Fetish Inspiration - Antony Gormley

The artist Antony Gormley is probably one of the best known artists in Great Britain. He's the author of highly visible pieces, and just completed the "one and other" performance piece in Trafalgar Square where different people took turns standing on a plinth - one hour each for 100 days. That piece was amusing at best to me, but the work he does that I like the most is his sculpture. He uses his own figure for the basis of his work, and is often mummified and wrapped in plaster in order to create a foundation for the sculptures. I found an interview once where he even admitted the inherent kinkiness in the process, which I thought was really refreshing. Maybe the Brits are a bit more open minded about such things.

He often leaves the joints where the metal pieces in his work come together exposed, which make me think of pattern pieces for leather craft. I would really love to do a sleepsack that mimics the look of one of his pieces.

The F-suit step by step

I have been comissioned recently to make a custom f-suit, and hope to share with you the process step-by-step. When someone contacts me, the initial discussion focuses on the client's wants and needs, and usually I make sketches and design drawings to spell out all the elements of the design. The sketches help make sure all parts of the design are figured out before the materials are purchased, and helps come up with an accurate estimate of the cost. I'm showing sketches of the hood detail for this project, as it is elaborate and includes an open-face hood with detatchable blindfold and mouth cover.

ladies straitjacket - in use!

I wanted to share some images of the ladies straitjacket I recently made in use, shown here courtesy of our friends over at straitjacketed.com. These incredible pics of this custom piece were just sent over today. All I could say when I saw the images is "WOW!" And I think I threw a couple of OMG, OMGs in there as well. I was just stunned at how great it looks on the model, how beautiful she looks in the jacket. I would call the project a complete success. What do you think? The hand pockets, the tapered sleeves with zips at the wrist for a tight fit, the tailored fit of the front panel around the breasts. I am so happy with the finished design. Thanks again to straitjacketed.com for letting me post the images. Hopefully there are more collaborations in our future!

Early Influence - Tanta Flash

Growing up in New Orleans as a young pervert, I remember seeking out information wherever I could about bondage and fetishism. I remember looking up terms in the dictionary or encyclopedia related to bondage in hopes of finding something, anything to help explain my predilictions. I didn't find much, until I got a little older.

Side note: This is before the age of the internet, for all you young people out there who have no experience of Life Before Google. There was actually a time when information about pervy subjects was hidden away and hard to find. Amazing, no?

I remember going to a leather shop in the French Quarter. It was called Second Skin leather and it was on Philip Street. Mostly it was a seedy XXX sex shop that sold the usual assortment of lube, dildos, and porn on tape. But in the back was a room with reading materials from all over the world. This is where I found a magazine that would change my life.

It was a British-based magazine called "DP Dressing for Pleasure". On the front cover was an incredible image of a woman in a head-to-toe leather suit. Completely covered. It's skin-tight fit was incredibly tailored, the lines of stitching were artistically placed, and there was lacing at the arms, legs shoulders and crotch. The model had an open faced hood with a pony tail at the top, and the boots and gloves seemed to be integrated into the suit. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen!

Inside was an article about the suit, and the young couple who had started the company: Tony and Paula Kendrew. It was called the Tanta Warrior suit, and they offered it with a mask that could be placed over the open-faced hood. I was just blown away by the artistry, the tailoring and craftsmanship that their work displayed. It was the first time I had seen fetish wear that wasn't all black with straps and studs - not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! But this was unique, custom-fit, beautiful, artistic and sexy as hell!

It made an impression on me that has never left...

-Christopher

A pretty girl in a pretty sleepsack

A while back I sent a box of gear to my friend Mark at SeriousBondage.com. It was full of a bunch of bondage gear I was getting ready to get rid of: early attempts, prototypes, failed experiments - things that needed to go, but I didn't want to just throw out... I figured of all the people I know Mark could find some use for the contents of that box.

Since then, the cool thing for me has been seeing all the different places where the gear shows up. Let's just say Mark knows pretty much everyone there is to know in the world of online bondage, so in addition to his site, I have seen the contents of this little box of goodies show up all over the place: House of Gord, Puppett, and more recently straitjacketed.com.

I came across their images of 2 lovely girls playing with one of my front-lace sleepsacks. They were really nice pictures, the girls were just beautiful, and the sleepsack fit the model like a glove. A really tight glove. Wow! When you start out as a fetishist, this is the type of thing you see in your imagination. A lovely girl in a tight black leather cocoon, perfectly packaged and just waiting for you to... well, you know! It's just super cool to see a fully-realized image of loving but complete pervy fetish bondage. Woo-hoo!

My friend asked me how I knew the sleepsack was one I had made, and I told him: when you make something, you know it when you see it. Every line of the pattern and every stitch. It's like your children. You'd recognize them anywhere! Plus, the red laces help out as well (lol)!

