vendor - Naturally Twisted Co

Shibari/Kinbaku

Shibari and Kinbaku are both words steeped in the history and customs of Japan.  On a more personal level, Japanese style rope bondage is a beautiful and satisfying art to practice.

The core of Kinbaku is the connection between the rigger and the model, the attitude of the rigger, the type of tie and a thousand little things all contribute to the sense of connection.
    -- NaturallyTwisted.co

While Naturally Twisted makes and sells premium jute rope for Shibari / Kinbaku, they really offer more than mere rope.

Naturally Twisted is also a resource for almost anyone learning or studying the wonderful art of Japanese style bondage.

For some folks, the rope is what matters, and we wrote Naturally Twisted's wonderful jute rope up a while back.  This post will be focused more on our experiences with the company as a vendor, although we certainly won't forget the rope.  We will also take a quick look at some of the many resources offered on the naturallytwisted.co site.

As a vendor, Naturally Twisted Co easily met or exceeded all of our expectations.  I need to admit upfront, we were a little hesitant about ordering from Australia, international shipping can be expensive and terribly slow.   Serafina corresponded with individuals from "down under" when she was living in Canada, so she knows letters can take a while to cross the Pacific Ocean.

Well, we sent an order to US Hemp rope maker Twisted Monk exactly one week before we placed an order with Naturally Twisted Co.  Both offer beautiful hand conditioned rope, but it wasn't exactly a fair test, since Monk's production facility is in Seattle, more than just a little bit closer to us than New South Wales.

The TwistedMonk.com order of 6mm hemp rope arrived first, no surprise there since it was placed first.  I expected the Naturally Twisted Co order to follow at least a few weeks later, accounting for the vagaries of international mail.  So, I was very pleasantly surprised to have my jute rope from Naturally Twisted arrive exactly one week later, perfectly matching the length of time it took to receive our other order.

(picture from NaturallyTwisted.co)

Having a vendor thousands of miles away on a different continent match the shipping turn-around time of a well known domestic rope maker is a pretty impressive feat!  After we received our order, the rope's maker contacted us at FetLife to make sure we were satisfied with the product. It's hard to stress enough how impressed we are with Naturally Twisted's service.

Not only is the service and shipping time impressive, so is the rope itself.  Here's a description of Naturally Twisted's product from Hebari, the rope's maker:

The jute I have is all hand made in individual sections, then hand treated, when it's new it is a little rougher and a bit springier. The rope is treated with a bees wax, camelia oil as part of the hand treatment so comes out smooth and pliable. Also it has a higher twist count than the Japanese ropes so doesn't come apart or slip out of alignment as easily.  It's what I use at home and for shoots, at last test a new treated piece breaks at just over 200kg per strand.

As we said up in the post's introduction, we've already done our own review of Naturally Twisted's rope here at Spiritual BDSM.  But, we also thought our readers might find it helpful to get a second opinion on that product.  So, with that in mind, we reached out to some individuals at FetLife who had previously commented on Naturally Twisted's rope, and got their permission to re-post their statements here at SpiritualBDSM.com.

Here's the comment made by 123avalon:

I am happy to vouch for Hebari's jute, I have rope from about many different sources & well known riggers from the US, Japan the UK and Australia.
I am always open to try new ropes and fibers but for the moment Hebari's hand made Jute is the rope of my choice.
I find it compact & crisp, as I like my ropes to be, it is very pleasant to tie with, it does not unravel and like all ropes it gets so much better with use.
Cheers
Av.
PS
I do have a soft spot for my coconut rope from MauiKink, its "Wicked" ......

That's a nice little testimonial that rings true to our experience.  At the risk of getting a little off topic, we also agree that Maui Kink's coconut rope is truly "wicked", but that's really a subject we should reserve for another time.

Here's another FetLife testimonial, this time from Nawa-Chou:

I can also vouch for Hebari's rope. I'm lucky to be tied with it on a regular basis and have three sets of my own- natural, charcoal and red.
I've been tied with rope endorsed by some if the world's best riggers and nothing compares. With use it becomes so soft and feels amazing. Its not as fluffy as some other ropes, and the oil and beeswax used for conditioning feeds it in the most beautiful way. Slides beautifully through the hands and the ties of the rigger as well. 

