Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? What did you think? Did you enjoy the story, or do you understand why some people are against this trilogy? Ever wonder why many BDSM Lifestylers don’t like the books? We have our thoughts, but this blog isn’t about that. We had you there, right? No analysis from us about what we think is good or bad about the books, but we’re going to use some of the movie for lifestyle advice.

BDSM and DIY

Of course, you can order beautiful BDSM equipment and toys online or – even more fun – go to a shop or an event and buy things. Unfortunately, a lot of it is crazy expensive. Enter BDSM DIY. Just imagine the cheap and fun stuff you can buy at a hardware store and the fun things you can do.

Christian Grey, poor billionaire, doesn’t seem to know of all the places to buy BDSM equipment and therefore must resort to being creative to get fun toys to play with.

Cable ties

Okay, don’t ever use cable ties on a submissive or allow anybody to bind you with them. The plastic strips will cause pain and cut into the skin. We know it’s used by cops, because they are cheap and light, but they aren’t safe. You can easily get them too tight and you can’t adjust them if you do. If, by some chance, you ignore our advice about not using them, be sure to have strong safety scissors around to free the person restrained with them.

Tape

Christian wants to buy plain old masking tape to use on Ana, but that’s not a very good idea. Normal tape sticks to everything, especially the skin, and the feeling when you take it off is akin to waxing. There is something called bondage tape, which only sticks to itself and is really fun to play with, but it’s a tad expensive. For bondage I wouldn’t advise using masking tape or duct tape or any other tape available at the hardware store. Ouch!

Rope

All right, I don’t know what hardware store Ana is working at, but mine doesn’t sell fancy red rope. You can get suitable rope in the hardware store if you know what you’re looking for. Not every rope will work.

Most hardware stores will sell (colored) nylon rope – you shouldn’t use that for bondage. First, nylon can leave burn marks and while marks (and pain) can be a good thing in BDSM, you never want to hurt and mark accidentally. Something else to check when buying rope is how slippery the rope is. You want your knots to stay where you put them! On the other hand, if the rope isn’t braided densely enough, you will have tremendous trouble unknotting it, which can be frustrating. Just to be safe, you should keep safety scissors with you when binding a person. 

I’m not a great fan of hemp rope – although it’s commonly used – some people have an allergic reaction to it, it sheds, and it smells.

When you buy rope you also need to check the diameter – the best to work with is about 6mm or 1/4-inch rope. If you get your rope too thick, you’ll get huge knots (which aren’t pretty) and when your rope is too thin it won’t be safe (especially for suspension bondage).

More

There’s more? Of course there is.

One of the big problems ‘normal’ people have is they have no ‘red room of pain.’ Most people don’t have the space or the privacy to have one. Although you can buy furniture which looks innocent but can transformed into BDSM equipment – it’s difficult to find and usually very expensive.

Suction cup tools turn a basic room into a bondage room. You can use chains or rope (from the hardware story – although ours is official bondage rope) but we strongly advise sturdy leather cuffs to avoid unintentionally damaging the wrists while playing. All you need is two flat surfaces and you can bind a submissive any place you want (even in hotel rooms).

Conclusion

So, while it’s possible and fun to shop for BDSM toys in a hardware store (or a convenience store, sports shop or almost any other store) be aware of the two S’s in Safe, Sane, and Consensual! 

Can you use a wooden spoon, a ping-pong paddle, the back of a hairbrush or other wooden objects for spanking? Sure you can! Can you use ‘normal’ candles for wax play? Yes, although you should be selective. Brightly colored candles are often toxic and scented candles burn hotter. Most people prefer soy candles instead of paraffin, because of the lower melting temperature.

Have you ever shopped in a hardware store for toys? What did you find?

Disclaimer: Except for the final picture, the pictures in this blog are stills from this video on Dakota Johnson’s Official YouTube Channel.
BDSM is all about Safe, Sane and Consensual. Bear in mind that it still can be dangerous. Even when practicing Safe, Sane and Consensual - and we stress you do! - or Risk-Aware Consensual Kink the lifestyle can be dangerous and harmful, both physically and mentally. Please consider joining a club, going to events and visit a munch if you want to start practicing BDSM; attend meetings and workshops and get an expert's help with new practices. If not done properly and with care severe injury and even death can occur. Neither the writers of this blog, nor the publisher, will accept any liability for possible damages if you reenact scenes as described in this blog.
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