Home › Forums › Bondage & Rope Art › Suspension with silk fabric?

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  • July 10, 2014 at 8:51 pm #2349
    Ribut1974
    Participant

    Has anyone experimented with using silk fabric for suspension? I told my contractor that the two eye bolts he was installing in my ceiling were for aerial yoga. In an effort to have a credible discussion with him about the static and dynamic movement that would be placed on the hardware, I did some research and along the way decided that I really did want to do aerial yoga on the hardpoints. I take my first class in two weeks.

    During that research I stumbled across this very short video of Lois Lane suspended in silk fabric. I could see that using silk fabric might ease the pain some people experience with rope – but still facilitate the experience of suspension.

    It’s expensive at ~ $9/yard. I think the approach would be more based on wraps than knots due to the bulk of the fabric. The youtube channel with the Lois Lane video also has rigging videos. In each case they demo with rope first, then with silks, as the rope is a better demo medium.

    I will be buying fabric and I do plan to experiment a bit, but I was wondering if anyone else has tried this? Did you find it to be less painful for the bottom?

    If this is not the appropriate group for posting this question, can anyone point me to another group where it would be more appropriate?

    July 10, 2014 at 8:53 pm #2350
    Pursho
    Participant

    What’s called aerial silk is not made of nylon, not silk. There are different kinds of aerial silks available, depending on how stretchy you want it to be, whether it should be fire-proof, etc.
    Aerial yoga is indeed popular, using the same fabric aerialist artists use.

    I’ve used similar fabric for comfortable inverted suspensions, and it’s quite nice, especially when used instead of a hip/waist rope – a rope can still be added on top for visual effect, but the model’s weight was supported by the fabric.

    The only occurrence of suspending someone with real silk ribbons I saw was several years ago in London, performed by the Leather Family at one of the LAMs; it was quite safe as silk is very strong, but it was painful for the model, as the ribbons were cutting into the skin – it was a short suspension, so it was bearable, but just.

    July 10, 2014 at 8:57 pm #2352
    Geolas
    Participant

    I do Aerial Yoga! I do self suspension with rope too. i find that the aerial ‘silks’ can bunch up and be just as painful as a twisted rope in suspension, but if you are careful to keep the material smooth, it can allow for a tender bunny to experience suspension without rope bite. Just make sure that the material folds away from the skin, so that the parts touching the skin are not bunched up.

    I can’t wait to see the pics!

    July 17, 2014 at 4:40 pm #2504
    Doony1975
    Participant

    My partner does aerial fabric and we have been experimenting with mixing rope and fabric… for pain it seems that both can be more or less painful – it is just a different kind of pain 😉
    However I would say that for self-suspension fabric might be the less painful way if you are careful to place the fabric correctly

    July 17, 2014 at 4:43 pm #2505
    Whadvated
    Participant

    Yep, I’m an aerialist who also does self-suspension/rigging. Love mixing fabric and rope for a zen affect. Nice to cradled the head in a fabric cocoon or drap the material over the suspended person. I also like having a hammock of aerial silk to facilitate staying airborn for dupe rational periods and the diversity of textures etc. I recommend at least 7 yards of fabric. I got 5 yards and found it slightly on the short side. Have fun!
    I’ll also add that I use both polyester and tricot fabrics and much prefer the tricot. It’s slippery cool, and if you are buying from FabricDepo in Texas, the cuts are very wide so you have a lot of fabric to play with. It’s also slight transparent which is beautiful.

    July 17, 2014 at 4:48 pm #2506
    Haveretwound
    Participant

    My wife and I have been doing some aerial silk acrobatics classes. My teacher has a bull rope there, and helped me compare the same suspension techniques on rope and silks. The silks are far less painful and more forgiving. Crotch suspensions are not weird on the silks.

    A possibly more interesting bit is the culture. Kids in middle school are encouraged to do self suspensions 15 feet up on the silks with dynamic 8-10 foot drops, with 1 demo and minimal supervision before trying hard stuff. Being inverted for prolonged periods is just something folks get used to on day 1. Pain is a given that all the vanilla class goers just get used to. Dynamics (big rolls, twists, and drops in the air) are totally the norm – fear just doesn’t seem to be on the menu. The level of core, arm, and leg strength that is expected, for you to be able to play is, frankly, awesome. Coming into rope with that background could be pretty amazing.

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