I’ve just recently been interested in incorporating rope into my kink. I’ve always loved looking at the beautiful pictures of Shibari, and wanted to begin learning some ties. I’ve always heard that Two Knotty Boys: Showing You the Ropes was a great guide to learning basic ties and elaborating onto more decorative harnesses. However there is a new version of this book out called Two Knotty Boys: Back on the Ropes . This guide has the same information as the older version, with some new updates.

Ken Marcus does the beautiful photography in this book, showing great knots on beautiful people. Each step of a tie is photographed for those of us who learn visually, along with printed instructions. I’m one of those people that has a hard time learning an activity that requires training without visuals, like crocheting. This guide is a great choice for me, though I suppose I’m still very challenged when it comes to completing any of the ties.

I fell in love with many of the knots and got my new, gorgeous purple dyed jute (review coming soon) from Maui Kink to attempt to learn decorative knots like the doublecoin and prosperity knot. The end goal I was hoping for was to create a sort of long rope fingerless glove on my wife. Umm….that didn’t really end up working. I suppose what I need is someone actually showing me the knot so I can watch their hands. Even with all the visual and print instructions in Two Knotty Boys: Back on the Ropes I couldn’t make it happen. I’m one of those people who have to physically do a knot a few times and I just felt all thumbs.

I was however able to complete the tie called Prisoner Cuffs, Quick Gripper, and Cat’s Paw. These are three ties that I can easily use to bind my wife’s wrists, ankles, or feet during play. Even Prisoner Cuffs alone make an easy tie, for those who are rope-challenged like me.

Two Knotty Boys: Back on the Ropes is full of ties, knots, harnesses and other fun things to do with rope. As the title says “guide to tying sensual and decorative rope bondage” this means that you’re not going to find the harsher bondage instructions that are for punishment. That being noted, there are some good confining instructions like the Consequence Tie. There is also a nifty Strap-On Harness that can incorporate a dildo.

Here is an example of the Cat’s Paw on my bare foot. This is an easy tie that you take the free end and tie to the bed.

You can pick up the book Two Knotty Boys: Back On the Ropes through Good Vibrations for a mere $22 dollars and worth every cent.