There are three kinds of BDSM toys in this world:
Serious Toys.
These are made out of genuine full-grain kangaroo leather by one guy named Buck who lives in a cabin in Maine and does all the crafting himself while his sub runs the website and mails out the orders.
Pros: The quality is almost always amazing. You're supporting your own community. Nothing else gives you more party cred.
Cons: It's usually insanely expensive. If you're new, don't have much money, or just looking for some casual bedroom play, choosing and buying toys from this kind of vendor can be intimidating and frankly overkill. Buck's e-commerce may be disorganized or nonexistent to the point where tracking him down in person at a convention is the only way to actually get his stuff.
Pervertibles.
These are sold at Home Depot. They think we're going to tie down packages with that rope or hang potted plants with those eyebolts. Tee hee.
Pros: This is the cheapest way to go. There's lots of room to improvise and experiment and play MacGuyver.
Cons: Can be unsafe if you don't know what you're doing. Not every kind of toy can be replicated with Home Depot materials. The MacGuyvering can be a lot of work and require some knowledge to do effectively.
Vanilla-Kinky Toys.
These are sold in regular sex shops. There's a slutty lady on the box and it's mass-produced in China or Mexico or something.
Pros: Far cheaper than the serious toys. Far less work than the pervertibles. Far easier to shop for than either. If you're not a mega-serious hardcore-BDSM player but just want to screw around in the bedroom, probably perfectly adequate.
Cons: You can lose cred with Master Raven Darkclaw types if they find out you got your sex toys at a *pfft* sex toy shop. The quality can be all over the map, from just as good as Buck's stuff to uselessly flimsy. The slutty box-ladies can really wear on you after a while.
Hm. Now that I've said you can't make everything at Home Depot, that feels like a challenge. I bet that between Home Depot and Michael's Crafts, at least... hm.
Between good rope, duct tape, zip ties, the sub's undergarments and a few steel rings, almost any kind of restraint can be devised, and I prefer a thin switch of bamboo to any of the commercially designed crop thingummies. But anything for penetration I prefer to be commercially made for the purpose, barring my sidearm of course.
ReplyDeleteI did kind of puss out and buy a collar instead of making one though. And I even know some rudimentary leatherwork, I could have made a really cool one. But the investment in time was too severe, especially given the likelihood that it would have looked and felt pretty unpleasant.
I brake for craft stores. I shouldn't go into craft shops, I mean to pick up just a few things and always get sucked in with all the blank slates and shiny things to put on the blank slates.
ReplyDeleteI think Michael's would be great for costumes! Sex toys, maybe not so much... unless you're looking to make some kind of conical cardboard dildo or a clay dildo or something... maybe make a pretty box to put the sex toys in...
...Dammit now I'm never going to be able to look at a craft store's wares the same way again. Curse you Holly and your corruption!
In particular I always want to take a feather boa home with me when I go into a craft store. They always have those fluffy feather boas and they just look like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteK - Michael's sells leatherworking kits, sheets of leather, leather lacing, bulk spools of jewelery chain, fancy ribbon and rope, nylon webbing...
ReplyDeleteThose boas shed a lot though. They're cute, but you'll be picking feathers out of the carpet for weeks.
Dont forget Tandy Leather
ReplyDeleteI find this post interesting because aside from a Wartenberg wheel I purchased for cheap, everything I've ever used with a partner is a pervertible. I've made a flogger from rope I had lying around (and received the complaint that it didn't hurt enough, so I'm planning to make another one) and have recently made a short version of this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.instructables.com/id/Paracord-Bullwhip/
and am deciding whether it counts.
Arts & Crafts stores offer locally made work - not the usual imported junk that that you find in det stores or malls. Keep your $ local. http://blog.sidestreetstudio.com/wood/10-reasons-why-you-should-buy-local-arts-crafts/
ReplyDeleteYou know what? Fuck Master Raven Darkclaw. Clearly he and those of his ilk take themselves way too seriously. Artisan and self-crafted toys may be more badass, but snobbery only flies when you're willing to supply these alternatives yourself.
ReplyDeleteI work in a commercial dungeon and the owner regularly makes very ouchy toys out of rubber flooring. They are quite effective.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how Master Raven Darkclaw feels about that, but I don't particularly care.
"Cons: You can lose cred with Master Raven Darkclaw types if they find out you got your sex toys at a *pfft* sex toy shop."
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the problem with this :D
I love the idea of toys from rubber flooring. Sounds very industrial.
ReplyDeleteI think the existence of Mr. S in San Francisco (and other shops in other places [surely there are others?]) bespeaks at least one more level to your heirarchy, call it "pro sex-toy-store" level stuff.
ReplyDeleteBecause Mr. S isn't quite at the level of "Buck", but it's certainly really close and much better organized. And it's miles better than Castle Superstore or whatever.
Just think what you could build if you had Jamie Hyneman's shop.
ReplyDeleteAdvantage of being a pervert: *every* store is a toy store.
ReplyDeleteFarmers' supplies are full of toys! Cattle rings and tethers! Meat hooks and butchers' suspension rigs! Whips and riding crops! Dog cages! Mouse traps! Whee!
ReplyDelete