Monday, June 30, 2008

FIRE!

Tonight I got set on fire. It was frightening to see, but the physical sensation was surprisingly gentle.

(Okay, technically I wasn't on fire, some alcohol on my skin was on fire. But it's awfully like being on fire, you know?)


I worry sometimes that this blog reads as a descent. That as I push through more boundaries and try more extreme things, I seem to be documenting a slide into debauchery. But it's not. It's more like a coming of age. My skin was on fire and my friends were holding my hands and we were all laughing.

11 comments:

  1. That's impressive. Far beyond anything I could handle I think.

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  2. A - Actually, trust me, you could almost certainly handle it. The only hard part is holding still the first time someone brings a flame next to your flesh--but once it touches you, it's not painful. There's no burning. Fireplay is a fascinating sensation and a great show, but when done correctly it's not heavy SM.

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  3. Wow Holly, you rock! I don't think I could do that.. It's not so much the pain as my intense fear of fire.... I would be WAY too scared something would go wrong and it would my skin burning not the alcohol..

    Kudos for having the balls to do it! :)

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  4. The ironic thing is that I've done that... as part of lab-rat horsing around with other geeks. I wouldn't have known what "fireplay" even was at the time.

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  5. i used to do this - i was the "FireDomme", part of a BDSM crew...
    i love drawing something huge and complicated on someone's back, and watching the fire chase itself...


    sorry. this was the thing i Did :D

    and it feels GOOD. i have fibromalgia, and let me tell you, the only thing better is a hot tub...

    try it where: you have locking forcepts. take to large cotton balls and soak 'em in rubbing alcohal, then flame 'em. use that instead of a candle.

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  6. I can imagine it being pretty cool (I mean, it's fire, right? Fire is cool.)

    I don't quite see the sexy. I mean, if you did this to a naked woman, sure, but I'm pretty sure I could leave out the fire and just have the naked woman and the sexy level wouldn't change much.

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  7. Technical question--you're just swabbing on rubbing alcohol and lighting it? What happens on skin with hair? I presume the hair does burn, since it's up there in the flame?

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  8. That's so non-BDSM that I'd like to try it. What do you use?

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  9. DG - Well, I was naked, but I think a lot of the sexy comes from the fact that it's terrifying. You're letting someone touch your skin with fire. A lot of tension builds up when you lay down and watch someone light a big flame and realize that it's going on your naked body. And then when it touches you and instead of being burning pain (yes, intellectually you knew you wouldn't be burned, but fire is a primal fear) it's merely an intense hot sensation, the tension releases and it's damn exciting.

    Also, to some degree it is done for the cool value. BDSM people are geeks, and geeks would think setting a naked lady on fire is, like, wicked awesome.

    Bruno - Please don't try it yourself. I like you alive.

    However, the basic answer to how it's done is that the top wrapped cotton wadding around sticks to make little torches, then soaked the torches in 70% alcohol, set them on fire, and ran them over my skin. He also spread some alcohol directly on my skin, lit it from a torch, and almost immediately smothered the resulting fire with his free hand. Seeing your skin on fire is amazing, but if it lingers for more than a moment it can burn you.

    As far as I know, this is not safe to do on skin with hair.

    That is not a good enough description to actually do it; this is the sort of thing you really really need in-person training to do safely.

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  10. Haven't seen it done, but heard it from several people I know in the scene around here; apparently, my buddy Adam(who does fireplay and yeah, having let him demonstrate on me, it's a damn cool feeling) once denuded some woman of pubic hair using nothing but fire.

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  11. Also, to some degree it is done for the cool value. BDSM people are geeks, and geeks would think setting a naked lady on fire is, like, wicked awesome.

    I can't disagree with you there.

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