One of our lovely listeners left this comment for us with the following questions: 1. When it comes to being a rope educator, what are the essential skills someone should have? 2. How do you know if you're ready to teach rope to others? 3. How do you ensure you're not teaching above your own skill level? 4. How do you develop a rope curriculum? In this episode the rope podcast hosts explore these questions, sharing their own opinions and ideas on them, touching on: • Three essential skills befor...
Jun 30, 2025•41 min
BondageOtter(he/they) is the founder of Rope Burn SF, the USA’s first ongoing masc-of-center, rope-specific play party + skill share, with his remaining energy spent volunteering for numerous gay organizations. A queer leatherman and rope switch, he maintains a private S/M practice while organizing public education and play programs for the community of people who want to tie masc-of-center bodies. He commits a huge amount of his free time to successfully creating gay rope events and community, ...
Jun 16, 2025•22 min
BondageOtter (he/they) is a queer leatherman and rope switch who maintains a private S/M practice while organizing public education and play programs for the community of people who want to tie masc-of-center bodies. His education seeks to fuse Japanese aesthetics with the erotics of gay leather culture. The podcast hosts talked to him about how his rope experience in that culture is different from the cis-het/pansexual community, and the unique perspective that, along with hie experience living...
Jun 02, 2025•29 min
It’s hard for us to believe, but this episode is number 200 of the Rope Podcast. That’s a lot of ropey goodness! Starting back in 2017, we’ve somehow managed to produce episodes every two weeks on a regular basis. This fun episode celebrates our story so far - a story that in many ways echoes the growth of rope bondage in society at large. We hear updates from some of our guests, including Shay Tizano, Wooden Tiger, Faviola Llervu, RopuNawa, Violet Rain, MistressJ, Chrisian Red, Voudou Ropes, Eb...
May 19, 2025•44 min
Mistress J is an Australian switch known internationally for her gorgeous decorative rope. In our last episode we explored some fundamentals of the art, as well as getting to know Mistress J and her rope practice. In this episode, we go deeper, and talk to her about: • Pros and cons of mixing decorative rope with other forms of rope • Her inner sadist! • A top tip for performances (that Fox and Mya also implement) • Skills and qualities that a bottom can bring to decorative rope • What she needs...
May 05, 2025•22 min
Mistress J, best known internationally for the decorative rope designs she creates, particularly beautiful, wearable rope art has been part of her local scene in Melbourne, Australia, for eleven years. She has been teaching skillshares in her community for nine years, drawing on her background in design and education, and she facilitates a group called ‘The Art of Rope’. Identifying as a Sensualist, she loves touch, and always tries to incorporate it in her scenes. She also enjoys learning, most...
Apr 06, 2025•24 min
Having lived in a number of condos and had a number of rope spaces, the podcast hosts have a lot of empathy for this question! The episode looks at what hard points are used for, what that means in terms of which hard points might work or not, and how those hard points do - or don’t - work in terms of a suspended ceiling (and why). In this episode, hear more about: • What actually is a suspended ceiling • Why you can’t use it for your hardpoint • Why we might want hard points for our rope • What...
Mar 25, 2025•41 min
Last year, Fox and Mya learned the gorgeous Marquise harnesses from the one of the creators, @HwG-Paris. Fox was thrilled to learn a ‘French’ tie and the hosts of the podcast have experimented with it a number of times since. Fox has also had great positive feedback from some of the other rope bottoms who he’s tied it on, so this episode shares the harness more widely with listeners! In this episode, hear about: • What these decorative harnesses (chest and butt) look like • A rough idea of how t...
Mar 21, 2025•25 min
This is a new type of episode for the Rope Podcast, where Fox and Mya discuss how you might combine rope with other forms of play! Here they start with a classic pairing, ‘impact play’, which is very common for kinksters to integrate into rope scenes. In this episode they talk about using everything from pevertables to body parts to items made-for-play, as well as: • Why people like this kind of play • What kinds of toys you might use • The benefits of combining rope and impact • The psychologic...
