What has it got in its toy bagses?

Rope or nothing

Because I'm a complete gearhead, I spend far too much time fiddling with my gear and tweaking it to be "just right". I'm always interested in seeing what other people use, since that's where I get a lot of my ideas from. I suspect that I'm not alone in being curious about other people's toybags, so I thought I'd talk about what I carry in mine.

Although I own a completely ridiculous amount of gear, there's a fairly small core set of stuff that I use all the time. It all lives in a single gearbag, whether I'm at home or at Silver's house or at a party. That way, I always have the stuff I need most, and I always know exactly where to find it.

The usual disclaimers apply. Although there's no explicit sexual activity in these images, they do show real bondage and suggestive imagery. If images like that are likely to upset you, maybe you shouldn't look at them.

All photos are Copyright 2006 Tornus. Please don't use or distribute them without permission.

My bag of choice is the LawPro Police Equipment Bag from QuarterMaster. It's cheap, it's tough, it's the right size, and it has a pretty good assortment of pockets. Sadly, I don't take advantage of the exterior baton holder...

I keep little utility carabiners from REI on the zipper pulls, partly because they're occasionally handy to have, and partly to make it easy to tell my main bag from my overflow bag.

There are two large zippered exterior pockets on either side of the bag. The left-hand pocket holds my suspension hardware.

Naturally, I have a magic ring in my pocketses. I use it almost every time I do suspension, usually as the centerpoint of the rigging.

My main working carabiner is the Petzl Attache M35SL with a locking screwgate. I carry 10 of them, and sometimes end up using them all. I suspect that as my skills improve, I'll find that I don't need so many.

I also carry 2 Omega Pacific Locking "D" carabiners. I don't use them much, but the "D" shape makes them more stable than pear-shaped carabiners in certain situations.

There are three non-zippered pockets on the front of the bag where I carry gear that I use frequently. The small left-hand pocket is for EMT shears, which are standard safety equipment. When I'm rigging, I wear a holster that carries a pair of shears and a small flashlight. The light's occasionally handy for working in dark places, and it's a good thing to have around if the lights go out.

Because I'm like that, I carry a second pair of shears, just in case.

The front middle pocket is for blindfolds and such. I carry a blindfold, a bandanna, and a larger square of black cloth. Both of the cloths are useful for all kinds of things, including blindfolds, gags, head supports, and padding.

The right front pocket is for cuffs. I make my own cuffs out of webbing because I haven't been able to find commercial cuffs that I really like. They're fast to put on, infinitely adjustable, comfortable to wear (you can lie on top of them, and you can sleep in them all night), tiny to pack, and they're very comfortable when you pull against them.

Naturally, I'm always working on improving the cuffs. Here's the final prototype of the next generation. They're more comfortable, easier to adjust, less prone to damaging spandex clothing, and completely non-metallic.

The large zippered pocket on the right is for hair stuff. I carry a couple of hair thingies for putting hair in ponytails, two lengths of 4mm hemp for tying up hair, and some leather thongs, also for tying up hair.

There are two small zippered pockets on the inside of the lid of the bag. One is for emergency tools: a pair of needlenose pliers for working stuck knots, and a handcuff key. I don't use handcuffs very much, but handcuff keys are cheap, and you don't ever want to find yourself without one when you need it.

The other inside pocket is for safe sex supplies. These days, I prefer water-based lube. It doesn't work quite as well as silicone, but it doesn't destroy your toys if you absent-mindedly use it on them (which, to my chagrin, I've done more than once).

Inside the main compartment of the bag are the rest of my toys, including these awesome bondage mitts from JT's Stockroom.

Yet another great toy. This is bondage tape, which is basically heavy-duty plastic wrap. It sticks to itself, but not to skin, clothing, or hair. It's great for gags and blindfolds, as well as for attaching body parts to each other or to stationary objects.

I'm not much of a percussion player, but I'm quite fond of riding crops. This one works well and is small enough to fit inside the toy bag.

I have a little mesh bag full of sensation toys, most of which end up being for nipple play. Notice that there aren't any clothespins in here: although they're traditional, they don't work as well as some other clamps, and they can fail in very painful ways.

The long black things on the left consist of two thin bendy tubes held together at the ends. You pull them apart to put them on something (for example, a nipple), then tighten them by sliding a set of o-rings toward the center. They're great on their own, and they also work well for pulling on.

The yellow and black things are Wolfcraft clamps. They're very nice ratcheting clamps.

The white things are yet another kind of clamp (you really can't have too many clamps!)

The little orange acrylic things are officially for squeezing tubes of toothpaste. They're just two acrylic rods held together by rubber bands. They're pretty mean: I like them, but Silver and Tom refuse to wear them.

The forceps are fun: they're great for both nipples and genitals, and work pretty well even on wet surfaces.

The little baby flogger is fairly mean because it has rubber falls. It's fun and accurate to use, and works well in confined spaces. It's a great breast toy, although it's pretty intense.

I've lately been having a good time with gags, which I carry in their own bag (a zippered non-permeable bag, to keep them from getting coated with hemp dust). I modify most of my gags to use a standard strap system that I make. It's more comfortable and works better than most stock straps, and it lets me hook multiple gags together, which is handy for gagging two people back to back, or for anchoring someone's head to a large post.

At the top is a silicone penis gag from JT's Stockroom.

Next is a ball gag, also from Stockroom.

Next is another ball gag, this one further modified by adding D-rings to it. Very handy for anchoring someone's head to something.

Next is a ring gag, again from Stockroom.

Finally, a ball gag from Scott Paul. It's very large, but surprisingly comfortable.

You know you're in trouble when even Nerdy Girl makes fun of you for buying too much rope.

My primary rope these days is natural-colored 8mm hemp from Twisted Monk. Although it's not load-rated, it's strong enough for suspension work, it's comfortable(ish), and it holds knots well. I began by using 6mm for floor bondage and 8mm for suspension, but found that it's easier to use the same rope all the time.

I carry a lot of rope because I use a lot. I've had scenes where I used almost everything in this photo. I like to carry 8 15' lengths, 8 30' lengths, and 2 50's.

The coiling technique I use is adapted from Midori. It keeps the rope tidy, while making it possible to quickly uncoil an entire length one-handed. I like to coil my rope so that I can distinguish the 15' (short coil) from the 30' (long coil, few wraps) from the 50' (long coil, many wraps) at a glance.