finishing rope ends for Shibari

Tags :: §rope care §rope treatment

Rope ends can be finished with §stopper knots or §rope whipping.

The traditional finishing is a simple §overhand knot. This may be because it was simple; I have heard it said this is because Shibari was originally practiced with cheap ropes which often needed to be §re-layed; the overhand knot is secure but easy to undo when needed.

However, bulky knots can get stuck easily and disrupt your flow. For that reason, very few people use overhand knots in practice. Instead, the most common finishing knots for Shibari are the §thistle knot and the even smaller §double Matthew Walker knot.

Alternatively, rope whipping is quite popular. There are many techniques for this which can be found online.

My preference is for but §palm and needle whipping; my preferred stoppers are thistle knots.

Another question is how much loose fibres you should leave after the ending. I like 3cm; I think 1-3cm looks good.