• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • New to kink?
    • Articles for beginners
  • Contribute
  • BDSM Buying Guide

Kink Weekly

BDSM articles ideas bondage erotica resource

Home » Leather Community

Leather Community

This week in kink: September 20, 2021

September 16, 2021 By Desdemona 2 Comments

Learn about a leather event put on by a Berlin church!

Click below to find out more from PinkNews!

Berlin church worships leather fetish with inclusive, kink-positive celebration

Learn about a Pro Domme’s experience with financial domination and humiliation from the District Chronicles!

Click below to learn more!

I’m a financial dominatrix – men get aroused from losing control of their finances and I get to make more than $100K

Discover the best Craig’s List dating and hook up alternatives from HeraldNet!

Click below to read more!

Best Craigslist Personals Alternatives: 18 New Craigslist Personals Alternatives for Dating, Free Hookups, and Much More in 2021

Have some kinky news to share? Tell us about any upcoming BDSM events, new products, dungeon openings / closings, kink in mainstream media, and anything else you think kinky folks might be interested to hear about. Send your tips through to kinkweekly@gmail.com, and it might just end up on next week’s “This Week in Kink.”

Tagged With: bdsm, bdsm community, bdsm play, dominant, dominatrix, fetish, kink, leather, Leather Community, power dynamic, submissive, submissive headspace

This week in kink: August 2, 2021

August 1, 2021 By Desdemona 2 Comments

Don’t miss the fabulous art of Dayna Danger from The Georgia Straight!


SF LeatherWalk to return this fall!

Click below to read more from the Bay Area Reporter!


Learn more about Michelle Handelman, an amazing individual that paved the way for the gender non-conformity movement!

Click below to find out more from Filmmaker Newsletter!

“If Something Gives Me the Chills, or If I Ever Think, ‘Is This Too Much?’, Then I Know I Have to Use It”: Michelle Handelman on the 25th Anniversary Rerelease of BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes And Sadomasochism

Have some kinky news to share? Tell us about any upcoming BDSM events, new products, dungeon openings / closings, kink in mainstream media, and anything else you think kinky folks might be interested to hear about. Send your tips through to kinkweekly@gmail.com, and it might just end up on next week’s “This Week in Kink.”

Tagged With: bdsm, bdsm community, fetish, gender non-conformity, gender queer, kink, Leather Community, leather family, Leathermen, LGBTQ, non-binary, queer

This week in kink: March 22, 2021

March 21, 2021 By Desdemona 2 Comments

We have all had to adjust during the pandemic including those in the lifestyle.

With this being said, click below to learn more about the virtual spaces that have opened up during these uncertain times from Lavender.

Leather Life: Virtual Leather

Check out Les Chandelles, an exclusive swingers and BDSM club with Daily Star.

Click below to find out more!


Check out these kinky, British hotels from The Sun!

Click below to learn more!


Have some kinky news to share? Tell us about any upcoming BDSM events, new products, dungeon openings / closings, kink in mainstream media, and anything else you think kinky folks might be interested to hear about. Send your tips through to kinkweekly@gmail.com, and it might just end up on next week’s “This Week in Kink.”

Tagged With: bdsm, bdsm community, bdsm play, dungeon, fetish, kink, Kink Community, Leather Community, sex, sexual expression, sexual fantasy, sexual safety, swingers, virtual bdsm

This week in kink news: January 4, 2021

January 3, 2021 By Desdemona 2 Comments

Want to start off the new year with learning more about kink?

Then, check out these awesome educational resources on Insta from elite daily!

Begin your 2021 BDSM journey today! 🙂


Cuckholding has become more commonly talked about and explored in recent years.

With this being said, don’t miss this riveting article on this intriguing fetish from Explore Health!

Click below to find out more about if cuckholding is for you!


Let’s start 2021 off right with body positivity, feminism, and leather work by reading this awesome article featuring Emma Alamo!

The pictures and her work is so gorgeous! We at Kink Weekly love her message too!

Check it out!

