I've got questions, do you have answers?

I haven't mentioned it but my garage is being converted into a true studio space. This has taken up a lot of time over the last week, but it will be worth it. After a lot of moving, shifting, toting, lifting and trashing of things we are on the verge of framing the studio walls and hanging lights. It will allow me to hang a green screen, repaint when I'm feeling peckish for red walls and not trash the living room because that Victorian chair looks better for photos than the blue couch. There is even a high-output portable air-conditioner so the ladies can be comfortable while I make them very uncomfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable the first guest at the studio will be Deanna Deadly, and I'm really looking forward to her visit. She has a super personality, an extensive latex collection and a look that I haven't gotten to work with in a while. She'll be shooting super-heroine for Angelique Kithos' store and jacked bondage for myself. The exciting thing is she has done tight bondage before but never anything ultra-strict. She's looking to delve more into that type of material so I get to be the first to really turn up the heat on the rigging. I'm already a fan of her work as the bound and gagged damsel in distress, and I get to see just how she deals with a real physical and mental challenge. Yes, I've been wringing my hands a lot thinking about it.

I'm currently rendering my second compilation focusing on hogties. As I do so I can't helping thinking how sweet it is to have enough material posted that I can't start doing compilations in the first place. You need a variety of people and enough footage that you can do themes. It's kind of cool to be able to rummage through a myriad of restraints and cherry-pick scenes. And by kind of cool I mean really damn cool. I know I've got a long way to go before I have some of the backlog that others have, but having started with 5 clips I think things are moving in the right direction. The reason I started putting together compilations was a request for a custom blu-ray of select scenes. This second one made me realize something though. Shooting on production-quality equipment means I'm not up-sampling DV footage to grainy blu-ray. I'm taking blu-ray footage and down-sampling for my clips. That means I can do hi-res blu-rays as well as high-quality DVDs.

The question then becomes is there any interest in that type of format. Are people content with clips and streamed full movies or does anybody out there want full movies in DVD or even Blu-ray quality format? I'd love to know your thoughts and will be happy to get some emails on the topic. Please don't hesitate to drop me a line at tedmichaelsdamsels@gmail.com about it or about any other suggestions you might have.

Let Me Give Her the Clamps Boss!

Apologies for the Futurama reference but it seemed appropriate for the image. It's been a while since I've shot with Amaya, but she emailed me the other day about another possible shoot. We'll see where that goes, but it did remind me that I recently located a tape in a box. When I went through the mystery footage I found eight clips on it that I thought I'd lost. I remembered shooting them but I after two moves couldn't find the tape anywhere. I'd given up on them until "poof" they appeared in an office box labeled "stamps" lmao!

I find it somewhat ironic that this clip was shot two abodes ago as well. It was a short stint in a tough space to shoot, but I think I made out okay. Amaya always looks cute with her trademark glasses and her girl-next-door looks. I don't shoot nipple clamps a lot because they shorten the footage. Believe it or not they hurt like hell and that tends to wear a gal out! Amaya does great with them though, so she's one of the few that gets them every shoot.

I go for two things when I shoot with the clover clamps. I like a stark contrast and I love glinting. The stark contrast was achieved by the secretary look on a gal wearing those harsh clamps. The glinting requires a very well-placed spotlight and a gal that doesn't mind you saying, "shake them more". Both worked in this case, so I was happy. And yes, I know the term now is office administrator. I personally don't feel many people have fantasies about tied up office administrators though, so I'll stick to tying up the pretty secretary. Bosses get mad when you put too much ice in their scotch!

If you like a the girl-next-door look, harsh clamps and pleading eyes check out Amaya in He Tied Me Up Tight and Clamped My Nipples.

The Eyes Have It

Who couldn't like a great facial expression? A damsels gets that pinched look when she's really going to exert herself. She looks dejected because no matter how much she struggles the restraints aren't loosening a bit. Her brow furrows and she squints as she tries to scream past that huge wad of rubber in her face. Her eyes open wider than wide as she works against the crotchrope. Her eyes plead and her brow furrows at the same time when she looks at her captor.

Each adds to the drama of the story involving a helpless heroine in the midst of a dire predicament. How many have thought about the drama behind the drama though? The story is one thing but strict restraint and a gag to match are a challenge in themselves. The model not only has to wiggle, moan, hit marks, remember dialog and sweat her ass off to get the scene done, but she always has the physical and mental challenge of dealing with tight rope and a face full of shut the hell up.

That pinched look isn't just about the exertion. It's because to flop over she needs to roll over her welded elbows. It isn't going to be comfortable at all, but she knows she needs to roll around to make the scene look good. The dejected look? That comes around when she's shot for hours. She's shooting a scene that involved 20 minutes of getting tied up and she's been rolling around under hot lights for another 15. She's exhausted but you signal that you need five more minutes. She doesn't know how she's going to do it, so she's digging down deep to get you the time on film that you need. The brow furrowing and squinting is because there's so much saliva backed up in her mouth that moving her tongue might let it flow into the back of her throat and choke her. She's trying to position her tongue so she can keep making noise without passing out. She opens her eyes wider than wide because that crotchrope is damn tight. It doesn't feel good and in pinches a very delicate area at times. She is not comfortable and is hoping that wiggling her hips shifts things enough to go back to just uncomfortable from, "ow ow ow ow ow." Her look pleads because she's totally exhausted, aching, hot, sweating and mentally worn out but the end of this scene means there's another one still to go. Release means only five minutes of rubbing sore muscles and mentally gearing up for that crazy suspension you keep talking about.

