Impact Play Continued | Crops, Canes, Whips…Oh My!

In impact play, you can use just your hand or an implement especially made to make you scream! Although some equipment can come across as a little foreboding, don’t worry, the secret to using anything new is practice and a bit of insider knowledge. Victoria Blisse is here to give you some fun spanking tips and what you need to know to get started using crops, canes and whips.

Crops

A crop looks relatively innocent until you see one in use! Crops are designed for horse riding, but of course, the crop has long been used as a pervertable and now BDSM specific crops of all shapes and sizes are available for you to use. 

Safety first! Be mindful of where you hit with the crop. It is small and flexible so can be used on the soles of feet, palms of hands and even on genitals! However, be mindful of how hard you are hitting and with which part. The crop can be used like a cane, only do this on fleshy areas. 

It is a versatile tool. You can use it sensually, by dragging the (usually leather) loop/flap along the skin with gentle slapping to make the sub jump without causing too much pain. You can have more impact by hitting sharply with the end. It is a very focused pain and can be harsh depending on how much energy you put into a hit. And if you want to be very evil, use the long stick part like a cane. 

A top tip to make the crop do the work for you is to hold it in your dominant hand and use the fingers of your other hand to pull the end towards you until it is curving back. When you let it go, the cane will hit hard without the top having to put much energy into it at all. 

Canes

You might think that a cane is one of the easiest implements to use, after all, it’s just a big stick, right?  In a way, that's true. Canes are easy to understand and use, but they are also incredibly painful too. 

Remember, the wider the cane, the less intense the impact. However, even a thick cane is focused in one area, unlike paddles and floggers where the impact is spread over a wider area. They can come in bamboo, rattan and delrin. Delrin is a kind of plastic and is particularly evil. When you’re picking one to start with, go with something that feels good in the hand, isn’t too thin and moves through the air well. 

When hitting with a cane, you need to be aware of where you’re hitting and how you’re hitting. Canes should only be used on fleshy parts of the body, though hands and feet can be struck if you’re into that kind of pain. 

If you bounce the cane gently off the bottom’s skin (their buttocks is a great place to hit, also thighs), it can create a warming pain that isn’t too harsh and won’t leave much in the way of marking. This is good for warming up. If you are hitting with full power be sure to aim the middle of the cane to the middle of the subs bottom (or another impact area) so the impact is even along its length.  Keep a close eye as canes can easily break the skin. If this happens, remember to sanitise both your sub and your cane when you’re finished. 



Punishment, vintage style...

Whips

You might want to crack your whip like Indiana Jones, but this is one implement where you have to practice a lot before you even think about hitting anyone with it. 

Whipping is a very precise art. You can watch clips online to see how it's done or better still visit your local dungeon or BDSM club and watch someone in action. Whipping workshops happen up and down the country. 

The key to whipping is focus. Many Doms practise their whip work by trying to hit a precise target. This can be a paper plate pinned to a whipping wall or a target drawn on an exterior wall (if you have a big, discreet garden) then the better you get, the smaller you make your target. 

You need to have a safe zone when whipping, make sure no one else is nearby as the whip unfurls behind you as far as it does in front of you when you are cracking it. Use a different cracker (the small string at the end of your whip) on every different partner as whipping can break the skin. 

Whip impact is very sharp and very intense. Backs, bottoms and thighs can be whipped, and even arms can be whipped with a method called whip wrapping, where the end loops around an arm or leg or even the whole body of a sub. Whipping leaves very distinctive marks, and the noise of a whip cracking is incredibly visceral. It might take a lot of practice to learn this skill, but it will be worth it in the end! 

Now you have three more implements to add to your kit. If you need more help and guidance ask members of the BDSM Community at our fetish.com forum or your local dungeon, munch or BDSM club. 





Article image: vintage punishment, John Clark. Flickr Creative Commons