Laced Bondage Belt Pattern

Finally, here's the much-requested (and long-awaited) pattern for the bondage belt I made back in 2012. Click here to download the PDF. The step-by-step tutorial that goes with this pattern can be found here. 

Rear view with lacing.

Front view with D-rings at center and side seams.

 This is the master pattern used for such projects as the belt Ludella Hahn rocked on straitjacketed.com...

Happy crafting!

Behind-The-Scenes Black Cherries photos

Karen Hsiao sent over some beautiful Behind-the-Scenes iPhone pix tonight from her recent photo shoot featuring model Brittany Bao. It's all part of the massive ongoing "Black Cherries" series of images we've been working on together for over a year now. 

It's really inspiring to work with an artist like Karen, as she has this incredible energy, and endless creativity. I don't know how she gets so much done... but she does. 

We have discussions about the next phase of our collaboration, and it's so different - visually, thematically. It's evolving. The ideas just flow, and I just try to take notes and keep up. I can't wait for you to see it, but at this point it is probably a year or so away from being real. 

 There is so much involved in creating an image from scratch. It just makes me appreciate all the quality images I see, when I know how much discussion, planning, coordination and work go into realizing a unique picture you may have seen first only in your mind's eye. 

Check out Karen's blog for the complete set of images.

Karen Hsiao's Black Cherries

I'm finally getting around to posting some images of the finished art from Karen Hsiao's Black Cherries. These are just a few teaser images from the series we've been working on for quite some time now, and I'm very happy to be able to share them with you. 

It has been really cool to work these designs together with Karen - this kind of intense collaboration is a first for me. Usually my interactions are with a client for an individual item, and for a specific purpose. In this case we are sharing ideas back and forth, feeding off of different inspirations and each others' creativity. I feel like we could come up with an endless world of things to make... 

Another cool thing for me is getting to work with a girl that has a kinky side. It's true that most of my commissioned pieces I'm creating are for guys (or their girlfriends). Sometimes, I have thought that only guys are kinky, and the girls just tolerate it, or put up with it grudgingly. It's fun to work with a girl and talk about how hot this strappy kinky thing is going to be. There's a part of me that always feels self-conscious about pervy stuff, and I'm always referring to it as pervy or weird. But Karen just says, "It's not weird, it's beautiful!". I love that about her. 

Inspiration, design and fabrication are one thing. Then to then see what Karen does with my pieces through her photography, working with her models, the lighting and styling. She then takes the piece to a whole different level. So much of fetishism (to me) is visual, and these prints are just a feast for the eyes, and the mind. I love the quiet in most of the pieces. The interplay between exposure and enclosure, and the contrast between the flesh and red or black shiny leather. They're just so sensual... so much to love. 

There are plans in the works for limited-edition prints from this series, and they'll be available on Karen's website. I'll keep you posted when they do come out. 

Laced Bondage Belt Step-by-Step

Today I'm going to take you through my process for making a heavy, wide laced bondage belt with d-ring attachment points. It's pretty much the same design I did for Straitjacketed.com a few weeks ago (as seen here and here), with slight tweaks to the shape of the panels. The one for SJ.com had curves, but this time I wanted to make the curves even more prominent and exaggerated. I'm hoping this gets used by Karen for her Black Cherries series, paired with a square armbinder and the recently completed pony hood. 

I did want to keep the 2 side d-rings (from the SJ.com version) and make the front a larger O-ring. 

Start off by tracing the patten onto the leather. This is a heavy black cowhide, about 3oz weight and 1.5 to 1.8mm thick. 

Clip and sew the panel sections together. 

Glue along the edge seams and seam allowances. 

Also, apply glue to your boning. In this case I'm using a Rigilene polyester boning - it's not the heaviest stuff, but it should work fine for this project. 

You want boning on either side of every seam and at the ends which will become the rear opening. 

Topstitch from the good side through the front, boning and seam allowance. 

Now I trim off the extra seam allowance on the top and bottom (along the green line in the above image). 

Next, we want to work on the lining. I usually have a supply of scraps from the neck or belly area of previously-used hides. These areas have more scars, defects and stretch marks generally, and therefore are better used in parts of your projects that won't be visible. I create an outline that is slightly larger than the workpiece, so I have room to adjust when the two parts are glued together. 

With the rough-cut complete, I'm ready to break out the glue. 

Apply glue to the rear of both the belt and the lining. 

Once the glue has set up, position the belt on the lining. Use a mallet all over to secure the two pieces together. 

Next, trim off the excess lining

At this point, I skive the edges to keep the rolled edge from becoming too thick. 

For the rolled edge, I cut two 1.75" wide strips long enough to extend beyond the top and bottom edges by an inch or so. These strips are about 28" long for this belt. 

Clip them in place with good side of the edge strip facing the good side of the belt, with 1" overlap. 

Sew along the edge, about 1/8 inch or so from the edge. 

Apply glue to the front and rear edges, about 1/8 inch beyond your stitch line on the inside. 

Trim, tuck and fold the rolled edge around from front to back. 

Topstitch along the rolled edge to keep it in place. 

Mark the spacing for your lacing holes, punch holes and set your grommets. 

On this design I stitch a tongue in place so you can't see skin through the lacing opening. 

We're now ready to attach the D-rings. I make my own hardware connections from 6-7oz vegetable tanned leather. I start by cutting 1.25" strips using a craft knife and a metal ruler. 

I use both a 1.5 inch and 1-inch punch to create the tab shape. 

First I use the 1.5-inch round-end punch to round the ends cutting the pieces to 2.625-inches in length. 

I use a little stitching groover tool to create a shadow line. 

When I'm making a bunch of small parts like this that I want to be the same, I usually will create a template out of posterboard - this one (the silver rectangle on the left below) will help me position the holes for all the parts in the correct position. 

After punching the holes, I use the 1-inch strap-end punch to create a curved "waist" on the sides of each piece. This will allow the d-ring to lay more flat than it would otherwise. 

I dip the pieces in water briefly to mold them into shape around the D-ring. It just takes a few seconds of submersion to make them a lot more pliable than they would be otherwise. 

The leather dye I use doesn't require the piece to be dry, so once they're formed I can start applying the dye right away. I usually do 3 coats, waiting about 10 minutes in between each coat. 

Once they dry, you buff them to a shine with a smooth cloth. Now they're ready to be attached. 

Position the D- and O-rings where you want them. Mark the locations with a pen through the holes...

And set the hardware in place with rivets. 

Now just lace her up, and she's ready to go!

Thanks for watching...