Foundations of Rope Bondage (Class)
This page provides the links to the tutorials referenced in the “Foundations of Rope Bondage” class
This is a hands-on skills-development class. It covers much of the same material as the Rope 101 in-person class, but this version is designed to be more streamlined — each concept directly builds on the one before it. This makes the class faster and allows people to practice core concepts multiple times.
All the techniques in this class are available for free on TheDuchy.com, so your students will have something to refer to after the class. You are free to use this material just as it is or modify it to fit your needs under the CC4-Attribution-Sharealike license.
A note about rope: I do not yet sell rope, I do however have a referral relationship with several great suppliers. If you go through my site to buy from them, we get a small percentage of the purchase as a referral fee, which is very helpful to us! Go to the Buy Rope! page for the latest!
- Safety & Negotiation information is provided throughout the class, as are various elements of rope handling & style
. - The 4 fundamental knots:
- Overhand Knot – A simple stopper knot, useful at the end of ropes
- Half-Hitch – Basically an Overhand Knot but another line or lines, useful for locking off straps and ties
- Lark’s Head – A simple collapsing loop that, when combined with the Half-Hitch is the basis for many ties
- Square Knot – One classic way to connect the ends of two ropes together, useful for extending rope or locking off a tie.
- Fun fact! The Square Knot can be “capsized” into a Lark’s Head and vice versa. We will use this quality in a fun way to Extend Rope!
- The Lark’s Head Double Column (good for tying two things together: wrists together, ankles together, ankle to thigh, person to person, any part of a person to any other thing…)
- Converting any Double Column to a Load-bearing Double Column
- Extended Lark’s Head Double Column
- The Lark’s Head Single Column (good for tying around one thing: wrist, ankle, waist, thigh, bed post, etc.)
- A unchastity belt called the Crotch Rope
- The Stirrup Heel Tie, tie heels on to your partner so they cannot be kicked off
- A rope Leash – Be sure to leave it appropriately loose!
- How to extend rope when you run out
- The Shinju, a simple & secure chest harness
- The Somerville Bowline, a forward-tension single-column knot (good for tying wrists into a harness)
- A simple Box Tie & modifications for those with flexibility challenges
- Tie a Shinju on your partner, then add a Somerville Bowline around both wrists (1 Somerville Bowline to contain both wrists or 1 around each wrist separately, depending on their flexibility needs)—perhaps both upper arms as well—then tie the tails to the Shinju.
- Coiling and storing rope
Other important topics not covered in class:
- Resources for Negotiation
- Handling and moving rope
- Handling – Using Up Extra Rope
- Handling – Locking Off
- Body Type Considerations
Go here to continue your Foundations journey! Rope 101
Target audience (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
Beginner.
Format (lecture, discussion, demonstration, hands-on)
This is a practical, hands-on class that rotates between discussion, demonstrations, step-by-step walk-through of each tie, and practice sessions with high involvement by the instructor.
What should attendees bring (how much rope, etc.)
- You can learn these various techniques with one 15′ (4.5m) and one 30′ (9m) piece of rope, but feel free to bring more if you like.