Predicament Bondage – DIY Edition

General Risk Management & Safety

1. Prioritize safety. As always, never leave them alone.
2. Never use options that can result in severe injury or death in the event of an accident.
   • Rope around the neck.
   • Most types of fire (people do incorporate fire, but don’t do so unless you are trained)
3. Always be more than one accident or failure away from disaster.
   • See Scenario-specific Risk Management & Safety below
4. Have general emergency plans and required tools, gear, equipment, medication, etc., within reach.
   • EMT Shears, keys, bolt cutters, etc.
   • Inhaler, emergency blood sugar kit/apple juice/full-sugar coke, epi-pen, first aid kit, etc.
   • Charged Phone with a strong signal (make sure you know the local emergency number, 911 in the U.S.A.)
   • Fire extinguisher, fire blanket
   • A soft floor or crash pad
5. Make sure your bottom is prepared.
   • Specialized negotiations may be required. Consent for this type of activity
   • Physically and medically capable.
   • Psychologically prepared

Scenario-specific Risk Management & Safety

For every element that you plan to use, think through any way that it could go wrong.  Don’t get blinded by your desires.  Think through the risks.  Then plan for those risks.

Here are just a few examples of why this is so critically important:

• If someone is forced to balance on their toes and then their nipple rings, or testicles, are tied to an overhead point, what will happen if they lose their balance and fall over? Their nipple rings, or testicles, would get torn off.
• What if the candle balanced on someone’s chest were actually to fall over? Is the wax so hot it will burn their skin?  (Beware of candles with colors or scents in them.)  What if the flame itself doesn’t go out if the candle falls?  It could burn a person’s skin or set clothing or some household item on fire.
• Other examples are provided in the Scenario Categories and Example Ideas section below, but these are only a few sample considerations. It is up to you to think things through and to plan for the health and safety of your partner, yourself and the venue.

1. Specialized negotiations may be required.
   1. Don’t spring this on them without discussing it first.
      Especially if you are taking a darker mood for the scene.
   2. Adding elements of fear, without discussing it first, can damage trust.
2. Considerations … other than the mechanism of predicament itself:
   1. (This may be mostly for the Top, but the bottom may be able to provide input that can add tremendously to the scene!)
   2. What do you want out of the scene?
      • Is the scene one of simple, inescapable torment? … Or is it more of a test?  Is there a way that they can reduce or avoid the unpleasant consequence?
      • Do you want them to be successful or fail?
        • What is the reward for success? Or will you allow it to go until failure is assured?
        • If they fail, is it unrecoverable or can they re-establish a less uncomfortable balance.
      • Are you looking to enjoy watching/hearing/feeling/experiencing their struggle itself?
        Or watching their mental state as they realize the situation they are in?
   3. What mood do you want?
      • Playful? Challenging/competitive? Cruel?  Dark?  Frightening? Nonchalant?
      • Are you trying to show them their strengths or their weakness?
        • “Look how long you lasted.”
          “You are suffering now, but you did so well.”
          “Just a little while longer, pet.  You can do it.”
          … vs …
        • “Oh, god, you are sinking already? How pathetic!”
          “I expected you to be able to stay on your toes for at least 5 minutes. I’m disappointed”
          “Wow, if you can’t even hold that position for 2 minutes, the next half hour is going to be hell.”
3. Physically, medically & psychologically capable.
   1. What kinds of positions are they capable of assuming, which are difficult, but not so difficult as to cause immediate failure?
   2. Are they able to hold the position, keep their balance?
   3. Predicaments are designed to induce stress or fear. Muscles will be stressed, heart rates will increase, they may sweat or tremble.  Are they medically able to do that without too high a level of risk?
   4. You are going to put them into a position where they might see themselves as failing you.
      If they are a highly anxious person that fears negative judgement, this may not be a good choice for them.
      • A playful or humorous tone/mood can help offset this.
      • (Sometimes BDSM can be used to conquer fears and hurdles in an emotionally safe context. Kinky exposure therapy, if you will.)
4. Pre-scene preparation
   1. Seduction can begin long before the scene. Set the stage for the mood and scenario you negotiated.
      • “I am going to torment you tonight, my pretty. I am going to show you just how much you can take.”
      • Give me another mood and what might you say to build to that

Unpleasant sensations that are a natural consequence of assuming whichever positions are permitted by the scenario