Harnessing Your Feminine Power: A Q+A with Leather Artisan and Body Positivity Advocate Emma Alamo

Have some kinky news to share? Tell us about any upcoming BDSM events, new products, dungeon openings / closings, kink in mainstream media, and anything else you think kinky folks might be interested to hear about. Send your tips through to kinkweekly@gmail.com, and it might just end up on next week’s “This Week in Kink.”

Tagged With: bdsm, bdsm play, bdsm relationship, bdsm scene, body positivity, cuckold, feminism, fetish, kink, leather, Leather Community, leather family

The Best Impact Implements

November 28, 2020 By Christmas Bunny 3 Comments

sexy Domme with whip
via stock.adobe.com

As a vendor of leather goods, I am often asked many questions. We (collectively) do our best to educate and inform everyone who comes to see us in person, regardless of whether or not they plan to purchase. One of the most common ones I hear: What is the best impact implement?

That’s a tough question on a good day.

I’m a heavy thud gal all the way. One of my absolute favorite implements is one that I built that isn’t for sale – a 36″ bat padded with a special high-density foam and covered with leather. It’s a warm-up and a full scene all in one, no need to change implements. I’m happy as a clam. Want something a little smaller? An elk hide flogger is like a massage in my scene and that works just fine for me. This means that my “best” will often involve soft textures. I also happen to have an eye for high quality implements, so the ones I want will likely cost someone a pretty penny.

Are either of those “the best,” though? Isn’t that subjective? Who am I to say what is your best? I may love thud, but I have many friends and acquaintances who are not fans of thuddy impact at all. Some prefer sting, some love whips, and some have some interestingly specific dislikes of floggers due to the impact of many tails at once.

Unfortunately, given the lack of in-person opportunities we’ve had this year, much of the kink shopping in our local community has transitioned to an online model or local sales chat with contactless pickup. The obvious disadvantage is that as a consumer, we are often unable to fully examine our purchases in advance. Not knowing exactly what an item may feel like can discourage a more expensive purchase. Some have simply opted to avoid new purchases entirely after one experience of disappointment.

Rather than avoiding new purchases, education can provide valuable insight about what we intend to purchase to ensure that we are getting exactly what we think we are ordering. This can be very difficult without hands-on, but I will do my best to provide useful information.

Setting General Expectations and Goals for the Purchase

Are you seeking an implement for a specific body part? Implements designed for genital impact are often smaller and lighter than an implement designed for full-body use. If you purchase one of the smaller ones thinking it is for full-body use, you will likely be disappointed even if the item is of good quality and value for its size.

Do you want the tool to leave marks afterwards? Do you want the tool to not leave marks? Unfortunately for those of us who prefer the thud, objects which provide it will often be less likely to leave mementos. To make that particular quest even more challenging, everyone is a little different. What marks one individual may leave only light traces on another, or may fade by morning. If a Maker is guaranteeing an object will leave marks, be wary. Absolutes are always suspect.

What sensations are you seeking in this implement? Are you looking to obtain something soft that can be used sensually, such as things involving rabbit fur or vegan materials? Are you looking for a specific effect from impact? I tend to prefer breaking down the sting / thud generalization into one that is slightly more descriptive. We categorize things by including a light / heavy descriptor, so we identify them as light sting, heavy sting, light thud, heavy thud, and combination sensations. Therefore, if I am shopping for something I want to be hit with, I am going to avoid things which provide a heavy sting, such as heavier paddles or smaller diameter canes made from harder materials (delrin, acrylic, carbon fiber). Softer textures absorb those inertial effects and create more thud. I’d also avoid things with pointy tips, such as floggers tipped to points, cats with pointed tips, dragon tails, etc. Rounded tipped floggers are more my cup of tea, and I will avoid leathers with shinier / smoother finish. Those finishes will generally come across as stingy. I know that is a bit sad for us thud fans, since those pretty finishes may be metallic or patterned and promise lots of sad later.