Anyway, I contacted the nice person over at straitjacketed.com and introduced myself, and he is a genuinely nice, cool and creative guy. We have already collaboated on the red and black ladies straitjacket (see previous post), and hopefully there are more joint projects in our future.

Enjoy the images, shown here courtesy of straitjacketed.com, and check out the site when you have a chance.

The Butterfly Straitjacket

My butterfly straitjacket is based on the pocket restraint idea, and it has a sleek look with the zipper in the rear. Instead of a bunch of straps it relies on a custom-fit to be an effective, secure restraint. SeriousBondage.com ran a photo shoot we did with the butterfly jacket a couple of years ago.

After that a Canadian company that produces high-quality leather restraints, the Church of Sinvention (churchofsinvention.com) actually contacted me to see if it was OK to make and market their own version of the jacket, which I thought was great. I was honored that they would ask. Check out their site for an amazing range of top notch gear.

It was inspired by the though of having a way to limit your lover's ability to resist when putting up a struggle. The ability to pin your sweetheart's arms down is greatly enhanced by containing them in restrictive leather sleeves.

I like the idea of bondage devices that change the way you can move, or that force you to alter your posture or limit your ability to do certain things. Corsets, high heels, skirts - a lot of women's apparrel forces the wearer to move a certain way, or limit the range of movement. I have plans to develop a whole range of what I call "posture-suits", another name for bondage garments that force a particular pose, posture or orientation.

An incredible hood...

This is one of my favorite hoods from top-to-bottom-leathers.co.uk. I don't even think they make this particular hood any more, but you can check out their site for their latest offerings. Their designs are really incredible, and the craftsmanship and materials are top notch.

It is so simple and direct, and fetish-y. I like how hoods and masks seem to have personality. Like this is completely a submissive little hood, don't you think? Don't you feel sorry for him? I do...

I bought it a few years ago, back when you could still buy fetish items on eBay. Since then eBay has changed their policy, and at least in the US I know they don't allow you to sell bondage items at all anymore. It's really too bad, as it was a way for small fetish makers to get their items into the marketplace. Boo eBay!

The ladies straitjacket

This piece was a custom design for a client at straitjacketed.com, which is an awesome site for people like me.

One thing I didn't take into account when making this jacket was the amount of leather it would take to make all those straps. Can you believe there are over 200 linear inches of straps on this jacket? That's over 16 feet of straps! Whew...

One detail I like on this jacket are the zips at the wrists. The fit is very close, and in order to make the hand fit through we put in the zippers. That was the client's idea - I can't take credit for it. I also really like the way the black and red contrasting colors came out. It just turned out great!

Custom Purple Leather Sleepsack

This project was commissioned by someone who had seen my work on the SeriousBondage.com website, and he contacted me through Mark the editor. I was really happy with the way this sleepsack turned out, and the purple color was really rich and beautiful. It seemed to change as the light hit it differently, sometimes making it almost black. It's an awesome piece - custom-fit. 11 D-rings total, internal sleeves, zipper access at crotch and nipples, and a rear zipper. I want to do more work in colored leather, as some of the colors available are really cool!

Patent leather armbinder

Another commissioned piece, this armbinder was custom-made to give a precise fit. It was one of the first things I made out of the black patent leather, and I think I came out beautifully...

The F-suit

These are picture of the f-suit, which I probably consider the coolest thing I have made to date.

Images of a prototype in red vinyl were shown on the SeriousBondage.com website a couple of years ago, and Mark (the editor) often credits the design inspiration as the Hogsack from the people at hot4hogtie.com. Just to set the record straight, the first inspiration was actully from an image in a Marquis rubber special layout a few years before that. It was the first time I had ever seen a suit with pockets for bent arms and legs, and it really blew my mind. Up intil then I had only ever seen straitjackets with long arms with buckles on the ends. The concept of pockets was really different.

This f-suit includes an attached laced-up hood with internal gag, a 3-pull zip through the crotch. It was custom-made for a client overseas.

A new beginning…

This is a test...

I am a fetish designer and leather crafter, and I thought it might be good to have a place online where I can share updates on leather craft projects I have been working on. I have been looking for a long time to see if anyone else has something similar, but since I haven't found anything I decided to go ahead and start my own blog.

I was hoping this could be a place to showcase my work, meet with others of like mind, and share tips and techniques for making leather and fetish garments.

I was hoping to discuss sleepsacks, straitjackets, armbinders, hoods, and all manner of creative leather designs. My work has been featured on such websites as SeriousBondage.com, House of Gord, and SJ.com, and my work includes the design of the f-suit and butterfly stratijacket. In the future I hope to create pieces that blur the line between fetish and fashion, with creativity and sensuality being the driving force behind the work.

-Christopher