• Fatigue / muscle tension / tiring position
• Heat – Candles, wax,
• Cold – Water, ice
• Sharp – Piercing, edged,
  • Simulate sharp with cold! A frozen butter knife will feel sharp.  (Mindfuck category)
• Blunt – Usually impact, but can be squeezing or crushing as well.
• Application of force, suddenly or over time.
  • Impact
  • Pinching
  • Rubber bands
  • Bungee
  • Gravity
    • Legs, arms, buckets, body, getting heavier over time.
  • Pulleys – Less friction than running over something that is still.
• Stretching Orifices … Things pushing uncomfortably far (or wide) into a vagina, ass or mouth (careful of TMJ)
  • Example: they are on their tiptoes and a dildo on a pole is positioned so that it will push further into them if they drop to their heels
• Embarrassment or humiliation

Consequences that will be manually inflicted on the bottom if they fail

• Punishment, displeasing the Top
• Reward for accepting failure
• Release

Many of the examples below could fall into more than one category.
Ask yourself, what is the primary thing being tested or what is the primary goal?

1. Testing flexibility &/or strength – Give them the opportunity to stretch beforehand!
   1. Tying something sensitive to an overhead point so that a person must remain on their toes
      1. Hair (com/hair-ties/), nipples, cock and/or balls
      2. Sometimes neck, but this is very dangerous and must be continuously monitored.
      3. … then perhaps do something else to them to make them dance and feel their limits.
      4. Crucial Safety Planning: Have a means whereby they will not be injured/maimed if they lose their balance and fall.
         • Perhaps you are standing right next to them whispering sweet torments in their ears as they struggle, but also, right there to catch them if needed, etc.
         • If it is long enough, perhaps hair and nipples/testicles, the hair just a bit looser, but still tight enough to keep them on their feet.
         • Perhaps a chest harness which is also connected to that overhead point, so they can go to their heels (thus engaging the predicament), but cannot fall further. (com/shinju  …/hard-point  …/hard-point-frictions)
         • Perhaps the tether providing the torment is something that will break if more than just a few pounds of pressure is added. Strong enough to hold to provide the torment, but weak enough to break under more pressure than that.  This is a highly risky thing to rely on.  Test it before using it.
   2. Have them stand in the “Inspect” position, command them to stay on their tip-toes, then …
      1. Put a pile of Legos under their heels
      2. Or just command them to stay on their tiptoes “if your heels touch the floor in less than 5 minutes, I will paddle you until you cry”.
      3. Put an ink pad under their heels. “If I come back and find ink on your heels, I will beat those feet until the ink comes off.  Do you understand me?”
      4. Make it even more challenging by preventing them from lifting/moving their feet at all. Perhaps put a sting over their toes connected to weights so you know if they picked up their feet.
   3. Wooden Pony – Straddling a narrow board on toes or tied ankles in a kneeling position. Wrists tied to overhead point.  Must keep muscle tight or will have to ride the pony!
      1. Highly recommend the Slipped Somerville Bowline for this. Each wrist in its own cuff.  This gives both hands something to grip when trying to lift up to relieve the torment.  The “Slipped” feature allows for almost instantaneous release.
      2. Added safety item, a chest harness attached to an overhead hard point. Not suspension, but enough to support them for a moment if they slip.
   4. With an overhead point and optional pulley, use a rope or string to connect something sensitive to something else that will get heavy with time.
      1. To outstretched arms, e.g. “If you relax your arms, it will pull on the nipple clamps…”
      2. To a raised knee (so they are standing on one leg, but if they drop their knee, it pulls on…
   5. Tie them in such a way that they need to be on their toes or to stay in a squat to reach the magic wand tied or taped to a stool, chair, bed, etc
   6. Strappado
      1. (Can be a kneeling or standing strappado) Bent over, wrists high and connected to a crotch-strap.  If they drop their arms, the crotch strap tightens.
      2. (Standing, bent over) Nipples clamped or tied to a spreader bar between ankles or knees
   7. Wall squats
2. Forcing them to keep still, physical discipline (can also be related to strength)
   1. Cup of water on the back of each hand. Spilling it has consequences.  Give a time limit.  Just leave them on their own so they just have to live with it (mediative), or spank them for a requisite number of strokes at the same time to add a different type of challenge.  “If you keep them from spilling, you will only have to take 5 strokes.  If you spill, it will be 20.”
      • Don’t go out of your way to make them lose…or do.
   2. Have them hold a coin to the wall with their nose.
   3. Wall squat with consequence … or a magic wand…
      • Board on their knees with a glass of water on it
3. Making them choose between two uncomfortable positions – The bottom is put into a distressing position or situation and can only get relief by moving into another—equally distressing—position or situation.
