We're back from Chicago (and New York), so we now have time to write about our weekend with our friends at ShibariCon.

The first ShibariCon was a revelation...it was new and different to have a whole group of 200 rope people together. It was like the first cup of coffee in the morning, waking you up to a new day.

This year was very different for us, not because the convention was different but because we were different. It was comfortable and familiar to be surrounded by friends and practitioners of the art of rope.

Last year we focussed on classes for their content. This year we took a new approach...we took courses from people we hadn't taken courses from before, even if we already knew the material. We learned more about people than techniques this year. What made it great is that these were all wonderful people.

Here are our experiences in the classes we took. Because of schedule constraints (six parallel courses) there are still a few instructors left for us to meet next year. And of course, we have very few photos, because only the official event photographers were allowed to shoot. We'll be able to add some photos once they send us their images.

JOHN ELFRINK Bondage Without Knots
AKA The HungryTiger, John is from Pittsburgh, but we almost never cross paths in the local scene. So naturally we just get together in Chicago.

Now I'm a geek, so John got me aroused by using phrases like "The friction of a rope is proportional to the Euler coefficient raised to the power of the angle of contact expressed in Radians". Whew...I'm going to need a cold shower.

The basic lesson of the class was to use multiple strands of rope in a coil to increase friction and to reduce pressure on the skin. The goal of the class was to get people into comfortable, effective bondage without being scared away by complex knots. The funny part is that one of John's strengths is his ability to tie complex knots.

John was also vending this year...he has a unique product, twisted hemp and other types of rope with a small bump marking the exact center of the rope (from KinkyRopes.COM). The only way to do that is to untwist the rope, make a small bump with a single wall knot, and then retwist the rope. He asked me if I could tell which end of the sample rope he had opened, and I couldn't tell.

SUZANNE SXYSADIST Torture Ties & Bondage for SMer's
Suzanne runs ShibariLover.COM and is a wonderful rigger with a sadistic streak. Her perspective is unique because as a true switch she can speak authoritatively about a tie from both the top and bottom's perspective.

She started with a frustratingly simple "Two Finger" tie that appears in the Zukai Hojojutsu book:

She also demonstrated a forced squatting position by tying the genitals to the ankles, and a strappaddo arm tie (a favorite of the Spanish Inquisition).

GRAYDANCER The Knotty Experience
GrayDancer explained that he had a theater background, and he had taken some of the training exercises used by actors and adapted them to develop trust between the top and the bottom.

One of the exercises involved the top tying the bottom's hands behind the back and blindfolding and then leading the bottom around the room by slight pressure on the back. Then the top and bottoms switched. Dee liked that part, because she got to tie me up and bindfold me.

I'd like to describe everything, but since surprise is such a large part of the class, I can't say more without revealing them.

It was a very interesting class, and a lot of fun. We confirmed what we already knew...Dee and I trust each other to a very high degree, and being lead around the room blindfolded was a piece of cake for each of us.

One of the presentations on Friday evening was a Tea Ceremony presented by Tatu. The Japanese Tea Ceremony is traditional, stately, and in some ways unfathomable to me. One point that Tatu made repeatedly was that the teas itself really tastes horrible.

It seemed a lot of work to go to to make and serve bad tasting tea.

Each night concludes with a play party, and what sets ShibariCon apart from other dungeons is that there were more than a half-dozen suspension frames. There is intense competition for them, of course; even more so this year as there were a lot of people who learned suspension at the last convention.

We grabbed a metal frame as soon as the doors opened, and I did a horizontal suspension on Dee (see Hanging Around). This time I managed to get all the knots to line up.

For fun, I supplemented the tie by adding half-pound weights to Dee's nipple rings, and I chained a couple of carabiners to her triangle ring. The weights really limited her ability to struggle which made the scene even more intense.

JIM TATU Japanese Rope Art I
Tatu is a large man, but a peaceful and gentle soul who has spent much time researching Japanese culture, and especially Japanese rope bondage.

