BDSM ON A BUDGET
As Nicholas Tanek says in every interview… support independent vendors who make high-quality kink gear if you can, but sometimes you’re in a financial bind. And sometimes you just want to get crafty! Suggestions from Nicholas’s video interviews are always an excellent source of inspiration (see suggestion two of this article). Sometimes simply walking the aisles of the Dollar Tree can get your kinky mind-gears turning. Here are a few inexpensive ideas that you can try using things you can find at the dollar store and some duct tape.
Budget-friendly mummification
The first idea is quite simple: wrap your willing victim in plastic wrap and then cover them with duct tape. The plastic wrap will prevent the tape from sticking painfully to all the teeny hairs on their skin. Keep bandage scissors handy for removal when playtime is over (or if your partner suddenly regrets their life choices)! Always remember, safety first!
Bungee Flogger
This suggestion is brought to you by Eleanor Gee, fetish enthusiast! Eleanor, unable to remember that they’re called bungee cords, describes “the stretchy cables that you use to attach things to cars that have the hooks on the ends.”
Nicholas, who is a wealth of car knowledge (see what I did there?), blurts out, “JUMPER CABLES!”
Of course, he is joking! (But he really did think she was talking about jumper cables.)
Eleanor goes on to describe something that I found utterly fascinating: you can cut one end off of a dollar store bungee cord, remove the hooks, and then remove part of the fabric that is woven over the rubber/elastic core. There are multiple strips of elastic in the center of the bungee that make for an excellent flogger!
As someone who has always loved taking things apart and creating new things, I had to find out for myself. At my beloved Dollar Tree, I got a multi-pack of a half dozen bungees for one dollar. It was easy to slice an end off with a razor blade, slide the metal hooks off, and then remove the woven sheath.
The pieces of stretchy rubber pulled apart into a perfect little flogger! It was magical. I repeated the process on two more bungees to make a more substantial tool (I hear them giggling again) and then wrapped them together with duct tape.
The end result has a nice bite, though it smells like an auto parts store. A small price to pay for a small price tag. Plus I had fun making it!
Side note: Eleanor also mentioned that she has done shibari on penises and then used a bungee to attach the man to a door. For the full interview, check this out:
Bicycle Lock Cane
In the hardware aisle of the Dollar Tree, cheap bicycle locks hang right by the bungees. I’m sure I can make something fucked up out of this, I thought as I dropped one into my basket.
After I removed the lock from its package, I held it in my hands, waiting for it to tell me what it would like to be. Then I got the pliers.
Since I wouldn’t be able to cut through the cable without bolt cutters, I would have to leave it whole. I bent the lock cable in half and squeezed the end tightly with the pliers. Then, holding the folded end, I worked my way down the length of cable, twisting as I went. I wrapped duct tape around the bottom above the lock so that it would not unwind itself.
I thumped the cane-like implement against my palm and knew that I couldn’t keep this in the house. I would live in constant fear of Nicholas finding it and chasing me through the house. He is such a brat. Anyway, it turns out that this is a nice, thuddy toy! Even though it’s a chintzy bike lock, it has a nice weight to it and requires little effort to make someone squirm. Tanek’s eyes lit up when he saw it. I barely swung it at his butt and it made him jump. Then I sat on it so that he couldn’t have it even though he kept asking to “just see it for a minute.” Yeah right. (After he went to bed, I hid it.)
Honestly, this toy creates a harder impact than what he usually likes, so I don’t think I would use it on him. The next time Luna comes over I will ask to try it on her. I’ll probably end up gifting it to her because she may get some use out of it (and that would save my own ass from my rebellious submissive). When I offer it to her, she will undoubtedly say, “No! Keep it for when he needs a real punishment! A punishment that he won’t enjoy.”
I really am too nice.
Back to business. If you used a blade to cut the plastic coating off the cable, you would truly be a force to be reckoned with. This thing could tear someone up in the hands of a truly sadistic Dominant. Holy moly.
Well, that is all I have for you today. Play safe and have fun, fellow kinksters!