The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Sex Toys by Violet Blue

Knots you’ll want to learn about are the square knot, hitch, loop knot, lark’s head, cinch loop, and something called a “gi” knot.
    Buy soft nylon rope, not cotton, which will stretch and you’ll end up tying your knots too tight without knowing it—some rope bondage kits include some of the most dangerous rope to play with, proving that many novelty retailers don’t have a clue about BDSM or safety. Get your rope from kinky sex toy retailers who know their stuff, or at the hardware store: a good start-up kit is four lengths of soft nylon rope, each 4 feet long, with masking tape wrapped around the ends to prevent fraying.
    Confinement, servitude, and subjection all fall into captivity scenarios. Bondage, submission, and being on the receiving end of whatever the dominant dishes out are all the order of the day. With luck, your scenario involves some type of sex, and you may decide whether or not your scene involves pretend, previously agreed-on force or coercion. The person in charge might be doing it “for their own good,” as therapy—or might be forceful, “making” the submissive comply sexually—or might pretend to trade sexual favors for their silence.
    Tie Me Up?
    Before anyone gets tied up, it’s absolutely required that you carefully discuss what will happen. It must be perfectly clear that you both want to try it, and the receiving partner must give explicit consent. Save the surprises for strip-o-grams and boxes of chocolates—not bondage.
    Keep medical scissors handy in case your knots are too tight, your bondage is painful or cuts off circulation, or your lover needs to get out of whatever it is, fast. Tie a long colorful ribbon to your handcuff key so it’s impossible to lose. And remember—if you restrain them in public, you’ll probably wind up in jail.
    Okay, so that all sounds hot. But you must be wondering, “Once I get my lover tied up, what the hell do I do then?” Good question, and I have a few ideas for you.
    â€¢ Blindfolds are a great way to keep them guessing what’s next.
    â€¢ Strip, or masturbate, just out of reach.
    â€¢ Tell them how helpless and vulnerable they are. And all the things you might—and will —do to them.
    â€¢ Rub their body slowly with fur, feathers, silk, satin, scratchy wool, panties, whips, or any fetish objects.
    â€¢ Give them an erotic massage.
    â€¢ Bite and scratch, spank and slap (not the face or testicles).
    â€¢ Have your way with them sexually—very slowly, or rough and quick.
    â€¢ Try hot and cold sensations from ice, warm tea bags, or changing the temperature of your mouth. Never put ice inside anyone.
    â€¢ Drip hot wax on them.

    â€¢ Alternate pleasurable pain with masturbation.
    â€¢ Apply clamps and clips to their body—buy these in a specialty fetish store, and don’t leave them on for more than 5 minutes.
    â€¢ If tickling arouses your lover, have at it.
    â€¢ Oral sex—giving or receiving. Face-sitting is nice, too.
    â€¢ Shave their genitals.
    â€¢ Use sex toys on them.
    â€¢ Something missing? How about seeing how they look wearing a butt plug that has a fuzzy bunny tail, feather, or horsie tail coming out the end!

Blindfolds and Gags
    One toy I feel that everyone should have in their toybox, no matter if they’re kinky or not, is a blindfold. When wearing a blindfold, you can completely surrender to your lover’s erotic whims, you never know what’s coming next, the suspense arouses you incredibly, and you have a wonderful feeling of risk, trust, and delicious erotic expectation—all at once. Putting a blindfold on someone is a thrill beyond compare; here you have a love slave whom you can surprise, tease, turn on, and make come without their even needing to know what’s next on the menu. Plus, if you’re nervous or confused, or have to struggle with a stubborn vibrator battery case,