We spent a lot of time practicing single and double limb ties, and then proceeded to the shinju, the basic box arm tie. Tatu spent a lot of time covering the body's weak points so that scenes are not ended prematurely by "bad pain".

Even though Tatu is well versed in the history and traditions of Japanese rope, this was a surprisingly practical class.

BRIDGETT HARRINGTON Erotic Macrame
Okay, we fudged a little. We did hear about half of her class last year on self-bondage, so she wasn't really a NEW instructor to us. But we really wanted to see Bridgett again, so we took her Macrame class. We met her last year at ShibariCon, then she showed up at a Pony Play Video shoot for Equus Eroticus and Playboy TV. Dee and Bridgett got along really well. You can see a lot more of Bridgett at her site: RopeLover.COM

Bridgett is perhaps the highest-energy instructor at ShibariCon. She loves rope and bondage and is just as perky as hell. She says that she found out at an early age that you could get really cool bondage ideas from macrame books, and they're both cheaper and more available than other rope porn.

She taught three ties to the group. First a rope body harness, and then arm gauntlets. She then concluded with the "Chinese Temple Knot" that we learned last year from Lochai. The class was again very practical and covered some important aspects of decorative bondage.

SIR C Basic Hojojutsu
This was the second year that Sir C taught at ShibariCon, but this was our first class from her. We've seen her at Paddles doing involved suspensions, but never had a chance to approach her. As a rather severe, no-nonsense Pro-Domme, we found her a little intimidating.

It was therefore a real pleasure to find that she has a very droll sense of humor and a quick wit. Hojojutsu is the Samurai art of restraining a prisoner using rope. Unlike most of the rope work we do, which requires a willing and even cooperative partner, the art of Hojojutsu includes techniques to takedown and restrain an unwilling captive.

Sir C taught how to make a Hojojutsu coil and a few simple arm ties (including one using the Two-Finger tie we showed above).

I was impressed that she taught the actual "rope across the throat" tie. Although one of the basic principles of Hojojutsu is not to harm the prisoner, it was okay to tie them in such a way that if they struggled they would choke themselves.

I was also impressed that one of Sir C's service bottoms was able to read and speak Japanese, allowing her to illuminate some of the cultural aspects of the art.

We skipped out of the evening plenary session to have dinner with friends of ours from Kink in the Caribbean, Kevin and Sharon. They run Foxy Furniture, selling hand-crafted dungeon furniture that transforms into everyday items that hide in plain sight.

They were vending at IML, and drove all the way out to Naperville to see us. While we were eating dinner, back at the convention, the performing magician apparently called us to go up on stage. Since we weren't there, he chose Taipan and Lady Gold, instead.

Thank you Kevin and Sharon for saving us from that :-)

We met up with a very nice couple that had been to our workshop in Rochester, NY in March, and we did another two-girl suspension. This time both girls were inverted and tied marionette fashion, with their hands tied to their opposing ankles.

It was only Pegelee's third time suspended, and using Lew's hip harness rig worked well. She was able to spend several minutes upside-down.

M. YU Beauty and the Battlefield II: Advanced Hashirodaki Shibari
This was perhaps our most advanced class of the weekend. M. Yu has a great knowledge of human physiology (my high school Latin came in very handy while listening to him talk about the parts of the body), and a love of bamboo and Japanese bondage.

He asked for a volunteer to demonstrate the ebi or Shrimp tie.

I pushed Dee forward, and he tied her in what is one of the oldest known Japanese ties. By forcing the prisoner to "bow" towards the leader of his enemy, the prisoner was terribly humiliated.

It looked a lot like the Rope Crunch gallery we did last month.

After that, he suspended a woman face down from a small bamboo pyramid in a crucifiction tie. This was one instructor we'd like to spend more time with.

MORTIS Shibari Daigaku
Mortis is the organizer of ShibariCon, and we have him to thank for the whole wonderful experience. Mortis honed his rope skills running a fetish club where he tied up over 1,200 girls in two years. He says it takes him no more than 5-10 minutes to suspend a girl.

