Syd's Rope Goods

hashira

an article on hashira that i found compelling, written by Red Sabbath for Kinbaku Today.

have you experienced hashira? do you agree with her perspective?

a centerpiece

the hashira (vertical post) in my studio is tucked away under the stairs, next to where i have folks hang their jackets and take off their shoes. although you don't see it here, there's a big mirror to the right and often when i take photos, you can see my bike and my photo equipment in the reflection.

i won't pretend to be particularly knowledgable on Japanese architecture, or the history of the hashira used in the context of Shibari, but my understanding is that the hashira is a str...

hypersense

a holdover post, while i shift through some edits for you all 🎶 i made this playlist a few years ago for a performance i since can’t remember for the life of me, but it’s become me go to “shit i forgot i need 45 minutes of music for a demo” playlist. and it slaps, if you ask me.

constant

i’ve come to the conclusion that being a full time freelancer has exactly one consistency: you constantly feel like you’re forgetting something. truly, always. i seem to have a never ending to do list that even on my most productive days gets a itty bitty dent in it. don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint. this life is rad, and im stoked to be #bookedandblessed , as they say. but howdy duty if i accidentally let one more whatsapp message go ignored for 48+ hours a may lose my li...

my phoenix

every time i tie with lavender i am floored. her strength and endurance never ceases to amaze me. in photo two, she is almost entirely on *only* a waist line. at some point during this tie, the words “i’m chillin’” were uttered. wild.

@lavendercloud9 in february ‘24

oh! wearing covert behavrior, in my opinion to be superior rope lingerie

red

a lil fact about me: one of my proudest accomplishments is that i have 100 pinterest followers. mood boards have been a past time of mine since a i was an angsty teenager, since my tumblr days, since i thought being an artist was all black and white photos and bad poetry. so here, one of the many many many boards i’ve been adding to for years on end.

red: not red as in the color, but red as in deep and bold intensity, red as in the blood that runs through your veins and gives you life...

suggestion: a dynamic suspension exercise

pick a chest harness you (you meaning you + partner combined!) feel really good about. "really good" meaning, you've got the pattern down pat, your tension is excellent, you've tied with it many times. ideally, this harness can be loaded from many directions. for folks who've taken irl lessons with me, that's likely the lexi arms front harness, or the backpack tengu. other suggestions: a tk, tenshis (hard!), an arms free chest harness...

now pick a few very supportive lower body ties. ...

pretty n proper

ya'll, this tie was a BLAST. its giving damsel in distress / mistress on the train tracks/ pin-up bondage poster / broken doll put back together haphazardly. the denim strip gag in combination with the red heels is really doin it for me. what a treat.

the actual sequence of this tie was pure chaos. we used the tenshis in every direction (which, by the way, is an excellent exercise for finding dynamic suspensions. maybe i'll make a post about that soon?) at one point she had two separat...

exposed

ah yes, the daruma. in my opinion, it's quite literally the epitome of exposure in rope. she's pinned to the wall by all four limbs (thanks to the new wall anchors at Temple), her thighs tied behind her back, forcing her knees open and pelvis forward. whewee. what fun to discover how exposed one can feel while staying fully clothed.

i <3 making anya blush

@anyalita.d in august '23 at Temple, captured on 35mm

grouchy

it's been one of those weeks. one where it feels like nothing is going right, even though truly none of the things going "wrong" are the end of the world. perhaps i'm pmsing, or not getting enough sleep, or just have a lil too much on my plate. or all of the above. but alas, we chug along.

i'm grateful for for quiet sessions with folks i love, like this one with Lanee. even on my grouchiest days, rope in my hands cheers me up a lil.

@unlucky.rope from november '23

tunez

a spotify-made playlist that’s been my go to session playlist lately 🎸

a post dedicated to foley's butt

it was real real cold in the studio this day. hence, foley opted to stay in the cozy sweater. something about the fuzzy sweater and ruffly silk panty juxtaposition that just *does* it for me.  

@bbropebttm in november '23

sharp pointed things

oh what a delicious tie this was. s and i don't get to tie a whole lot these days, so when we do, we go HARD (keep an eye out for a rope drowning birthday scene from not so long ago). we went into this tie with no plan other then "fuck me up".  note the sharp pointies in photo three, courtesy of "sharppointedthings" on etsy

@voiddd__ in june '23

fresh perspectives

i still don’t have quite the words for how level shifting this past week has been. i feel inspired beyond measure. and both proud and grateful to be in this opportunity. for now: immense gratitude for fede and marta and for anna. what a wild ride.