   1. Clove Hitch or slip knot around nipple with adjustable tension
   2. Crotch rope
   3. CBT
   4. Lay them on their back. Have them put their legs up and tie their ankles with a spreader bar made from a broom stick, etc.  Tie their nipples directly to the stick for a Malasana type of position, forcing them to keep their legs bent or over a pully/overhead point to force them to keep them straighter.
      • Lashing a limb to a stick: TheDcom/bamboo-bondage
4. Testing their obedience and focus
   1. Put a paddle between their teeth as a gag. Tell them they will get 20 hard strokes with it if they drop it.  Then work on them with a Magic Wand or some other pleasure-inducing tool.
   2. Make them assume a position leaning with their hands against a wall, ankles apart, an arched back and their ass out. Balance a paddle on their ass.  Inform them that if they allow the paddle to drop, it will be used on them.  Work on them with a magic wand or something else that they really enjoy.
   3. (Warm them up first) Put them in a position where it will be obvious if they move away from it.  g. bent over, hands outstretched to the wall.  Tell them to keep their legs and arms straight.  You will spank them 10 times.  Each time they move away in any way, the count will restart or will go back 5, etc.  If they can stay in the position you wanted them in, they will only take 10 strokes.  If they keep moving their ass away, they may have to suffer up to 50 (or whatever you set)
5. Embarrassment/Humiliation
   1. They can get free, but in doing so, they run the risk of something embarrassing. e., to reach the keys, they have to move in such a way that it will open the curtains, but they are blindfolded so they don’t know if it is dark outside yet or not…
      • Be very careful of scenarios with a potential for “outing” a person. This is more often done as a mind-fuck, where the person believes they might be outed, but there is no real risk of this, for example in the above, they don’t know that you have put a cover over the windows so that even if the curtains are opened, no one can see in. Or, after you added the blindfold, you changed the tie so that their movement has no impact on the curtains at all.
   2. Denying them access to the bathroom until they cannot hold it and pee themselves (This is quite rare, generally speaking. It is particularly rare in the western world but can be found from time to time in Eastern/Japanese bondage where it is deeply associated with shame.)
6. Mindfucks
   The Dominant, through carefully chosen looks, words, or actions, convinces a submissive that an action is taking place or will in the near future. It is often something that the bottom or sub is nervous about or fears in some way. A mindfuck can be dangerous and should be reserved for relationships where you have built a foundation of trust, so the person knows deep down that they are not in actual danger.
   1. Candle holder full of hot wax (not really, just a mind-fuck) (perhaps do this one to a volunteer)
   2. Freeze a dull butter knife and the edge will feel sharp.
   3. What are some other good mind fucks you have heard about?
7. Unrecoverable predicaments
   1. Hold something with your teeth, but if you let it go, it is gone and you can’t get it back. Perhaps a weight attached to nipple clamps or around the testicles.  Don’t allow for something that will cause a dead fall in this case, the forces may be too much.
   2. Cups of water that must be kept balanced. If they spill, they spill.
8. Physical interlocks
   These are often used as an added component to a scenario with other elements.
   1. Locked until some unknown time / Fight for your freedom: Key in ice
      • Attached to a string so that it falls to where they can reach it.
      • “I am not going to release you.   You can release yourself once you can reach that key.  Until then, I will spank you 10 times every 5 minutes.  So … what can you do to try to get that key, I wonder?
   2. Adding force over time: Bucket that fills slowly with water from another bucket that is above it, dripping.
   3. Ice/rope/rings time release lock, freeze two rings in one block of ice for a timed release.
9. Ideas that require special equipment
   1. Clover clamps – Thousands of things that can be done these. Any of the above can be made more challenging by adding these fun/nasty little toys
      • Nipple clamps connected through a cock ring or genital piercing. … be careful!
      • Clothespins / rubber bands
   2. Anal Hooks
      • Over pulley to one ankle on a folded leg. If they try to put that foot down, it drives up into them.
   3. TENS units or violet wand
      • Electrode under heels
      • Electrode on a pipe between legs, make them walk. They get shocked if they touch the pipe.
   4. “One bar” prison made with wood and an extendable painting rod (a strong one)

You can add a “random hand of fate” element by gamifying things.  Perhaps break this down by mood, then type of sensation, then mix and match with how you apply that sensation.  Sort of a Column A, Column B and Column C thing.

Want more?  Check out these other sources:

1. https://www.peter-masters.com/wiki/index.php/Practical_Predicament_Bondage – another good discussion
2. https://www.boundanna.com/html/frameset.html – some of these are not practical, but can be good for inspiration