Mar 03, 2025•32 min
As well as writing the extremely influential “Shibari You Can Use: Japanese Rope Bondage and Erotic Macramé”, Lee Harrington has taught over 1100 classes. Fox and Mya asked him about his experiences as a rope educator, focusing particularly on on classes that explore tying non-cisgender men and women. In this interview, hear them discuss: • How he got into education - reluctantly! • Education and tips on being a better rope educator • His best and worst education moments • How he avoids rope edu...
Feb 24, 2025•25 min
You wouldn’t believe the number of times our guests and listeners share that their introduction to Shibari was the book “Shibari You Can Use: Japanese Rope Bondage and Erotic Macramé”. We are thus thrilled to share the first of two episodes with the author, another OG of US rope, Lee Harrington. Lee Harrington (he/they) is a spiritual and erotic authenticity educator, gender explorer, eclectic artist, and award-winning author and editor on erotic and sacred experience. As a rigger, self-binder, ...
Feb 10, 2025•25 min
This episode was recorded in July 2024. The second part of our interview with the lovely Kink Name Pending and Petite Pretzel focuses on tying male bodies, as well as bodies with ‘out-y’ bits (which are sometimes the same, sometimes not!). The two rope switches share wise advice (and they, and the podcast, note that some of this will apply to tying genders of all types), including: • Risks you might not have thought of • P3nis predicaments • Handling size differences • Body hair • And plenty mor...
Jan 27, 2025•21 min
This episode was recorded in July 2024 Two guests for the price of one! After enjoying very much a performance by rope switches Petite Pretzel and Kink Name Pending in Thailand last year, we invited them on the podcast to talk about their perspectives on rope. In this first part of the interview, hear about how they enjoy inverting some of the normal rope tropes, their love of predicaments, and the positive side of being set up to fail as a rope bottom! Petite Pretzel is a rope switch from New Y...
Jan 13, 2025•13 min
Happy New Year dear listeners! Our second end of year episode where we pull together favorite rope experiences from our guests across the year. We find it super inspiring for our own play, and hope your imagination (and maybe more!) is also stimulated. The episode includes scenes from • Gorgone • Knotty Devil • vahavta • Anna Noctuelle • FoxofBangkok Click to listen now!
Dec 30, 2024•25 min
Woo hoo! It’s one of our most popular episodes of the year - where our amazing guests from throughout 2024 share the details of one of their favourite rope scenes. In this episode, you can hear about one of the favourite rope bondage scenes of these rope susperstars: • Anna Bones • Knothead • Voudou Ropes • Ceci Ferox • and Mya! As well as providing a diversity of fascinating insights into others’ play, the episode can inspire you to new types of rope and creativity.
Dec 14, 2024•28 min
Mya shares her new erotica shorts book- which may or may not be inspired by some of her earlier adventures with Fox. In the episode Fox asks her what the book is about and why she chose to write BDSM erotica. They also discuss some of the constraints on writing this kind of work. Mya then reads a short excerpt from one of the stories in the collection. Finally listen to Fox announce the next book he’s working on!
Dec 02, 2024•16 min
Stuck for a Christmas, Hanukah or Thanksgiving gift idea? The Rope Podcast has you covered! Listen to the episode to hear Fox and Mya talk through 50 - yes, 50! - different present ideas for all occasions that you can buy your play partner, lover, polycule member, friend, or local rope studio. They cover the range from a few dollars to a thousand so plenty of range for a variety of budgets. They own many items themselves and share stories of how they use them, and make suggestions for how you sh...
Nov 18, 2024•30 min
Fox and Mya, the hosts of the podcast, met doing rope, and so when it came to planning their wedding, it seemed a no-brainer to include it. In this episode, they discuss their recent rope wedding, choices they made, and the creative compromise they made to enable them to tie their harnesses before the ceremony whilst also keeping the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the ceremony! Listen to hear them discuss: • What it means to have a rope wedding • Why they chose the venue • Ho...
Oct 28, 2024•28 min
Vahavta has created some amazing resources, in particular, the Risk Evaluation Database, which curates possible risks for various BDSM activities (like rope bondage!) we might engage in - from the common (bruising) to the ones you’re unlikely to think of (retina detachment), even the very rare ones. In this second part of Fox and Mya’s interview with her, they discuss: • Why she put together the Risk Evaluation Database (RED) • What is a risk profile and why might you need one for rope bondage •...