My point is that these women work DAMN hard to help producers provide material for everyone to enjoy. Strict bondage isn't about playing a part. It's about a real predicament. The model is working her ass off to struggle through exhaustion, choking gags, aching jaws, sore muscles and ropes so tight they feel like they are cutting. Imagine having a back-ache, a head-ache, a sunburn, an upset stomach, a dentist running that water spray into the back of your throat, rug burns everywhere and waking up with the circulation in both of your arms gone all at the same time. Now imagine with all that someone put 2000 watts of light on you, tells you to struggle and then gropes and spanks you at the same time. That is the drama behind the drama!

The image above is from the next-to-last set of my last shoot with Kendra James. She was run ragged all day but still never let up in her exertion and playing the part. If you don't mind a short clip showing someone who's worked 12 hours but is still giving it her everything, check out Black and White and Duct-Taped All Over.

Life Imitating Art

In the days before camera and camcorder yours truly drew ... a lot. Splash pages, comic strips and portraits were my favorite artistic outlet and the scenes were often about tightly bound and gagged damsels in all sorts of dire predicaments. As the years went by I started photographing bondage scenes as reference for the drawings. As I discovered the creative outlet of images and video the drawing slowed down but I still see them in my work.

The drawing of the poor girl tied to the sign post was drawn far in advance of the video screenshot shown. If you turn the screenie upside down though and you'll notice they're basically the same. The positions, angles and style of restraints that I prefer far predate even the first time I tied anyone up. I owe my creativity almost entirely to that. Drawing gave me the ability to visualize restraints. If it doesn't look realistic or possible in a drawing then there's little chance it will work in real life. That's why I still sketch. If I can put it down on paper and it makes sense then I know I can find a way to realize it in the flesh.

At first glance it may appear to be coincidence. If you draw 100 drawings and photograph years of images and video you're bound to see similarities by pure chance. In fact that is very true and I see that all the time; however it's impossible that every drawing pops up some how in multiple videos. I'm fond of saying do what you love and you'll love what you do. My drawing and photography has always focused on what I enjoy. It's only natural that my subconscious would reproduce all of those sketches. If you think something is cool, you're going to see it pop up in your work form time to time without even knowing it.

Tale of Even More Tape

I used a heading a bit back called "Tale of the Tape" referring to ultra-strict tape bondage. It had one of my favorite screenies of a very tight restraint using electrical tape. I've had a few shoots since then where the tape bondage crown has been taken away. Every time I think I've gone back for another roll of electrical tape I think there's no way I'll ever use more than this, and then there's always another shoot where I use more electrical tape.

Back when that first screenie video was shot my scripts focused on a lot of bondage and quick restraint sequences to set the scene. The mantra was tie 'em quick, tie 'em tight and let 'em struggle the rest of the night. I had no idea though that there were so many fans of on-screen gagging and restraint. I started adding more and more of the restraint elements and received more positive feedback.

The only problem with showing more restraint for me is that I tie very fast. I've tried and it's almost impossible for my muscle memory to allow me to tie slower than I already tie. I've done rigging work in other producers videos and they keep saying, "tie her slower, I need more of this footage for the fans." The way I solve this for my videos is to use more rope. I mean, it's a great solution. I want more on-screen tying time, I don't like slowing down how fast I tie so I'll just pile on the cordage. Unfortunately for the damsels I've gotten better at getting them into a mile of rope, so that gives me time to pull out some tape to top it off every so often.

It's been mentioned before but electrical tape is somewhat elastic. It stretches and then contracts to make a nice seal for wiring, plumbing and the occasional damsel. The image illustrates just that. I didn't smooth the tape at all and you can not only see the individual coils of rope but the weave of the rope as well. That equals challenging for anyone. I used to say strict tape restraints are challenging, and they are just that but on a level far below a strict rope and tape restraint! The old mantra still applies at times but when a model sees me plop down tape with the rope they know the mantra is tie 'em strict, tape 'em right and they'll hardly wiggle the rest of the night.

No wiggle room

I've always loved the expression "not a lot of wiggle room" because it rarely ever applies. You can use 800 feet of rope on somebody and they'll still wiggle around, quite a bit in fact. I've done so many things with so many people to get them to wiggle as little as possible. I hung someone from the back of a door with their hair tied back to welded elbows and the damsel still thrashed around. I've done strict hogtie after strict hogtie and the hogtied damsels still managed to roll onto their sides. I've welded people to chairs and they still get the chairs to spin. I've even completely mummified people in vet wrap, saran wrap and even duct tape and they still roll around. I'm firmly convinced that you could encase someone in plaster or foam and they'd still be able to wiggle more than enough to be more than "not a lot." I'm looking for volunteers to test that out though.

I've found that "not a lot of wiggle soon" to be so much more appropriate. By that I'm referring to what happens after you thrash, sway, swing, roll, spin and rock as much as they can. What happens after every muscle is exhausted and the restraint makes you feel like you've run a marathon? What happens when your skin is so sensitive from the pressure of tight ropes that you feel like you're tied with barbed wire and gagged with sand paper? What happens when staying still is preferable to discomfort of moving at all. That is a predicament. You're in no physical danger, but you are totally helpless. All you can do is wiggle your toes, moan a bit and just lie there and wait for release.

Restraint in a damsel scenario is about making sure the damsel stays put for an amount of time. You can tie someone, chain someone or tape someone into helplessness but they will eventually get free or remove their gag. If the goal is to make sure the damsel stays put until you want them to get loose, the goal is to exhaust them until they stay put by choice. No threats, no violence ... just a pure physical and mental challenge. Just ask Ashley Graham after shooting He Tied Me So Tight I Had to Tell.