Matching Expectation to Reality

Knowledge and information are your friends. Learn about the ranges of sensation available in an implement. Floggers tend to be thought of as thuddy in general, though a skilled Maker can build one in any of the sensation ranges I mentioned earlier. Smooth topgrain leather plus thinner falls (3/8″ for example) plus pointed or snake tips equals a stingy flogger that will welt as easily as a more solid cane. An elk hide flogger that has wider falls (5/8″, 3/4″ or wider), a naked topgrain finish, and is finished with rounded tips is going to produce a softer thud. Thus unsurprisingly, heavier, thicker leathers with similar treatments will begin to create heavier thud sensations. Length definitely matters in an impact implement. Longer flogger falls require a harder swing to keep the falls from separating prior to impact, thus transfer more force through the blow. Want one that is less likely to wrap at lower speeds? Look for shorter lengths, such as 15″ falls. Avoid lengths of more than 20″, since those will require more force.

Keep in mind that softer textures and impact surfaces generally produce thud – leather paddle, floggers with lots of falls, rounded edges made of softer more flexible topgrain leathers or of full or split suede. Harder surfaces and textures generally produce sting – canes, dragon tails, smooth paddles made of wood or acrylic, floggers with firmer, stiffer leather or smooth finished topgrain and pointed tips.

Before you buy!

You can learn a great deal about an item from its description. Is the description lacking? The person selling it may be a reseller rather than a Maker. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions. If someone can’t or won’t answer, they may not be the right seller for you. If a flogger description indicates that it is 20″ in length, is that 20″ of total length or 20″ of falls? How long is the handle, how wide are the falls and how many does it have? What type of leather is it made from? Do they list the thickness (or weight) of the leather? Do they mention what type of sensation you may experience from the item? Details are your friend. One measurement and the word “soft” in a description which comes in at one sentence long is personally not enough information for me to give informed consent to an item hitting my ass.

Look for key words. Do they advertise “Genuine Leather”? This is often a term used for leather that is made of scrap which is ground and pressed together. It is still technically leather just as plywood is still wood, it is simply a lower quality option. Look for words such as:  split suede – which indicates the bottom layers of hide have been split off; topgrain – which indicates the top layer and will have some type of finish, such as naked (super soft), pebble (textured but flexible); fullgrain – both topgrain and suede split leathers still combined, often thicker than either individually (still variances between animal types); corrected grain – topgrain has had the imperfections sanded off and then has been stamped with a topgrain finish, leaving a less expensive and slightly lower quality product, etc. If you don’t recognize a term, this is a good time to either run a quick google search or reach out to the seller and inquire. When purchasing wooden items, such as paddles, look for the type of wood. You don’t want thinner impact items made from softer woods, like pine or poplar. Hardwoods such as oak, maple, purple heart, and exotics are less likely to break and potentially splinter and cause some unpleasantness for the person receiving impact. The janka hardness scale can be a useful tool. Look for things with a hardness over a thousand, as a general rule.

Is it Artisan made? Is it mass-produced and available for resale on etsy for $20? A $20 flogger may well be worth what is being asked for it, but is much less likely to be tailored for a specific sensation preference, and likely to be made with lower quality materials and workmanship. I tend to advocate purchasing from a builder who is local, or if a local seller is unavailable in your area, from one who handcrafts their implements . Even then, however, levels of skill and workmanship will still vary greatly between craftsmen. If someone has a clear and reasonable understanding of the value of their work, and it is structurally sound, purchasing from them can be a viable option for those looking for implements in lower price ranges rather than from someone whose work may have more flourish and skill but be that much more expensive as a result.

The next thing to look at is workmanship. If the item features a braided handle, is the pattern lined up down the handle? If it has “knotwork,” do all of the parts of the knot seem to be symmetrical? If it has tacks, rivets, or other visible evidence of fastenings, are they lined up in straight lines or is the spacing even? Are they lined up with other parts of the item? Does the hardware appear solid and of good quality? Are edges finished, such as rounding edges on a paddle or burnishing leather edges on a belt, cuffs or a collar? Does stitching appear even?