Oct 21, 2024•19 min
Vahavta writes, teaches, and speaks on CNC, emotional S/m, kink + chronic illness/disability, pain processing, and negotiation and communication on the edge. She is also a creator of some wonderful resources, such as the Risk Evaluation Database, and the ‘Kink Beyond Limits’ power exchange workbooks. We wanted to talk to her about all these, along with her choice to give up being a rope bottom, as this is a story that often happens, but is rarely talked about. Listen to this episode to hear abou...
Oct 07, 2024•21 min
In part 2 of this listener question episode, Mya and Fox discuss the challenge of making rope sustainable. Whether you want to have s3xy times in rope, are taking photos, or just want to stay up longer, the podcast hosts have plenty of ideas on how both tops and bottoms can help rope be more sustainable. Hear them talk about: • Change over time • Acceptance of what our body needs • Vulnerable parts of the body in rope for most people • The importance of discussing how to communicate what is and ...
Sep 23, 2024•27 min
A listener recently wrote in to ask us to discuss sustainability in rope bondage. As “Sustainable” is literally one of Fox’s rope values, we were more than happy to explore this topic. In the episode they discuss: • When might you want more sustainability in rope • Things that haven’t worked for them • Ties that might be more sustainable • A great question to ask to build sustainability • What makes Mya tap out, and how they manage this • Factors to play with to make your rope more sustainable •...
Sep 09, 2024•21 min
Earlier this year, Mya ran a rope bottoming workshop for the local community. We’ve had many requests from listeners to share more about rope bottoming education, so in this episode, Fox and Mya discuss the event. Listen to hear them explore: • Why Mya decided to run the workshop • Topics the workshop covered • Why we need more rope bottoming education • What was important to Mya in the session • Fox’s rope as a demo rope top • The format of the workshop • Sharing tips between bottoms • How Mya ...
Aug 26, 2024•26 min
In this second part of our interview with the very accomplished rope switch Gorgone, Fox and May delve into many of her learnings from her teaching practice. Listen to this episode to hear them discuss: • What is ‘conscious rope’, and how can we do it? • Questions to ask ourselves in rope • Ego and rope • Kink as theatre • How our expectations impact our rope • Bringing authenticity to rope partnerships • The most important question in rope • Common rope intentions • How styles of rope partnersh...
Aug 12, 2024•33 min
Gorgone (Marika Leila Roux) is one of the OGs of the European rope scene, a French rope switch who co-founded Shibari Study. Fox and Mya were excited to discuss rope bondage with her, and in this episode, discuss her journey. Highly self-aware, they share how they threw themselves into rope, up to where they are today - a very different place. Gogone discovered rope 13 years ago, and dove into the underground world of traditional Japanese rope bondage. They have been a professional Shibari model...
Jul 29, 2024•30 min
Fox and Mya have been experimenting with performing with rope, and in this episode, share their experiences. Listen to this episode to hear them discuss: • How they decided their theme and approach • Translating the theme into narrative • How rope can be used in a performance • Developing characters • Costumes, props, music • Preparing and rehearsing • Giving the performance • Getting feedback • And more! As always, if you know more or want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the ...
Jul 15, 2024•30 min
Anna Bones runs the Shibari educational space Anatomie with her husband Fred Hatt. As well as her full-time rope job, she has a toddler. In this episode, she shares openly and vulnerably about her experience of pregnancy and bringing up a child whilst keeping Anatomie running. Mya, Fox and Anna discuss in this episode: • Bringing up a toddler while running a full-time rope business • Balancing rope in work and play • How pregnancy affected the way she did rope • The reason she did more self-tyin...
Jul 01, 2024•23 min
Anna Bones discovered rope with her now-husband Fred Hatt, in 2013 and has been in love with it ever since. Rope quickly escalated from a side hobby to a full-time job, culminating in the opening of Anatomie Studio (a sex positive venue and the UK's largest and first full-time Shibari space) which she runs with Fred Hatt. Anna, who has learned from a wide range of teachers, has taught and performed with her partner all over the world. From self-tying, bottoming to rigging, Anna loves it all, alt...
Jun 17, 2024•21 min
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 c...
Jun 03, 2024•18 min
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 • Mod...
May 20, 2024•28 min