Mortis wondered why we were in his basic knot class, and I explained that we'd never had a class from him and wanted to find out what he was like.

This was another practical class that covered a few basic knots for tying hands together and attaching a line to a fixed object (we all tied our chairs up; the more advanced students were able to suspend their chairs).

TAIPAN Advanced Suspension Techniques
Taipan showed us a basic safety-harness derived suspension rig to be used as a basis for a layered suspension tie. The rope was looped over shoulders, back, legs and crotch and formed a cradle that would not come loose in any direction.

We all tied the tie, and then took turns waiting for a suspension frame to be free so we could test our ties. Rather than wait, I just had Dee lie on the floor and picked her up.

While we were waiting for the rest of the class, we started talking with Lady Gold (Taipan's bottom) about face-up and face-down suspension. She said she couldn't be suspended face-down because it caused her breathing problems. I showed her a figure-eight breast harness that I use on Dee because Dee has a short sternum, making a traditional harness difficult for her. I then tied Lew's hip-harness so she could try the chest tie on the suspension frame. It turned out to work well for her, and she was used as a "battering ram" by being picked up and carried by two tops.

Tatu saw me tying the hip harness and asked me to show it to him. I think I showed three people in the class how to use Lew's hip harness, and we saw it a few more times later in the dungeon that night.

This was a very fun class, because we had lots of skilled rope tops trading ideas and techniques. Kind of a bondage show and tell.

MICHELE SERCHUK, LOCHAI & VAL Capturing the Art
These three fetish photographers each gave a slide show of their recent work, and described the situations they were shooting and the emotions and feelings they were trying to convey.

Michele Serchuk works frequently with Midori as a rigger, and with Delano as a model. Her work seemed less about the rope and more about the people being tied. Lochai spoke next, and talked about the way the various models reacted to being tied for the first time, about the composition and the settings. Val showed some of the photos she took at last year's ShibariCon (many of which were published in the current issue of Secret Magazine).

It was great to hear three great photographers describe the visual aspect of the art of Japanese Rope.

Fashion Show Two Piece Rope dress from our NYC scene
I didn't hear too much of Val's talk, because I had to get Dee ready for the Rope Bondage Fashion Show. So I sat in the back and tied Dee in a complicated rope dress while listening from the back.

The first trick is to tie two triple Chinese Temple Knots about 9" apart in the middle of the rope. One has to be left-handed and one right-handed. I actually started that while Lochai was talking. I'd already sent Dee off to the room to get her makeup on.

When she came back, we moved to the back of the hall and I started tying the rope bra and a rope skirt. Since this was a fetish friendly event instead of Times Sqauare, I only added a simple crotch rope instead of weaving an entire bikini bottom.

My one problem came when I realized I had left her 1" diameter nipple rings in place. Her smaller stirrups were back in the room, and there was no time to change jewelry. Instead I simply ran the rope loops through her large rings, and they stuck out the whole time.

I had Dee tied and up to the stage at 8:58:30, and the fashion show started promptly at 9pm.

Next came the "Iron Dom" competition. Graydancer and I had won our rounds last year, and it was decided that we would judge this year instead of competing. After seeing Ginger and Eric do a takedown and restraint with a Kayak paddle, I was glad that I wasn't trying to defend my title. Their performance was truly inspired.

Then of course came the last play time in the dungeon, and I started with a quick take-down and prisoner tie on Dee. I hogtied her and stood her on her knees with her hair tied overhead to the suspension frame.

Next I repeated my suspension harness on Lady Gold. She and Dee had fun playing with Lady Gold suspended face-down above her in a single-point suspension doing helicopter spins.

After that we watched the other scenes for a while before falling exhausted into bed.

There were many classes on Monday, including Cyd and Angelene's rope finishing class, that we had wanted to attend. But pressing family matters at home required our swift return to Pittsburgh.

There were lots of classes that we'd have liked to attend, and really really had wanted to see Steve Indands Predicament Bondage, but other than that between last year and this year we've managed to work in at least one class with each of the rope instructors.