A bondage rope ready for tying is made from suitable raw material, the right twist and careful finishing. Jute, flax rope (known as “Leinenhanf”) and polyester POSH-Rope each have different properties.
Jump straight to the main sections:
A rope is a rope? Unfortunately, it is not quite that simple. 🙂
At first glance, many ropes may differ only in material, colour or diameter. But once you have held them, you quickly realise that two ropes which look almost identical on paper can feel completely different.
Many factors come together in natural fibre ropes. The material, the yarns, the manufacturing method, the lay and, above all, the tightness of that lay affect how a rope later behaves in your hands and during tying.
Then there is the subsequent processing.
Turning a raw rope into a good bondage rope therefore involves more than cutting it to the right length and tying two knots in it.
In short, a good bondage or Shibari rope results from the combination of material, yarn quality, rope lay, processing and the right finishing. Natural fibre ropes also have a certain degree of natural and production-related irregularity.
Jute and flax are natural materials. That is part of their appeal.
It also means that natural fibre ropes can never be as uniform as an industrially manufactured synthetic product. Their diameter may vary slightly along their length, individual fibres may be more visible, and the surface, colour or firmness may also vary a little from batch to batch.
A rope described as 5 mm will therefore not measure exactly 5.00 mm at every centimetre along its length.
This is normal for a natural fibre rope and does not in itself indicate a quality defect.
What matters much more to us is how consistently the rope has been made overall. The lay should be neat, the rope should handle well, and naturally we want to avoid conspicuous hard spots or larger foreign objects wherever possible.
You could say:
A good natural fibre rope does not need to look as though it has been moulded from plastic. But it should be properly made and feel right.
The term “hemp rope” is often used quite loosely, especially in bondage.
True hemp ropes do, of course, exist. They are made from hemp fibres and have their own distinctive properties. Depending on their quality and processing, these may include a characteristic smell and a somewhat coarser feel.
We have therefore consciously decided not to include traditional true hemp ropes in our range.
Our “Leinenhanf” is not true hemp rope. The name “Leinenhanf” has become established in the bondage community for this type of rope. Ours is made from flax fibres. Flax and hemp are both bast fibres and share some properties, but we find the flax fibres we use finer and more pleasant to the touch.
In short, when you buy “Leinenhanf” from us, you receive flax rope rather than traditional hemp rope.
Ropes are made for many different purposes.
A rope intended for gardening, agriculture, packaging or decoration needs very different properties from one that regularly passes through your hands and comes into direct contact with skin.
The description “jute rope” or “natural fibre rope” alone is therefore nowhere near enough.
For us, factors such as surface texture, fibre length, processing, lay and feel all matter.
Some raw ropes look excellent at first glance but feel unpleasant to work with. Others initially seem rather unremarkable when new and only develop the qualities you want in a bondage rope after processing and with increasing use.
And sometimes, after just a few metres, you realise:
This is not going to work.
That is part of it too. 🙂
Looking closely at different natural fibre ropes quickly reveals that they can be twisted to very different degrees of tightness.
A loosely laid rope can be wonderfully soft and supple. But that does not automatically make it the better rope.
A more tightly laid rope behaves quite differently. It has more character of its own, holds its shape better and sometimes needs more deliberate handling during tying.
That is precisely why you cannot judge the quality of a bondage rope by how soft it feels when you first touch it.
“The softer, the better” works about as reliably for ropes as “the bigger, the better”. 🙂
A good bondage rope should suit its intended use and have the properties you expect from it.
Our jute ropes show particularly clearly how strongly material and lay can change a rope’s character.
That is why we do not simply offer “the jute rope”.
| Range | Character |
|---|---|
| Jute Soft | Soft and loosely laid; Tossa jute without mineral JBO. Not intended as a load-bearing rope for suspension. |
| Jute Standard | A moderately tightly laid, comparatively affordable all-round rope. |
| High Class Jute | Long-fibre Tossa jute, moderately tightly laid and free of mineral JBO. |
| S-Edition | Tightly to very tightly laid; dyed versions feel slightly softer. |
You can find the precise properties and information about intended use on the respective product page.
Our Jute Soft is made from Tossa jute and is free of mineral Jute Batching Oil (JBO). It is deliberately finished to be very soft and supple.
Its looser lay makes it feel pleasant from an early stage and lets it follow the body easily. It is intended for anyone looking for that especially soft, supple feel in a jute rope.
The loose lay allows quick tying and feels very pleasant against the skin. However, Jute Soft is not intended as a load-bearing rope for suspensions.
Jute Standard is our good-quality, comparatively affordable all-round rope.
It is moderately tightly laid, placing it between very soft and particularly firm jute ropes. It is an uncomplicated rope for anyone wanting the classic feel of jute without immediately choosing our highest-quality range.
Our High Class Jute is also made from Tossa jute and, like our Jute Soft, is free of mineral Jute Batching Oil (JBO).
We regard it as our highest-quality jute rope.
Long fibres, a neat, moderately tight lay and carefully selected material give this range its distinctive character.
It, too, is not simply made as soft as possible. We care more about the fibre, lay and processing working well together.
And then there is our S-Edition.
This is where the effect of a tight lay becomes particularly clear.
The 5 mm version is tightly laid, and the 6 mm version is very tightly laid. This rope does not simply “fly” around the body during tying; it needs deliberate handling.
That is precisely what gives it its character.
The dyeing process makes the coloured S-Edition slightly softer than the natural-coloured version, while it retains its fundamentally firm character.
Four jute ropes — and although they all say “jute”, they feel completely different.
That is precisely why you cannot judge a rope by material and diameter alone.
With natural fibre ropes, people often speak generally of “production-related irregularities”.