@anna.in.rope in my ropes, during private tuition with @rope.tales2 and @martatenshiko at @yugenstudio.it in february ‘24

not safe for insta

ah yes, finally a photo set that is thoroughly not appropriate for that good good instagram feed.

you all know how much i love a LittleDress™️ and kitten did not disappoint (and never does). if i remember correctly, we were aiming for something challenging and dynamic during this session. i love starting an improvised dynamic sequence in a simple m-shape—there’s just enough mobility that she can wiggle around if she’d like, but not an easy or comfy position in the slightest. 2024-02-25 13:17:01 +0000 UTC View Post

a glimpse

a lil uncurated peek into the start of my lessons in milan. it’s day one of three and i am positively brimming with new insight and skills and inspiration. life is good, y’all.

@anna.in.rope in february ‘24, during private tuition with @rope.tales2 and @martatenshiko

balance

i struggle, to find the balance between confidence and humility. between being proud, and being humble. i am quite constantly anxious of taking up too much space, of overconfidence, of “bragging”. because both can exist at once: i am so goddamn proud of myself. of how much i’ve grown and learned over the past six odd years, of the fact that i’m paying my bills with my art and booking international gigs. but i also know i have so much to learn, so far to grow. and i want it be clear th...

stress eating

a session playlist i’ve been vibing with lately. i’ve never really been a classical girly… but i dig this intensity for sessions, occasionally.

deceptively cozy

foley inspires me about a lot of things, but first and foremost she inspires me by her rope outfits. giant tshirt, tiny undies, and cute white socks? umph. two lil braids as a bonus? melt my heart.

i’ve been really digging this backbendy scorpion shape lately. i realized somewhat recently that giving hip support, while more comfortable, is counterintuitive to the shape i was going for. tenshis feel somewhat ideal for the *drama* of this shape because her arms are neither in the way of...

fucky partials

i quote from ropunawa (@ropunawa), "if your bottom can lift their own body off the floor, it's not a partial". i'm undecided if i agree with this or not, but i sure like the challenge.

i gave myself one task for this tie: keep the world's most active bottom, aka anya, from being able to crunch, squirm, muscle up, or spontaneously levitate away from the floor. as you can see from these photos, chaos ensued.

@anyalita.d in november '24

peace temple shibari retreat

the first photo of this album is quite possibly my favorite photo i’ve taken of anna. this weekend was wildly special in so many ways. this was the first large scale event i’d ever organized—35 folks of all levels, some who came solo and some paired, some who’d never touched rope in their life, some with many years experience, gathered at a retreat center a few hours drive upstate for the weekend. i don’t joke when i say it was positively magical. the main rope area was completely o...

tunes

speaking of good ass playlists: a nearly four hour playlist anna and i made for a performance gig we did together some time ago, and a personal favorite of mine

crew socks

anna and i are both usually running on fumes. or running from one thing to another.. to another. or running on several cups of coffee and pure adrenaline.  that may be one of the reasons we love tying together so much. it's a time to step away from the madness of our lives (both full time freelance artists and fully immersed in nyc hustle culture) and into our own little world. just me, her, some rope, and a good ass playlist.  together we create some space in our brains. 

unbottoned

i absolutely adored this session. i love tying with lavender, and we get to so infrequently. we hadn’t seen each other in a good while—six months, maybe. i know i shouldn’t be surprised that we settle into a flow so easily every time, even after so long. she is so fragile yet resilient, so strong yet moldable. and she sinks into my ropes so gracefully.

my goal for the tie was the shape you see in the first photo. but getting someone into a face-up position in a tk without it loo...

laced

i was a few weeks out from a weekend intensive of kinbaku luxuria (@ric.luxuria) style with soptik (@soptik_z) and sansei (@sansei.sansei), and i was *inspired* about 1) naka-style lacing and 2) static, endurance-type ties. so kitten and i decided to make a challenge for ourselves: use every single piece of rope in my kit.  with someone as small as kitten, this was surprisingly challenging. i absolutely adore the way the rope across her hips makes a little squish. we also discovered how ...

mellow yellow

i can't remember what exactly had happened, but i was having a very-bad-mood day. enough of a bad day that i texted gabii a bad mood disclaimer before she arrived at the stu', not for anything in a particular, but as a bit of a potential i'll-be-quieter-than-usual content warning. a few hours later, she showed up with a cookie (bless her heart) and a full lingerie set.. and we had an absolutely wonderful tie.  

model is @kittenropes , from november '23

resolutions are out

what better than for my first proper post to be a few goals? i vowed not to make any typical resolutions this year, not to have a few weeks of half assed duolingo lessons or vegan meals, not to pay for some fancy online course only for it to sit unopened for months. so instead, here are some things i’d like more of in my life in 2024:

• more *sexy* rope scenes
• more big art projects
• more feeling strong, in all the ways
• more early bed times
• more silly ...
  2024-01-03 22:00:32 +0000 UTC View Post

hey there, rope folks

there's always something so daunting about a first post. uhm, hey internet. i'm syd. if you're here, you probably already know that. let's get some expectations straight... i'll do my best to give you an unfiltered look at the inside of my head, and in return you turn a blind eye to the occasional typo.

thank you for supporting me and my rope-filled dreams.  i'm stoked you're here.

photo by javi alvarez