Fixing my Lori's Tube

It seemed like no matter what I did the bottom spikes in my Lori's tube rubbed through my skin. I finally decided that the problem was not in how smooth the spikes are. The problem is where they are. They were in a small ring leading into the cage. This is the smallest part so the spikes are always in contact with the same patch of skin.

So I gave up on them and files them smooth. It seems to have worked. After a week there is no sign of any irritation.

Many Models

Ok, just two models but in less than a week.

First Briella Jaden (aka Ashley Brooke) contacted me to say that she was making a swing through Ohio before moving to Florida. I love photographing her. Get out a camera and she just oozes sexuality. I had scheduled to shoot her earlier but she got caught in traffic and we didn't have time.

Then Amaya Solace let me know that she was passing through again. I just shot her a few weeks ago but she is a lovely model, also.

So I managed to fit them both in. One last Friday and one today.

Briella isn't hard to schedule but you have to allow a little extra time in case she's late. She has been late to four out of four shoots. The first time she underestimated the drive time. The second time she thought that we scheduled it for 2:30 instead of 2:00. The third time was when she got caught in traffic and was 2 1/2 hours late for a three hour shoot. This time her GPS broke and they couldn't find the place. I had to go fetch them.

But it was worth it. She's not only sexy, she's also flexible. At one point I put cuffs on her wrists and elbows and padlocked them together. No problem. I asked a few times about the strain from having her elbows so close. Not only was she fine, she told me about managing a reverse prayer.

I spent some time shooting in the garage. The next door neighbors weren't home and I had some cloth I could have taped over the window if I had needed it. Partway into the shoot the sun came out and shone through a southern window onto Briella. This was perfect lighting. When I looked over those pictures later I just stopped and smiled for a couple of minutes it came out so perfectly.

One successful shoot down. But what to do next? Especially since both women have very thin, athletic builds.

Things were a little more complicated with Amaya. The date and time changed a couple of times. She is in demand and had a little trouble working everyone in. She is also using a rental car and asked for an advance to help with that. And she asked if I would chip in on a hotel room if she got a suite. She finally got into town and gave me final directions at 3 am. And she made a typo in her phone number (this wasn't a problem since I still had the correct number from the last time she was here).

The suite saved me a two hour round trip and gave me some different backdrops so it was worth it.

Amaya isn't as flexible as Briella but she's still a great model to work with. I'm doing glamor bondage and I seldom gag the model - partly because I want them to look as lovely as possible and partly because I like talking with them.

So part-way through the shoot I realized that I had a really pretty, naked woman tied to a chair and we were talking about food-blogging.

I had some more luck with the sun. The room had a southern window and the sun came out so I asked Amaya to move over into the natural light. She's actually a little shy and didn't want to stand directly in front of the window even though no one could have seen into the room with the sun shining directly on the window (assuming someone was looking from the vacant lot the window overlooked). Anyway, she stood off to the side a bit. This worked quite well. There were some heavy shadows so I got some pictures of the light and shadows playing across her body.

She is also a little shy about nudity. She kept her legs together and, whenever possible, had a leg obscuring her crotch. When I had her sit for the chair tie she crossed her legs so I tied them that way. I think that it made her more comfortable. Personally I have always been turned off by the "spread your legs for your closeup" school of photography so I was fine with this.

So now I have over 800 new pictures of a couple of really sexy models.

Modifications

After a few tried with the Lori's Tube, I kept getting sores from the lower spikes. These were still the original length so I sanded them down. That seemed to help a lot. After five days there was some redness but no bleeding or open wounds. I may have to take a little more off but for now I am trying it for a few days at a time to see if my skin will toughen.

Otherwise the device continues to be fairly comfortable. There is a little burning from the ring during morning erections. This is solved by using the bathroom. Some skin comes out between the bars and can get pinched. Also, the end of my penis can get pushed against the end of the device and rub against my underwear. This can be painful.

These are minor points. Most of the time it is very comfortable. It is easy to forget I am wearing it. While I am often aware of it, I have gotten so used to it that I am just as aware of its lack when I am not wearing it.

Rough Spot

I spent a week in my Lori's tube. Three of those days were with it swinging free under a kilt. I was ready to go for two weeks until I took it off.

I hadn't realized it but the bottom spikes had rubbed my skin raw. Taking the tube off was enough to make it bleed.

So, I stayed out of it for a couple days until my skin healed. I'll be out of town over the weekend so I probably will take it off until I'm back.

It is possible that the rawness came from wearing it with the kilt and that this will not happen as long as it is supported. Time will tell.

Back in the Lori's Tube

I got my Lori's Tube back Thursday. They seem to have fixed the problem with the security screw loosening. There is no play between the cage and the ring. I have worn it most of the time since then with a long break Saturday so that I could go to the state fair (metal detectors).

