Today I’m doing something a little different; rather than sharing my information and experience, I’m going to link you to a couple of great books on rope bondage and bottoming for rope bondage. I’ve just recently read these – and I’m really enthusiastic about them!
Recently I was contacted by another rope author, the lovely Evie Vane. Evie is a very experienced rope bottom and rope performer, and has herself written two excellent books, one of which is dedicated to a subject which, in my opinion, hasn’t been addressed nearly enough; rope bottoming.
The more I’ve learned about rope, the more I’ve realized how important the aspect of partnership is ; it’s not just the tops who create the magic. No, not at all.
Rope bottoms (or muses, as I like to call you) do a hell of a lot to contribute to a great scene. There’s a lot that goes into it; but in most books on rope bondage, the references to the contribution of rope bottoms is minimal at best.
As a consequence, while riggers, rope artists, and rope tops end up learning all kinds of great stuff about what we’re supposed to do from the plentiful resources available, the rope bottoms tend to be a lot more in the dark, and tend to start from scratch, learning from their own experience as they go.
Seems kind of unfair, huh?
This is what makes Evie different; she’s a rope bottom with a lot of experience who has decided to fill that gap and provide information for all the other rope bottoms out there. In the rope bondage community, she’s one of the biggest names when it comes to supporting and empowering rope bottoms on their side of the game.
She sent me a couple of her books to have a read through, and to provide an honest review about. So today, I’m doing just that.
The Little Guide To Getting Tied Up
The Little Guide To Getting Tied Up is the first book on rope bottoming ever written.
To be honest, this one actually reminded me a little of my own book. Basically, what I did is I took all the most useful things from my own experience, and distilled it into an extremely practical handbook for rope tops, a “one stop shop” for information on rope topping, as Evie herself has put it.
Evie appears to have done exactly the same thing, but from the complementary point of view – she’s taken her experience as a rope bottom, and figured out exactly what other rope bottoms and bunnies would benefit from learning early.
As an example; how do you evaluate a rope top? Very important skill when you’re about to trust someone with your personal and emotional safety.
Evie’s got you covered. She dedicates an entire section to this, giving practical things to look at and even subtle ways of asking questions and getting the information you need in a tactful, non-offensive manner.
She takes a very clear interest in your personal safety; making sure that you, as a rope bottom, know about the danger areas of rope bondage and rope play, and when a person you’re playing with is more likely to be a problem – such as when they don’t listen to you about things going wrong, or other scenarios that are covered in the book.
When is it okay or not okay to speak up? This is a question I’ve heard from rope bottoms before, and Evie goes into a lot of detail about this; not just specific examples, but encouraging good general principles so that you can make an informed choice for yourself at the time.
Oh, and she makes a number of notes about interacting with us rope tops, and even making sure we take care of ourselves as well.
A few other examples that she covers:
- how best to prepare for a rope scene
- the 7 rope bottoming skills
- rope bottoming gear; what’s handy to have on hand?
- tricks and tips on pain processing
- the work that the rope bottom ends up doing in suspension (there’s a lot that goes into that)
- lots of discussion on communication
- how to evaluate what’s happening with your body
- avoiding injury and taking care of yourself
- how to get the best from your rope scene
all kinds of useful stuff!
Overall impression: there’s a strong sense that this author really wants to take from her own experiences and help other people out, and that’s something I can really get behind.
Just as importantly, the book, and the necessity for the book, really highlight that rope bottoms, muses and bunnies do more than most people realize, and that bottoming for rope has a lot of really important skill sets, which typically are not taught enough. I learned a few things and was reminded of some other awesome things which always bear thinking of.
Do I sound enthusiastic about this book? Because I am!
The most telling thing about it for me was that while I read the book while on a journey with Blue and some friends to a Victorian fete, at several points I turned around to Blue and said, “You have GOT to read this book. So, so useful!” and various other statements all indicating essentially the same thing.
If you’re a rope top, then I recommend this book to your partners. And to you, if you’re interested in supporting your partner. If you’re a switch or a rope bottom; then you will DEFINITELY benefit and shortcut your own learning with this book.
Evie’s also written another book, Better Bondage For Every Body. I learned even more from this one, and I’m going to go into detail about it on the next post.