(picture from NaturallyTwisted.co)

If memory is correct, Nawa-Chou is Hebari's shibari bunny, so it could probably be argued that she's a bit prejudiced in favor of his rope making skills.  We're not going to make that argument here, as everything she says certainly holds true in our own experience, so we'll let our readers make their own decisions on how much weight to give any one individual testimonial.

So, we've established that Naturally Twisted Co makes outstanding rope, and that their customer service matches that excellent standard.  Everything else from here is like icing on the cake, it just sweetens the deal.

Well dear reader, this isn't like some tired piece of wedding cake with a thin crust of dried out frosting, Hebari has spread the Naturally Twisted icing nice and thick.  There's a nice mix of resources to be found on the Naturally Twisted Co site, including good information for basic and intermediate students of shibari.

The quick tour we are giving readers will begin with the News and Articles section.  Also included in this section is a short page about Love and Rope, a documentary exploring the emergence of Shibari in western culture and the growing group of western riggers and rope models dedicating themselves to this uniquely Japanese art form.  Another feature here is Nawa Chou's Bunny Blog, looking at things from the bondagette's side, a nice addition.

Within the Community section at Naturally Twisted Co you can find a very nice listing of Knots and Ties with their proper Japanese names.  This a wonderful addition for the more serious student who is looking for authenticity and greater understanding of this art form.

My personal favorite, the History of Shibari/Kinbaku section, is another great resource for the Shibari student who wants to know more than just knots and ties.  Here's Hebari's introduction to the section:

The history of Shibari/Kinbaku is to a very large degree the history of Japan itself. The very thing that makes rope bondage so powerful for the Japanese psyche is the racial memories and present day interconnections that surround both the rope and the act of Shibari/Kinbaku.  The following pages are largely a result of my research into Japanese history and the art of tying. 

(picture from NaturallyTwisted.co)

Although the provided history is already pretty satisfying, it's my understanding that this is a work in progress. I very much look forward to future growth here, and throughout the site.

Finally, it should be noted that there are a great number of links to other sites and safety resources for Shibari students.  Another great addition that demonstrates Hebari's love, not only for the art form of Shibari, but also for the Shibari community itself.

If you couldn't already tell from the strong positive tone of our review, we feel fortunate to have discovered the NaturallyTwisted.co site a few months back.  The Jute rope offered there is truly a premium natural fiber product we should be able to enjoy for years to come.  The company's service was very much up to the high standard set by their rope.  The additional resources offered on the site serve to further distance them from a good number of their competitors.

Those are all good things that might be assigned a value or price . . . Hebari's obvious love and passion for Shibari is priceless!

"When you learn, teach. When you get, give."     -- Maya Angelou

DISCLAIMER - SpiritualBDSM.com and it's owners (Michael Samadhi and Serafina Samadhi) are not associated or affiliated with Naturally Twisted Co or naturallytwisted.co in any manner.  We have not received any compensation or consideration in return for this posting.  


All images within this post are property of NaturallyTwisted.co

Jute Rope from NaturallyTwisted.com

looks like a delicious blonde . . . two lengths of Naturally Twisted Co's handmade traditional Shibari rope

Looking for Jute rope to use in traditional style Shibari / Kinbaku?

You could certainly do well by yourself with a purchase from Australia's Naturally Twisted.

As I stated in a previous post here at SpiritualBDSM.com, a few months back I made the decision to discard all of the rope I'd used for bondage over the last two decades.  It wasn't a huge sacrifice, for the most part it was just cotton clothesline and braided nylon rope from a local big box hardware store.

I wanted to move away from cheap hardware store rope and get into better handling and more sensual, not to mention more authentic, natural fiber rope for my explorations of Shibari.  With that in mind, I purchased a 10 rope "starter pack" of handmade jute rope from NaturallyTwisted.co. 

closeup of our hand conditioned jute rope - purchased from NaturallyTwisted.co

Anyone who's visited us here at SpiritualBDSM.com probably already knows that Serafina and I live in the Upper Mississippi River Valley.  So, it may strike our readers as strange that we purchased rope from Australia.  

Yes, shipping charges for international packages are very expensive.  But, when priced against the Shibari Kit of Osada Steve jute rope from (located here in the USA) kinkyropes.com, NaturallyTwisted.co's jute was a better value, even with the exorbitant postal charges applied for packages shipped from Australia to the US.

