Gauntlets & Greaves

Fashion Rope seems to be becoming a new trend for Mister K and I. It’s been fun to be able to play with different rope materials as well as to try ties in places and on parts we hadn’t thought of before. This week for #TieMeupTuesday, MlSlavepuppet has prompted us with Gauntlets.

Traditionally, Gauntlets were a glove made of hard leather and were designed to protect the hands and arms of knights during battle. The first mention of them goes back to the 14th century and over time they evolved to be the metal ones we know to be part of suits of armor today.

Although they are no longer used for battle, gauntlets have been adopted by many people as a fashion accessory, hence where rope comes in.

As Mister K and I often do, we tried to make the ties our own. The first one we tried, as suggested by Mlslave, was the Continuous Reverse Gauntlet from The Duchy. It is exactly as it sounds and quite simple to do. You just repeat reverse tension through a larks head until you have gotten to the end of your rope. We used a cotton rope as our nylon ones are too bulky for something so dainty.

Mister K placed the decorative knots in a spiral pattern in order to make it unique, but also to avoid the asymmetrical pattern that can sometimes happen with rope ties that are not utilizing locked knots. He left a tied loop on the end (wrapped around my thumb here) so that the Gauntlet could be used as an arm restraint, should he choose. Not today, I’m afraid to say.

While we were discussing that, Mister K asked if it was possible on the legs, to which I replied “Then it would be called a Greave, not a Gauntlet.” As always my mouth got me in trouble and Mister K discovered that the Gauntlet tie can be used as leg binders too. Any guess what the loop is for? Like I could go anywhere <insert eye roll>. I would like to add that ties like this are not suitable for suspension.

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The two ties (one top, one bottom) looked and worked really well together. Mister K joked about how you could potentially weave them into one as a form of predicament bondage. This earned him another inappropriate eye roll but would look something like this:

Although it would take over 250ft of rope (76m). The leg binder took 100ft (30m). So, Good luck!

The leg binger looked so pretty that I thought using this tie would make excellent addition to an outfit. Once he decided to untie me, Mister K was very pleased to assist with this. For a second tie we tried the Rigger Gauntlet from Two knotty Boys. It was also suggested by MLSlave, but as we’re quite fond of the styles of Two Knotty Boys work, it was something we had tried before, although for a corselet tie.

Mister K did the left arm the second time. This tie made a nice spiral pattern all the way around the arm. With a small enough rope it could be quite elegant looking, but for a rope event would look good with any outfit. And speak loudly of your kinks.

Because I usually wear black when I am doing lifestyle activities, Mister K thought a black rope would work well for the Leg Gauntlet (Greave).

By using a stirrup tie he was able to incorporate it with my shoes, making it appear to be a part of them. Together they added nicely to my outfit, and I would love to be able to wear them again.

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If you’re looking for way to incorporate rope into your outfits, these ties are an excellent place to start. Of course, they can also be used just for fun, or for their original purpose, bondage.

Please remember to keep safety scissors on hand at all times, and that rope should be snug, not tight. Any tingling, numbness or blue-tinged skin is a sign that your rope is too tight and should be removed immediately. Better safe than sorry.

If you are unsure of rope terminology that I have mentioned in this or other posts, you can find a glossary of terms from Pete over at Rope connections here.

To see who else is being Knotty for TieMeupTuesday, touch the heart strings.

For more rope posts, look no farther than Naughty Knots.