Photos by Murray K., Kristen K.

On Folsom Street Fair eve (Saturday, September 25), Slick and Steady, Ready...Go! Productions collaborated on Club Shibari, an evening of dressing, dancing, play and the first annual Two Knotty Boys' Rope Bondage Tie-Off. Honoring the art and skill of the experienced rope bondage expert, Club Shibari provided the perfect place for the discriminating fetishist to witness the work of the national scene's "cream of the crop" while communing with a crowd amped for a weekend of extreme fetish fun.

Two Knotty Boys' have been teaching and performing rope bondage for the past five years and are almost finished with their first book, The Two Knotty Boys Show You the Ropes. "We're focused on our legacy...celebrating rope bondage, celebrating riggers," JD told me. "We wish something like this had been available to us when we were starting out." DJ and his partner Dan are The Two Knotty Boys, and they managed the bondage competition. Preliminaries were held earlier that day at San Francisco's Citadel. Five competitors had a half-hour to complete a "static tie," meaning bondage with no suspension or fixtures. They were judged on aesthetics, mastery of technique, detail of piece, knot work and function.

At the party, the competition had been reduced to three finalists: San Francisco's Blaine McClish, Los Angeles' Emma Hui and Portland's Bridgett Harrington. Suspension tripods were set up for all three competitors and they had an hour to complete their bondage and suspension. Models were provided and they participated in the judging, responding to three questions from the judges: How did the bondage feel? How attentive to your needs were the riggers? And what was your overall impression; was your rigger fluid, confident and masterful or stuttering and less than confident? Local fetish model Madison was paired with Emma. Amy offered her modeling services to Blaine. And Bridgett worked her knots on Mercy. Points from the afternoon's competition were added into the evening's scores for a cumulative total.

The judges were Madame S's Paige White, Loki (local rigger and prominent scene member) and David L, another SF scene member. Blake served as the "rope DM" and health and safety officer, making sure that the models' safety was never compromised in the name of entertainment. She offered tips and made subtle adjustments that were appreciated by models, judges and producers alike.

After an hour of deliberation and addition, the judges returned with their results: Third place and a $100 cash consideration went to Blaine, second place and a $200 cash consideration was awarded to Emma and Bridgett Harrington won the first place title, along with $300 cash, $175 in merchandise from Madame S, a paid rigging gig with Enslaved.com, a professional photo shoot with Larry Utley and a stunning trophy, as well as appreciative applause from the crowd.

The event was a collaboration with Slick, held at their usual venue, The Rawhide. Two Knotty Boys took care of the competition and Slick's Random was the event producer. There were three floors of fun: the main stage and dance floor, an intimate and well-equipped play space and a tented roof deck with plenty of furniture where guests were permitted to smoke. For me, navigating the stairs in a tight skirt with a train presented a challenge, but the carpet made it slightly more palatable. DJs Sage, Kurt Vile and guests played a delicious mélange of classic goth/industrial and more accessible glam and new wave, keeping the dance floor moving late into the night.

In attendance were Los Angeles scene photographer Gerry Kohler, drag king extraordinaire Fudgie Frottage with Manhattan dominatrix Cricket, Bay Area fetish photographer Larry Utley, and dozens of other impressively dressed BDSM enthusiasts from around the country.

Did they think the event was a success? "It was a lot of work," JD says, adding "We saw only smiles in the crowd and got great feedback online. We look forward to doing it again next year." Congratulations, gentlemen! We look forward to attending!