For the relatively modest cost of $130 (AUS) I was able to purchase ten separate lengths of Naturally Twisted's hand made and conditioned jute rope, each 7.5 meters in length.  Here's Naturally Twisted's own description of their rope:

6mm Handmade Jute - Natural
A 6mm tightly twisted jute rope that provides a soft feel without coming apart, suitable for both floor work and suspension. Tested to over 200kg per strand.
These ropes are hand made in Australia from the highest quality jute. The rope is springy and lovely to the touch.
A traditional Shibari/kinbaku rope or asanawa, finished by hand to produce an exceptional quality product.
All lengths are 7.5m

The description is quite accurate.  Hebari (the individual behind Naturally Twisted) makes beautiful rope that is both soft and strong.  I gave a single strand of the rope the "jerk test" - using all of my weight (240 lbs) in a quick dynamic pull hard enough to lift my feet off the ground.  No problem.

There is a very strong and distinct aroma associated with this rope.  It smells like jute rope!  If you know the smell it's unmistakable.  If you don't know the aroma, you probably need to experience it for yourself, it's difficult to describe.  It's earthy and woody for sure, but there's a strong undertone that just screams JUTE to me, I'm sorry but that's the best I can do.

As would be expected from a traditional rope made for Shibari, this rope holds knots very well.  It's handling characteristics are very similar to the 6mm Twisted Monk hemp rope that also inhabits my rope bag.  It's noticeably lighter in weight than TM's hemp offering, and perhaps a touch narrower in diameter.

One of these days I'm going to grab an affordable micrometer so I can give an exact diameter to rope and other toys that need precision measuring.  Until that happens, I'll eyeball my various rope and rope samples, then estimate (guess) that this jute rope is somewhere between 5-6mm.

A tender skinned submissive or bondagette might look at the detail picture we've included with this post and worry that this rope might feel rough or itchy.  That's simply not the case.  The hand conditioning that Hebari gives this rope makes it soft and quite scratch free.  Very nice!

detail of jute rope we purchased from Naturally Twisted Co

While I've very much enjoyed describing Naturally Twisted's rope, not to mention it is very much a pleasure to use, I don't consider myself qualified to truly judge this rope against other similar traditional jute shibari ropes.  This is the only jute in my toybag, it's the only jute in my experience.

It certainly is a premium handmade and hand conditioned jute rope that is a pleasure to use to bind my Serafina.  I'm told it's quite sensual to be bound with this rope.  I used alternating lengths of this and Monk's hemp rope in a chest tie on a blindfolded Serafina, she was unable to feel a difference between the two premium hand conditioned bondage ropes.

This is great rope, I love it.  As I continue to learn the art of Shibari / Kinbaku, I'm certain this rope will continue to have a special place in my ropebag, not to mention in my heart.  I already love it!

DISCLAIMER - SpiritualBDSM.com and it's owners (Michael Samadhi and Serafina Samadhi) are not associated or affiliated with Naturally Twisted Co or NaturallyTwisted.co in any manner.  We have not received any compensation or consideration in return for this posting.  


All images within this post are property of SpiritualBDSM.com - © 2011 Serafina Samadhi.

What rope is used for Shibari?

Shibari rope is traditionally constructed from jute, usually about 5-6 millimeters in thickness, prepared in lengths of 7-8 meters. Practitioners of less traditional versions of Shibari often use alternative natural fibers such as hemp or linen.

Occasionally, non-traditional Shibari artists may prefer to employ rope made from other exotic natural fibers like bamboo, silk, or even coconut coir.   Exotic ropes are often even more expensive than traditional materials like jute or hemp, which themselves are already pretty pricey.

Cotton rope is yet another natural rope fiber that can be used for non-traditional style Shibari.  Certainly, cotton rope is cheaper than other natural fiber alternatives, and often it's more readily available, being found in most any neighborhood hardware store or even in the big box marts that litter the North American landscape.

I used some cotton clothesline for my very first experience with bondage back in 1980.  If I remember correctly, it was even recommended for use by the Joy of Sex.  However, because of it's low strength, cotton rope is much more commonly found in use by Western style bondage practitioners, rather than being seen in actual Shibari.

Although not as commonly employed as natural fiber rope, it's not unheard of for some Shibari tops to use ropes made of synthetic fiber.  Multifilament polypropylene rope (often abbreviated as MFP rope) is a fairly versatile and affordable alternative, however it does handle differently than natural fibers.  For instance, because of it's relative slick texture compared to natural fiber ropes, simple knots used by traditional Shibari are more likely to slip if replicated by MFP rope.