Do keep in mind that these details do not necessarily indicate a product which is not worth what is being asked for it, or that the item won’t last. Most of those things are cosmetic, though some may be structural. If a paddle has been cut so that the wood grain traverses the handle portion in a perpendicular fashion, this is less stable in a more intense scene than one which has been cut so that the wood grain runs lengthwise down the paddle. If you see spots that appear to be blemishes, do not be afraid to ask for an up-close photo. Most Makers are willing to provide more information and responsible ones are less likely to be willing to sell an item which appears to have questionable structural integrity.

Read reviews of the item if it is one that is available in a standard option, and of the seller prior to purchase. Do reviews indicate that buyers generally received what they expected? Do reviews indicate that the photo was a stock one and the actual item varied greatly in quality?

Look at the photos. Are there close-up photos as well as distance pictures? Is there anything that looks iffy? If you are uncertain, it doesn’t hurt to ask someone who has more experience than you do.

Shop around. Finding a flogger marked at $35 is great, until you look closer and see that it has 10 falls that are each 1/2″ wide (likely that won’t be listed in the description). My super awesome maths skill tells me that’s 5 total inches of leather. If I can buy a different flogger for $45 that clearly lists that it offers 40 falls that are each 1/2″ wide, that’s a much better deal for the price even thought one is more expensive. If you factor in the workmanship and shipping, one may end up being a clear winner when it comes to a long-term investment.

Price point alone does not indicate whether or not a tool is appropriate for you. Not all vendors have a good understanding of how to price their items according to their skill level, labor time and effort, and material costs. This can mean pricing for a given item may range as much as $50 between the low and high end, and the pricing may still seem unevenly distributed across the quality of implements offered at those prices. It may also mean that the same $80 price tag can include a huge variety of offerings when it comes to amount of material, quality of material, and workmanship. Purchasing a less expensive item from a less skilled Maker can absolutely be a viable option as long as it meets your expectations and usage needs for the tool.


Christmas bunny has been exploring kink since she was legal to do so.  Her serious writing started in college, where she accidently got some of her papers published in educational journals.  She has recently expanded her writing to include her kink journey.  She began writing in the physical realm, but shed some of her inhibitions and began sharing those entries with others.  She now keeps an active blog of her personal growth and her relationship with her Master / Daddy Dominant and writes helpful educational posts on a variety of subjects.

Tagged With: bdsm, bdsm scene, bottom, canes, crops, fetish, floggers, impact play, kink, Leather Community, paddle, power exchange, Top, whips

BDSM Old Guard & New Guard

August 27, 2018 By Baadmaster 6 Comments

Photographer: Matthias Wallmeier
Model: Miss Fetilicious

I have a friend in the BDSM community who has a blue and black flag tattooed on his arm. He always talks about how the newer folks in the BDSM scene don’t appreciate the “Old Guard Leather Societies” and have no “leather pride.”(Funny, he wasn’t around in the heyday of the Leatherman!) I nod in agreement but really didn’t have a “dog in this fight” as I feel that there are always changes from one generation to the next. Those who love the Beatles say “the new music sucks,” those who adore Prince say “current music can’t compare to Prince’s” and those who worship Tupac say “hip hop has never been as good since he died.” And on and on and on!

With every generation, there are those who grouse that the younger generation doesn’t understand traditions or respect history. There are those lifestylers who have deep roots, real or imagined, in the “Old Guard Leather Societies” who complain that the “Millennials don’t know anything about our history.” And, many add, that by ignoring our history we shortcut many of the important precepts that were laid down before them. Rather than debate the merits of old school vs. new school, or give a history of the original leather men of the 1950’s – 1970’s, let’s discuss exactly which leather traditions have their origins with this Old Guard; you can then decide whether you are really continuing in this leather tradition. You just might just have “leather pride” but don’t even know it!

