Kinbaku and Shibari: Private tuition with Esinem and Nina Russ – 14/10/12

From the 12th October -14th October, Benjamin and I spent the weekend in London under the tuition of the Shibari and Kinbaku professionals : Esinem and Nina Russ.

Rope play has always been an interest of mine (unfortunately, having claws can make it difficult to master effectively; ergo, I have never done advanced courses), but when Benjamin was introduced to images and movies of it, he fell in love with the artform and expressed a huge desire to learn it. I, in turn, have nurtured this desire (as well as offering to be his practice model) and after several months of play, practice and research, higher learning for him was inevitably required.

When it comes to any form of bondage, especially rope bondage, safety and knowledge is paramount. I highly recommend that it is not attempted without at least being taught the basics, either by research using the internet or books, or by attaining the services of an experienced teacher. There are many aspects to take note of during this kind of play; including asphyxiation and nerve damage. Do not be an idiot; Play safely.

To this end we contacted Esinem for his offer on residential private tuition and made plans to visit him at his home and studio in London for an intensive training course to further our learning.

After copious hours of practice and training with both Esinem and Nina Russ (living and breathing rope bondage for three days), I personally have developed a great respect for the rope bondage models that you see in all the images across the internet. I make it a personal rule to experience anything that I intend to put anyone else through (this is true for all forms of BDSM play that I practice). This kind of bondage can be incredibly painful (especially rope suspension). For me, the weekend was a significant learning experience which tested my endurance and stamina to great lengths. For Benjamin; well, let us just say he has returned from the experience with a slightly frazzled brain from taking in so much information, sore fingers from extensive use of the rope and a significantly vaster knowledge of the artform (as well as his own set of Asanawa Tossa Lite 6mm Jute ropes, a birthday present from me and my partner).

We do plan on having further private tuition with Esinem and Nina in the near future, but we must first put what we have learned over this last weekend into frequent practice. This kind of skill takes a great amount of time and dedication.

Thanks to the wonderful Nina Russ, I also experienced full rope suspension. Another thing which I do not recommend unless in the hands of an experienced and well practiced individual. To quote Esinem’s website:

“As safety is a prime concern, please be aware that, like so many good things in life, there is always possibility of accidental injury. Rope suspension is undoubtedly edge play and should only be undertaken by those who are physically and mentally up to the challenge. Suspension is safe but not without risk, regardless of proficiency or experience, so is definitely RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink) rather than entirely SSC (Safe Sane and Consensual). The more extreme suspensions require a high degree of fitness and often a reasonable pain threshold, so don’t imagine everyone can do what professional models make look easy!”

Luckily, I was physically and mentally adequate, however, as I mentioned earlier in this blog post, the whole weekend experience (full suspension, partial suspension and constant floor practice) has given me a profound respect for rope bondage models. It is definitely not easy.

Despite the aches and pains that I was suffering by the end of the weekend and despite the fact that I am not naturally submissive, I could not resist the chance to be tied up and partially suspended by the man himself.

Enjoy the photos.

 

All photography is unedited.

Photos courtesy of Esinem and Nina Russ.
Photography by Nina Russ.
All images are Copyright © 2012 AemiliaHawk. All Rights Reserved.

Great balls of fire.

Despite the title of this blog, this post has nothing to do with Jerry Lee Lewis’ famous 1957 hit and it is lacking balls of any kind (unless used in the slang term, in which case, to do any of my aspirations written in this blog, I will need a lot of ‘balls’), But it has a lot to do with fire. I shall explain:

To date, my blog posts have always centered around what I have done, currently doing, thoughts, fetishes or events. I have never really expressed what I desire to learn, discover and acquire (BDSM or alternative skill set wise) in the hopefully not so distant future.

I have always loved bullwhips, unfortunately the only 8ft bullwhip that I owned was lost to thievery about 8 months ago and it has been too expensive an item to replace given current monetary circumstance (they are not cheap). But aside from trying to reacquire a new 8-10ft kangaroo hide bullwhip (my preferred length), the thought of learning firewhips has always appealed to me. I already have the knowledge of how to use single tail whips, so firewhips seem like the next logical step (that and the fact that fire has always fascinated me). Dual 5-6ft single tails (specially designed for fire play) would probably be perfect and preferred for self training (plus a handy fire extinguisher, just in case, and a submissive who would get a kick out of foaming a Mistress without repercussion if something unintended caught on fire).

 

 

Being incredibly extroverted by nature, you can see why this would be an interest of mine. However, this is not the only form of fire play that I have intentions of eventually learning.

Body angle grinding has also always been a fascination of mine. In this subject I have no experience at all, but like I said, this blog post is about things I eventually hope to learn and do.

 

 

No doubt, the exploration and research of this activity would be an extremely delicate process (999 on speed dial for training in this methinks). Equipment (consisting of a custom reinforced metal plated bikini and an angle grinder) needed, which is also quite costly.

So, as you can see, I do have aspirations. Whether or not any of them come to fruition, only time will tell.