Tips & Tricks

How to take care of leather

The answer here truly depends on what leather it is.

If it is soft leather, mocca, suede or something similar, one usually doesn’t have to do anything. Grease or oil on this kind of leather will likely ruin it. If the leather is very dry, one can try to apply some grease on it in this way: take a small amount of leather grease on your hands, rub your hands together and apply your now greasy hands on the leather. Go allover the leather in a light way. Let the leather rest for a day or so, and wipe off the excess grease with a soft cloth. Still, I do not advice any kind of treatment to soft leather. Soft leather should stay nice for a very long time without any treatment at all.

For thicker and harder leather: use a good leather grease and apply it in excess. Let the grease soak in for at least 24 hours, and then wipe off the excess with a soft cloth. Personally I never use oil. This is especially important with strands/lashes or similar. Oil will make thin leather strands weaker, so always use good leather grease. I use Gold Quality Laederfedt from Denmark, but any good leather grease will do the work. It is very normal that new leather items will require good care and a lot of grease in the beginning, but with some time the leather will reach a saturation point where not much care is needed.

Oil do have advantages when it comes to thicker leather items, when a good penetration is wanted, but from my experience very seldom on BDSM-gear.

How to clean and sterilize your toy

This is a difficult question and you might not like the answers.

It is possible to clean your leather toy, simply use a damp cloth and wipe of any dirt. Apply leather grease afterwards. If the toy is really dirty, one can use water and leather soap to clean it up. Do NOT soak the leather with water, use a soft cloth filled with water instead. Let the item dry in room temperature or colder. This might take several days. As above, apply leather grease afterwards. Unfortunately, leather is not possible to sterilize without damaging it beyond repair. It has to do with that leather is porous and simply will soak in basically any kind of fluid. If you want a flogger that draws blood, I highly recommend you make that flogger a personal one, for use on the same person only.

For rubber or plastic, one can use normal soap and water to get it clean. I advise the use of silicon spray afterwards.

That said, most germs die quite fast outside the body. But a few survive a long time. It is up to you how to deal with that.

How to choose a flogger

This can be a science, if you want it to be. It can also be very simple.

As a start, there are standard floggers. Usually the handle is around 20-30 cm long and the falls around 50 cm. These floggers suit most people and it is a good beginners choice. The material in the lashes might be more important: softer leather and many strands makes a nicer flogger. Thicker leather and few lashes makes an evil flogger. A longer handle usually makes the flogger more evil too, but it also makes it easier to aim and hit where you want.

If you have passed the beginners state, there are several options. A common and nice way to choose the length is to measure the length between your hand and your ankle. Usually that measurement gives a fair indicator of a good personal flogger.

Of course you can also go for more special floggers. If you want to do the florentine (two handed flogging) you might want a lighter pair of floggers. With or without a sting, that depends on the material in the lashes. If the handles are good, you might even be able to hold both handles in one hand to deliver a very hard blow.

A long handle (plus 30 cm) can also make a difference. A longer handle can be used in a lot of ways, holding it close to the attachment of the falls or all the way out at the knob to deliver a very hard blow. It is also possible to grip the lashes and strike very nicely. Or even strike with the handle. Be creative and use all possibilities!

And there is the ever lasting question about balance in a flogger. For me, this is a very personal thing. Some folks like it one way, other folks like it another way. What I always try to do is to put the balance of a flogger somewhere in the middle. That is what I like and what I have found most people to like too. But if you want a front heavy flogger or a butt heavy flogger, I can make that too. I would rather avoid the term balanced totally and simply go for counterweighted flogger.

Another thing is the appearance of the flogger. Does it look sexy? Or evil? Or just nice? If one hasĀ a very evil looking flogger that might actually add to the feeling of it when one uses it. The other way around is interesting too – does it look very nice but delivers evil? Take a look in my gallery for inspiration.

Last but not least: if you have the possibility to have some different floggers in your hand, your choice might be a lot easier. Nothing beats the real experience of having the flogger in your hands.

How to get started with crafting

This will get personal on how I started. I went to a gathering of folks that was into DIY stuff. We had a great time there, and I’m thankful for that start.

I love books, and very soon in these meetings a book came up: “Encyclopedia of rawhide and leather braiding”, by Bruce Grant. If you want to start crafting your own toys I highly recommend it. You wont find much around BDSM-toys, but the information in the book can easily make any of your attempts at BDSM-toys a lot better in the details. It is not an easy book to navigate in, but read it all through once, and you will remember what it covers. If you want to go deep into braiding, fancy knots or anything like it, this is truly The Book.

If you are a beginner, you might like “How to make whips” by Ron Edwards better. It is a book about how to make singletails. Lots of illustrations and easy to copy instructions. A lot about braiding and some about making knots. As Ron states in the front page: “All you need for a start is a piece of leather, a sharp knife, a steady hand, and some patience.” Easier said than done, but he is right.

I started crafting long before internet became a resource, but I know that nowadays there are plenty of instructions to find for example on Youtube. Just go ahead and get yourself a new interesting hobby!

JJoker_9_croppedwhip on the hip