Esinem adjustable single column tie

Posted on Wed, 20 November 2013


 

I was wondering about an efficient way to move from a thigh tie, such as one might use in a side suspension, to an ankle hang. The result was an adjustable single column tie. It is designed to allow a thigh tie to be moved to the ankle without retying and also removed without untying. The benefits are greater speed and economy of movement without any extra effort or new knots to learn. It is beautifully simple and uses 'standard shibari kit parts', so adhers to traditional methods and aesthetics. It has an added advantage in that it avoids the potential weak point of a single rope bight loop and is less liable to excessive wear, often called ‘burning the bight’, caused by the sawing action of the suspension line running through it as a 'pulley'.

I'm not claiming uniqueness. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if others have come to the same solution but I have yet to see it. Bob Ropemarks commented: "This is a very common technique that I've seen used by Miura-san for sure and I think Marato*- and Naka-san and Osada-san (The Eikichi one, not the Steve one). In my workshops and classes I've been using this "technique" in more elaborate ways including stacking. The one difference between how I use it with what Bruce is showing here is locking the first knot instead of making it "sliding", the "sliding" knot will not hold well with transitions and can tighten around the limb." * He means Marai. Like Bob, until very recently, Nina and I also made the same mistake of thinking Masato was his family name, not Marai. Maybe we subconsciously read Marai as Maria thus dismissing it as a forename? I know I frequently mistype it as Maria.

In my experience, the wraps do not tighten as the bight passes under the them and equal load is applied to each side. Although, I agree that with certain types of movement tightening is possible. It could be affected by factors like the type of rope, how much tension is on the tie, how many changes there are in the direction of load and so on. The answer is to see if it works for you.

Bob wrote "On Facebook and his blog entry he implies that I learned this rope construction from him that I then used in one of my shows.". This is an unfortunate misunderstanding as I merely mean to imply my idea might not be unique and admitted "...Bob Ropemarks might have done something similar; how similar I have yet to discover (Nina: Marvo the Memory Man showed Bob this at Ropefest!).” "Showed" was not intended to mean "teach". This seems to be my week for things getting lost in translation :-( I would be interested to hear about other solutions and what your feedback if you experiment with it. Here's a short video demonstration: Click here for video.


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