rope
• Misconceptions about fat bodies in rope
• Rope topping tips as a fat bodied person
• Practical suggestions for fat rope bottoms
• Different kinds of fat

Anastasia from Voudou Ropes is an international shibari artist. Her 8 years experience in the field includes teaching, exhibitions, events and performances in several countries.

Anastasia attracts people who want to feel rope as an art form, and she uses rope as a tool to communicate without words.

Voudou Ropes has held three 3 sold out shibari retreats in Mexico, with clients flying in from the US and Europe. Anastasia is also growing a beautiful open-minded community in Playa del Carmen holding classes and events on a weekly basis.

In this conversation, Fox and Mya discuss with her:
• How she discovered rope bondage and some of the mistakes she made along the way
• How she uses learning as a way to connect internationally
• Her values in rope
• How she has made her rope a business
• The importance to her of community and opportunities to learn
• Her very active social media presence and how instagram helps her business
• Decorative rope and rope for self-love
• What she does - and doesn’t post on her rope social media
• What makes people share their rope stories with her
• What the photoshoot of her dreams would be
• Her large collection of rope types and her favourites
• The place of rope in her personal life
• How she does a couples check in with her husband using rope
• Why she sees herself as a ‘rope artist’ rather than a ‘rope kinkster’

The Rope Podcast held a special competition recently, where Patreon subscribers could submit a rope story (describing a real experience) to the podcast with a chance of winning the last copy of Fox’s limited edition rope photo book, “Together In The Dark”.

Fox and Mya chose a winner and a runner up (sorry runner up, your prize is just props!), and wanted to share these two stories with you, our listeners, to inspire you in both writing about and doing rope.

Rope stories are a way of normalizing the rope experience, and sharing with others the how and most importantly, the why, and so can be very beneficial in helping the acceptance of rope bondage more widely.

Our two stories contain self-tying, outdoor bondage, and learning a technique then putting it into play. We love them, and hope you do too!

If you have a rope story, share a link in the comments below, and we will give you a signal boost 3 And if you want to become a Patron, for future competitions, sneak peeks, behind the scenes, and a deeper connection with Fox and Mya, find us on www.patreon.com/ropepodcast

And look out for Fox and Mya’s rope stories book later this year!