Playroom Music

Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately is music for the playroom setting, since I have been starting to use the playroom a bit more. I decided it would be nice to share my thoughts with others on the topic, and perhaps lay down a basic set of guidelines for what makes music 'suitable' for this setting.

A few things I've considered:
1) The music should have little to no vocals (preferably none), this is distracting.
2) It should carry a fairly steady beat, ranging from moderately fast to moderately slow, with not too many abrupt tempo changes.
3) Volume is key, so the volume should not change rapidly or with too much variation
4) Avoid noises that in another setting might eventually become an annoyance (sirens, squeals, very low rumbles, etc)
5) It is best if the music runs together a bit from song-to-song, to more easily lose track of time.

The music that ive found that seems to fit this best, is Techno/Dance/Electronica/Trance, for obvious reasons. I have a few selections that i like in the playroom right now, but am looking to expand.

I'll pose this question here, respond in comments and perhaps we can get a bit of a dialogue going: What music do you suggest for the playroom (either artist/album or genre). Additionally what traits do you find defines good play setting music?

Crafting and My Work Area

Recently I have had quite a few people ask about my work area for crafting, so I thought i would blog about it a bit...

 Let me start with some background -- to put it mildly, I do a lot: Welding, Carpentry, Upholstery, Sewing, Leather, Rubber and Neoprene Craft. I am not an amazing crafter at any of these, not earth shattering by any means, just merely competent. What I have no lack of, is crazy ideas for ways to make gear better, more interesting, more perverse.

 My work area consists of 3 discrete areas:
1) The Rubber / Cutting Area - This area is where i have my 6 foot table, a large cutting mat and and assortment of tools of the trade for my projects.

2) The 'Hardware' Table - This table is dedicated to presses, punches and open area to wrangle various materials into interesting things... grommeting, installing lock posts, punching holes, riveting. Pretty much anything that requires hardware, I do here, on this hideous (and hopefully soon to be replaced) woodgrain 4 foot table.

3) The Sewing Area - This area consists of a large industrial sewing machine in a 4 foot table, as well as another sewing machine that has more diverse stitching, but can not sew latigo and heavier leather hides, biothane, etc.

Here are a few photos of my area with captions below:

 These are my utensils: Brushes, scissors, rotary cutters, punches, seam rollers, tape, guides, etc

This is simply my large cutting mat, with a few recent pieces of work sitting on it.

Supplies: Glue, Solvent, Tape, Alcohol and small hardware

An ample supply of mostly scrap latex, leather, biothane and nylon webbing.

Larger hardware: Buckles, D-Rings, Keepers, etc

New Latex, in a few colors

This is my machine, it does rivets, grommets, snaps, basically everything you need

Above are my 2 sewing machines. A Juki industrial machine for the heavy stuff, and an old Elgin for more complicated stitches, and things other than a straight stitch.

That about wraps it up for today. If anyone has any questions about the work area or any specifics, hit me up on here, or on Twitter as @rubberfreak and i would be happy to share more details about the craft. 

The Gimpsuit

I figured i would share a few shots of my custom Blackstyle suit that friends have labelled "The Gimpsuit".

A bit cliche, but the idea for this suit came to me in a dream. Strangely it was not a sex dream, but it was one of those where you dream that you have woken up. Personally, this always leads me to have trouble determining if im actually awake or not.

In the dream I 'awoke' in this suit. I felt the rubber around me, I could see through the gas mask lenses. From a tactile standpoint, it was obvious that I was totally encased in something. Taking stock of my surroundings I quickly noted that my hands were trapped into some 'ball' shaped rubber mitts that were very thick, and there was something in my hands preventing me from closing them. My first instinct was to try to remove the suit (Why would I want to do that, this is NOT something my rational self would normally do lol) and I discovered that, although there were zipper pulls, they did not seem to be movable. I was effectively trapped. At this point the dream got weird, as I decided i would just go on about my business, and proceeded to go do everyday mundane things until I woke up.

After waking up (for real this time) I took note of what i had just experienced, and took it as a sign that I must have this suit. I contacted Blackstyle for the work, and a nice credit transaction and 30 agonizing days later, the suit was finally mine!

Here are a couple photos of the suit in action, and it has quickly become one of my favorite toys

My SeriousMaleBondage Experience

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Most Recent Creation

Yes, i know this is a goofy creation, but i thought id share it anyway.

My first inflatable item:



Its just an inflatable latex ball -- it was an experiment to prove my seaming techniques and adhesives

Finding my Mojo

A bit cliche of a phrase 'Finding my Mojo' especially since those damn movies came out ....

That aside, I do seem to have my drive back. Recently a friend has been transplanted along with his partner (Rocket/ScubaCCS and Reddy) to Chicago. Since his moving here I have spent more time on the bike, in gear, and making and thinking about gear designs than I had in the last two years.

I am not embarrassed to attribute this mostly to Rocket, and his singular fixation on gear that generally mirrors my own. Because he and I both have this fixation, my mind turns increasingly to more interesting/heavy/perverse gear, and ways to use and create it. Those of you who know he and I know that we both have a reputation for wearing headgear more often than not, and full-coverage is a uniform and not really an option in a play setting.

I am lucky, as i have a regular Tuesday appointment to be resident office-gimp while he works from home -- it involves spending a lot of time in rubber and restraints, and requires occasional discomfort -- my ideal job indeed.

Since getting my motivation back, I have done a lot of modifications and creations in the playroom. Recent additions include hanging a set of speakers for playroom music, along with an amp, a rack for the straps that are used upon the bondage table, and a mirror, so that an immobile victim can enjoy the view of itself.

Here are a few gear photos from some of the recent playtime and sportbike rides

I'm Famous .... Maybe

A point of interest for me:

Recently I have attempted to introduce myself to new people, only to find out that somehow, my reputation had preceded me. The reactions to my introduction are along the lines of "Of course i know who you are" or "You're RubberFreak aren't you?".

This is odd for me, as for a long time I have sort of tried to stay low, under the radar per-se. I don't really have a problem with this, it just takes some getting used to. It seems as i repair more and more gear, and create more and more, my name gets out there -- It's actually refreshing in a way.

Moving forward i am going to use this blog not only to show photos and thoughts, but also to showcase what I've been up to as far as creating gear. Starting tonight i am going to take some shots of what i have been working on recently, and get folks thoughts and comments about it.