I also visited a celtic festival in a kilt. This was a pleasant experience. The tube doesn't need support and is quite comfortable hanging loose.

Otherwise - a lot of the time I forget that it is on. The main part that I feel is the testes ring, especially in an erection. Not that I can get any sort of erection. The cage is a tight fit. When I get excited the ring feels tight, sometimes it seems to burn because of the tiny pinches of skin around it. I start to be aware of the many spikes.

To recap the design, the device is in three parts. Besides the ring, the cage is in two parts which are hinged together. There are some blunt spikes at the top of the ring. There is a hole in the cage that my penis goes through and there are two spikes at the bottom of that. The hinged part of the cage has eight spikes and closes over my penis once it is through the hole. The security screw joins all of it together.

The device is very secure. The main purpose of all of those spikes is to hold the skin. If I pulled out I would leave a lot of skin behind. I can press down on the skin under the points on the testes ring but that pushes my penis onto the bottom points of the cage ring. And there is no way to get the skin around all of the points in the cage.

Cutting it off would be very difficult and would probably lead to injury. The screw is recessed and there is a lot of metal surrounding it. I shortened some of the spikes myself and was amazed at how hard the steel is. It is a lot tougher than mild steel. A cutting wheel would heat the metal and burn me long before it got very far. It would take hours or days of quick cuts and cooling to get through. Water might help cool it but burns are likely.

It might be possible to get the screw out with a screw extractor. The problem there is that if it didn't work it would probably ruin the screw head and make removal impossible.

Before this morning I didn't have any trouble wearing it but today's morning erection pushed me into the spikes on top of the testes ring and left me tender.

Problems

I had to send my Lori's tube back for adjustment. There was just a little play between the testes ring and the cage. Over time the cage would move back and forth - not much but just enough to work the security screw out. After a day the cage would be loose enough to rattle around. If I let it go any longer I could have removed the screw by hand. Also, it seemed to be getting worse.

So back it went.

The biggest problem was with the Post Office. My local branch seems to have stopped carrying the small-size box that I needed. I had to go to the main branch.

It's been a bit over a week since I sent it and Lori said that they were backed up so it will be at least another week before it is sent back.

More about my Lori's Tube

I put the Lori's tube on Thursday night and wore it all day Friday. Morning erections were a problem. It came with long spikes and I had only shortened half of them. The remaining long ones poked into the head of my penis when erect. Going to the bathroom provided some relief.

Things were tougher Saturday morning since I could sleep in. Going to the bathroom was only a temporary solution. Erections became agonizing and I had to take the tube off for a while.

I bought new cutting heads for my Dremel and shortened the rest of the spikes. I will have to see how this turned out.

Outside of the spikes, the device is great. It is a tight fit but not uncomfortable. A lot of the time I cant even feel it. When I can, I'm usually feeling two spikes in the testes ring.

One nice thing. The while thing is tight enough that once I get things lined up for peeing, they stay that way. I can use a urinal without any problem. Between the spikes and the general tightness my penis does not move around at all. This makes it more comfortable.

The device is hinged at the front so I don't have to use  stocking or other tricks to get into place.

The hinge looked like a weak spot in the design until I looked loser. I could cut through the hinge but it would not do me any good. The hinge is only used when opening and closing the device. When it is locked on, the hinge is not needed at all.

Between the tightness and the spikes, this is about as inescapable a device as I can imagine. The only thing that would make it more secure is a piercing but I doubt that my wife would like me to get a PA. In the meantime, if I lost the security screws I don't know how I'd get loose.

A New Chastity Device

I broke down and bought a Lori's tube. I got one of the ready-made ones. The measurements sseemed reasonable. Lori recommended that the spikes be shortened. I agreed but she accidentally sent it before this was done. No problem. I've done a lot of metal working.


It turned out to be a bigger deal than I expected. The steel that they use is really tough. I made it through the first four spikes before running through cutting blades for my Dremel.

For now, that seems to be enough. I tried it on and the longer spikes are not bothering me.

The device I bought includes a PA pin but I'm not sure why. Between the spikes and how tightly I'm packed in, I can't imagine getting out, even without a piercing.

The device is about as secure as is possible. Instead of a lock, it uses an unusual security screw. The opening is tiny and irregular. I don't know how I could open it without the proper wrench. There is no way that I could cut it off without hurting myself. The pins were hard enough and the rest of it is thicker. About the only thing I could do would be to try to grind the head off of the security screw.

Given the price of the device, I am not going to ruin it to get out.

It seems to be comfortable. Time will tell for sure.