That sounds fine, but it does not explain very much.
So let us take a closer look.
A natural fibre rope starts with yarns. These yarns have to be produced, wound onto spools and then twisted into individual strands and finally into the rope.
Small irregularities can arise even at this stage.
A yarn is not infinitely long.
During yarn production or winding, it may be necessary to extend a yarn or join two lengths of yarn together.
These joins may later be visible or noticeable as a small knot or slightly thicker spot within the rope.
They therefore do not arise only in the finished rope; they may already be present much earlier in production.
Even machines do not always work perfectly evenly.
Small irregularities in yarn or rope production may occasionally create a small loop that later protrudes from the finished rope.
Sometimes it can easily be removed or neatly reworked; sometimes it sits deeper within the rope structure.
A loose yarn thread may also be unintentionally twisted into the rope during production.
Then a thread suddenly sticks out somewhere and makes you wonder:
Where did you come from? 🙂
Naturally, we also try to identify and deal with such spots during processing.
Natural fibres do, after all, come from plants.
That is why occasional small pieces of bark or harder plant matter may still be present in the material.
Naturally, we particularly want to avoid such spots in the finished bondage rope and remove them whenever we find them.
When processing and inspecting our natural ropes, we try to identify such spots wherever possible.
Conspicuous areas are removed or cut out whenever possible.
But here too, you have to be realistic.
A rope consists of many metres of natural fibre and a great many individual yarns. Not every small irregularity is visible from the outside, and not every spot can be removed.
If we really cut every tiny thickening, every visible yarn join and every slight irregularity out of a natural rope, there would eventually be very little rope left. 🙂
And of course, we too may occasionally miss something during inspection.
Our aim is therefore not to turn a natural product into something artificially perfect.
Instead, we aim to get the best out of every rope, remove troublesome spots wherever sensible and provide you with a neatly finished natural rope that is ready for tying.
A little bit of nature is allowed to remain natural.
Once a suitable raw rope has been selected, the real work begins.
Due to the production process, natural ropes contain many small, loose fibres. Depending on the type of rope, they are therefore processed and singed. This reduces protruding fibres and alters the surface.
Oil and wax may then be applied.
However, the motto is not:
More is always better. 🙂
Too much oil or wax can make a rope unpleasant. The treatment should support the fibres and make the rope more supple, not soak it.
The right treatment depends on the type of rope.
The rope is then cut to length, the ends are neatly finished and the completed rope is inspected once more.
Only then has the original raw rope become a bondage rope that reaches you ready for tying.
We explain exactly how our different finishes are created and what lies behind KLASSIK and EXKLUSIV in a separate article.
Otherwise we would give everything away here. 🙂
A rope changes.
This is especially true of natural ropes.
A new rope may initially feel somewhat firmer or rougher. Movement and use often make it more supple over time. The fibres settle in and the rope increasingly develops its own character.
The twist may also loosen slightly in the process.
If a natural rope that was originally tightly twisted becomes looser over time, its measured diameter may also increase slightly.
After extended use, a new 5 mm rope therefore need no longer have exactly the same diameter as on its first day.
It is not magic, and the rope has not secretly grown either. 🙂
Its structure has simply changed.
Contact with skin, movement and regular use also cause a natural rope to look and feel different over time.
Of course, this does not mean that every old rope automatically gets better. A rope is and remains a working item and must be replaced if it is damaged or worn.
But within its normal lifespan, a natural rope is perfectly entitled to show that it has been used.
Natural ropes are not the only ones whose feel changes.
Our POSH-Rope (polyester) also becomes slightly softer and more supple with regular use.
Naturally, it behaves differently from jute or flax. Polyester has no natural fibres that settle in in the same way.
Even so, after a while you can also notice a difference between a brand-new rope and one that is used regularly.
A rope is therefore allowed to develop, whether it is made from natural fibre or polyester.
5 mm and 6 mm are among the most common diameters for bondage ropes.
For natural ropes, however, these figures should be understood as approximate sizes.
Fibre, processing, twist firmness, humidity and use can all affect the diameter measured at a particular point.
A tightly twisted rope may initially appear slimmer. If its structure loosens somewhat over time, the diameter may increase.
There may even be slight variations within the same rope.
Anyone measuring a natural rope to hundredths of a millimetre with callipers will probably end up with grey hair. 🙂
In practice, such small variations are completely normal.
Dyed natural ropes remain natural ropes too.
The colour does not simply sit on the outside of the finished rope like a layer of plastic.
The dyeing process can certainly alter how a rope feels. Our S-Edition is one example: the dyed versions are slightly softer than the corresponding natural-coloured ropes.
Depending on the material, dyeing can also affect a natural rope’s mechanical properties. The information provided for each product is therefore always decisive for load capacity.
A rope may also appear less intensely coloured on the inside than on the outside.
Slight colour differences between production batches are also possible with natural materials.
There is no answer to that that is the same for everyone.
Some like their rope rather tight. Others prefer it soft and supple.
A fan of soft jute might find a very tightly wound S-edition terrible – and someone who wants to guide a rope deliberately might find exactly the same quality perfect.
Some love the typical feel of jute, others feel more comfortable with linen hemp, and still others prefer our POSH-Rope made of polyester.
Therefore, we don't even try to define the one perfect rope.
For us, a good Bondage rope should be cleanly manufactured, suitable for its intended use, and possess the properties one would expect from exactly this type of rope.
And then comes the part we cannot take over:
You must use it.
We can select, process, inspect, and prepare a rope for use as a tying device.
It will only truly develop its own unique character over time, in your hands. 🙂
Further guidance is available in Material, length and diameter, our Rope care tips and the guide Identifying rope wear.