An essential part of the Old Guard was the custom of dressing in leather. If you have ever worn leather to a fetish party, it is courtesy of these leather trailblazers. At the very least, most current lifestylers wear some leather at BDSM events; although most don’t wear full leather regalia like the leather men did. So, if you ever don a pair of leather pants, you can now understand where his leather traces back to. Chalk up one for increasing your “leather pride I.Q.” Furthermore, black is the quasi-universal dress code in our lifestyle. (Has anyone ever seen me in any garb other than black?  I think not!) This stylistic imperative, too, harkens back to the legendary Old Guard. After all, when we talk about the “Old Guard Leather Societies,” we are really referring to black leather almost exclusively. And this tradition continues to this day. Again, your “leather pride I.Q.” is rising.

Now onto matters of play. Have you ever been to a play party? The custom of doing a BDSM scene at a club or a play party is the invention of the leather men. In order to practice their S&M (“sadism and masochism,” as BDSM was called back in the day) out of the glare of a hostile vanilla public, they established a secret, exclusive network of play clubs. Although few, if any, of these clubs still exist (although some are present in name only and are not lineal descendents of the original clubs), the custom of exclusive play spaces, now typically called dungeons, can be credited to the pioneering leather men.

If you have ever played with a stranger at a dungeon and negotiated your limits beforehand, this is also an Old Guard innovation. There were differences, of course. For example, colored hankies carried in their back pockets identified Tops and bottoms and their relative level of play – whether they were a heavy or light player. (Called the “hanky code,” duh!) This might have been less verbal form of negotiation; but it was negotiation nevertheless.

Are you collared or do you plan to collar someone? The modern slave collar (as opposed to the original Roman slave collar!) traces right back to these groundbreaking leather men. Have you are your friend ever worn a leather play collar at a lifestyle event? Ditto – Old Guard creation.

If all this weren’t enough, the whole modern Master/slave tradition was practically invented by the original leather men. Surely, it is an evolution; one can never credit the original leather men with inventing Master/slave out of whole cloth. But the terminology (Master, slave, Top, bottom, Dominant, submissive) and the codes of respect were popularized and codified by the Old Guard.

There you have it. We owe much of our current lifestyle to the Old Guard Leather Societies – emphasis on the word “leather.” And the next time some Fifty Shades Millennial disrespects you and says, “Those Leathermen were so lame; we don’t follow them anymore” – tell him/her that the Wright Brothers plane was also lame – but without it we might be “walking to the Folsom Street Fair!”


About the Author

After a ten year run as head writer for the legendary bondage.com, and an equally long run as the host of the hit internet show “Baadmaster’s Dungeon,” we are pleased to welcome the one and only Baadmaster to KinkWeekly. His thoughts about all things BDSM will now appear regularly on these pages. From the mental aspects of D/s to the nuts and bolts of S&M play, Baadmaster will cover every facet of this ever expanding lifestyle.

 

Tagged With: baadmaster, bdsm, fetish, kink, leather, Leather Community, new guard, old guard, power exchange

Primary Sidebar

Don’t miss out!

Get an email each week when new editions are online
We won't spam you, and you can
easily unsubscribe at any time

Sale – today only

Bondage kinks coffee mug

Put a smile on your face each morning

Support Kink Weekly on Patreon!

Become a Patron!

Help keep us online and get
epic good karma (and no ads)

Already a supporter? We love you! Visit here to enable ad-free browsing.

Get

Fun scene: Attach bells, instruct sub not to ring them, do something that makes her wiggle around

Contribute

Want to feature your writing or photography on Kink Weekly? Are you an BDSM/sex expert or professional, and interested in being quoted in an article? Contact us

Archives

sexy blonde Domme with male submissive in straitjacket

Simple Mummification Fun!

By PirateStan Leave a Comment

Learn helpful mummification techniques in this week’s edition!

shibari male submissive bound

Why Excellent Submission Can Be Remarkably Illusive

By Ms. RikaLeave a Comment

Dive deep into submission with Ms. Rika in this week’s edition!

Footer

18 U.S.C. 2257 record keeping compliance statement
Always play
Safe Sane and Consensual

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in