One of the most common toys in the bdsm world are the various types of clips and clamps. There are a huge array of different types and styles, so what's the difference and what if you can't access these bdsm toys?
So answering my last question first, if you can't or don't want to buy bdsm clamps or clips you simply find them around the house. There are many household things that can be easily repurposed as bdsm toys and clips and clamps are possibly the easiest of all to find.
Here's a selection of things I found and I live in my motor home at the moment so I'm sure you can do just as well or better.
As you can see there are three different types of clothes pegs, a small woodwork clamp and a binder clip.
The orange peg is from Ikea, the green and yellow both supermarket clothes pegs. The yellow one is actually especially rated for high wind conditions so has an extra strong spring.
Which brings me neatly to the first question, what's the difference? Several factors will make any type of clamps more or less painful when used for bdsm purposes, the first, as mentioned, is the spring strength. This seems obvious but it's often overlooked, after all clothes pegs are all the same right? Not at all, in fact the differences can be quite startling. Aside from the spring strength, the width and jaw type makes a huge difference to how much bite these fellas have. The smaller the jaw, the less surface area in contact with your skin means more pressure per unit of area.
Ok, that sounds kinda technical so think of it like this, take a regular pencil and press the eraser end into your palm, no big deal right? Now press the pointy end into your palm with the same pressure, way hurty this time right? Small surface area = more hurt.
So in the examples I found the Ikea pegs have a large surface area so not much hurt, the green plastic pegs have a very small contact area so hurt most of all the pegs shown. Even though the yellow one has an extra strong spring it also has a wide jaw so isn't as painful to use. Very strong springs also often come with the additional problem of not opening as wide which can make them tricky to use.
Moving along to the woodwork clamp, this is a middle of the road clamp. It has a fairly strong spring but large jaws that spread that load out. Which brings us to the final contender, the binder clip. Binder clips come in a whole range of sizes but all work the same way, the entire body is the spring with the wire arms acting simply as levers to open them.
These are a deceptive one, again the contact area is the key to using them and how painful they will be. The contact surfaces are a rolled edge of metal, this varies in width depending on size. If clipped on a large section of skin the pressure is spread along the whole edge, if however you use them on a small area such a nipple the whole pressure is concentrated on the width of the contact meaning more ouch.
So how do you know if you will be able to stand the pain of a clamp you found around the house (or indeed one you bought online) when you clip it on your nipple for the first time? There is a simple test that's been used since time began in the kink world and it goes like this. Take your potential clamp and clip on the webbing between your thumb and first finger.
This is a moderately sensitive area that will quickly tell you how much bite your clamp or clip has. Now note in the photo you can see as I mentioned that the binder clip is spreading its pressure along the entire jaw length here. If you clip it on your nipple possibly around half will be in contact so it will have more bite on that. You can also use the tip of your little finger as a test site, this is better for simulating nipples and will give you a guide to the bite of the clip or clamp.
What does this tell you? Well, if you find it too painful on the webbing or finger tip it will hurt much more on sensitive areas such as nipples or labia. Keep trying other things until you find something that you can handle.
That's the introduction to clips to clamps, I'm going to add more to this covering other aspects as well as other nifty home made clamps and ideas for extending their fun. Feel free to ask questions, add comments or suggestions below.
So answering my last question first, if you can't or don't want to buy bdsm clamps or clips you simply find them around the house. There are many household things that can be easily repurposed as bdsm toys and clips and clamps are possibly the easiest of all to find.
Here's a selection of things I found and I live in my motor home at the moment so I'm sure you can do just as well or better.
As you can see there are three different types of clothes pegs, a small woodwork clamp and a binder clip.
The orange peg is from Ikea, the green and yellow both supermarket clothes pegs. The yellow one is actually especially rated for high wind conditions so has an extra strong spring.
Which brings me neatly to the first question, what's the difference? Several factors will make any type of clamps more or less painful when used for bdsm purposes, the first, as mentioned, is the spring strength. This seems obvious but it's often overlooked, after all clothes pegs are all the same right? Not at all, in fact the differences can be quite startling. Aside from the spring strength, the width and jaw type makes a huge difference to how much bite these fellas have. The smaller the jaw, the less surface area in contact with your skin means more pressure per unit of area.
Ok, that sounds kinda technical so think of it like this, take a regular pencil and press the eraser end into your palm, no big deal right? Now press the pointy end into your palm with the same pressure, way hurty this time right? Small surface area = more hurt.
So in the examples I found the Ikea pegs have a large surface area so not much hurt, the green plastic pegs have a very small contact area so hurt most of all the pegs shown. Even though the yellow one has an extra strong spring it also has a wide jaw so isn't as painful to use. Very strong springs also often come with the additional problem of not opening as wide which can make them tricky to use.
Moving along to the woodwork clamp, this is a middle of the road clamp. It has a fairly strong spring but large jaws that spread that load out. Which brings us to the final contender, the binder clip. Binder clips come in a whole range of sizes but all work the same way, the entire body is the spring with the wire arms acting simply as levers to open them.
These are a deceptive one, again the contact area is the key to using them and how painful they will be. The contact surfaces are a rolled edge of metal, this varies in width depending on size. If clipped on a large section of skin the pressure is spread along the whole edge, if however you use them on a small area such a nipple the whole pressure is concentrated on the width of the contact meaning more ouch.
So how do you know if you will be able to stand the pain of a clamp you found around the house (or indeed one you bought online) when you clip it on your nipple for the first time? There is a simple test that's been used since time began in the kink world and it goes like this. Take your potential clamp and clip on the webbing between your thumb and first finger.
This is a moderately sensitive area that will quickly tell you how much bite your clamp or clip has. Now note in the photo you can see as I mentioned that the binder clip is spreading its pressure along the entire jaw length here. If you clip it on your nipple possibly around half will be in contact so it will have more bite on that. You can also use the tip of your little finger as a test site, this is better for simulating nipples and will give you a guide to the bite of the clip or clamp.
What does this tell you? Well, if you find it too painful on the webbing or finger tip it will hurt much more on sensitive areas such as nipples or labia. Keep trying other things until you find something that you can handle.
That's the introduction to clips to clamps, I'm going to add more to this covering other aspects as well as other nifty home made clamps and ideas for extending their fun. Feel free to ask questions, add comments or suggestions below.