Tying Kim

I'm not sure how many ways I've tied Kimberly Marvel. I've booked her at least a half dozen times with multiple ties per shoot. I can't say enough good things about her. She's a genuinely nice person and a great model (especially if you want someone who can ham it up).

She is not personally excited by bondage but knows how to look good in rope. Because of physical issues, she is planning on cutting way back on the amount of time she spends wearing the ropes but she is a competent rigger and hopes to get some work as the dominant.

She was the first model I tied up. I learned a lot from the experience and from going over the pictures afterwards.

Because of some cancellations, she had a hole in her schedule (and in her finances). I booked her for a couple of hours. I ran across a tutorial on Chinese bondage and had been wanting to try it. Unlike Japanese bondage, almost all of the rope stays behind the model. The most distinctive feature is a spiral wrap around the woman's arms.

I did a basic version of this plus one with extra loops of rope connecting the spiral wraps to the back of the neck. It looked really good. Kim's husband called it "awesome".

I've had her in Japanese box ties before so I avoided that. I did a chair tie and a rope harness with her arms tied to the back.

We were shooting in a hotel room. It was a sunny day with a lot of light coming through the window. I like natural light and this was as good as I have had to work with. The pictures turned out good. All have nice lighting and Kim looked better than ever.

Photography - how I started

Around two and a half years ago Kimberly Marvel posted her travel plans which included Columbus. Wow, a chance to actually meet and tie up a real bondage model! I asked for a session and she agreed.

At that point I had been to several bondage workshops so I knew I could tie a woman up but I didn't have a lot of experience. I hadn't really discovered what I could do and what I liked.

Kim is more likely to schedule shoots with unknown people than most models so I was not the first inexperienced photographer she had dealt with. Her husband commented on that yesterday.

The first thing that I learned is that I can do a good job of tying up a woman for photography. My ropework is nice and neat. I seldom look over the pictures I took and find messy ropework. It looks better than some professional sites and a lot of the bondage magazines from the 1970s.

I learned a lot about photography from that session. Most of my photography to that point had been outdoors landscape so I needed experience with indoor lighting and flashes.

Kim had book a room based on the stars the motel got. She ended up in a century-old hotel that gets a lot of convention business. The room was small and it only had one small window so most of the pictures were with lights or flash. These photos look flat and have distracting shadows in the background.

Near the end of the session I had her in a hogtie on the bed and I noticed that the window light was playing across her. I shot several pictures without a flash and they were easily the best of the day. Since then I have always tried to work in some natural light with good results.

I am definitely a glamor bondage photographer. I try to make the model look good and I spend a lot of effort on lighting.

The final thing that I discovered from that first session is the thrill of looking at a set of pictures and knowing that you took them.

Photography

I'm going to take this blog in a different direction. I've done several photography shoots with professional models this year. I will talk about them some.

Kimberly Marvel is the alpha and omega of my photography right now. This is a fancy way of saying that she was the first model I shot and the most recent. She was married last Summer and is now traveling with her husband, J. R. Marvel. He is just about what I expected Kim's husband to be like - friendly, nice, a little goofy. They make a cute couple and they still act like honeymooners.

I used the same room (and the same corner) two shoots in a row. Also, I've taken a lot of pictures of Kim in the last couple of years. So I decided to try something a little more moody.

There is an attic off the second floor. It has a single round window. I had Kim dress in panties and a white blouse and tied her up there. My camera has an option to take double pictures, one with natural light and one with flash. The natural light ones came out just the way I hoped. Kim was right in the light so the rest of the attic was shadowed and looked a lot larger than it is. Very moody.

Next we went down to the basement. I did a box tie with black rope and photographed her under a harsh fluorescent light. Again it came out just about the way I wanted. I may play with the color a bit. The tan walls combined with the light and gave it a slightly green hue. On the other hand, if I fix the colors I will lose the harshness of the light.

The third shoot was with a bolero-style straitjacket. Kim wore a corset and shiny pants so the only things exposed were her face and breasts. Part way through Kim made a bad joke and I remembered that she hadn't been gagged yet so she called for her husband to bring the gag, "Hey, Gag Boy" He wondered what kind of name that was for a superhero. "You're not a hero," Kim informed him. "You are a sidekick - Marvel Girl and Gag Boy."

We ended with a long tickling session. Now that she is married, Kim only lets her husband tickle her but they were willing to let me tape it. She is very ticklish, especially for him. Normally she is a good actress and model but she loses all control when he tickles her. We had to give her a couple of breaks to recover (although J. R. took advantage and did a bit of tickling when he knew I wasn't taping). When we finished she was so shaky that she had to be helped to her feet. After resting for a bit she went to change and dry off her female parts.

Fun day.