So I finally picked my part up from the anodizer! This is a quick shot of it, and I don’t have photoshop installed on this computer, so yeah it’s not perfect (I’m also a photographer, so I’ll be a perfectionist about these things).
Anyway, what is it!?
Well, basically, it’s whatever you want! It’s targeted at rope bondage aficionados, but can be used even by people clueless with rope too, as long as you are looking to have some fun! Rope experts will surely come up with some excellent and beautiful ties using it, but even if rope confounds you, all you need is some wrist and ankle cuffs with clips or locks, and you’ll be able to hog tie even the most unruly lad or lass!
It seems to me that it would be a great centerpiece for chest ties or harnesses, or for box ties too!
Really this is a first off - a first article run of a product that I may never even sell in quantity - if people aren’t interested.
What I wanted to do is make something that would show off my skills immediately to prospective customers, who may be able then to tell me what they’d really want from me.
See - I should have done this before - but allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Taylor Alexander, and I am a mechanical engineer at an engineering company in Silicon Valley, where I not only design parts but program the machines that make them. I’m also a bondage freak.
This puts me in the unique position to make extraordinary bondage gear at reasonable prices.
Where many people have access to CAD (computer aided design) software, few also run the machines that will be making the parts, which means they have to rely on machine shops, which always costs more.
Going through machine shops always has a very specific cost, which can be daunting to someone unsure of their designs, and getting one prototype can be very expensive. This causes custom machined bondage gear to be very costly - usually i see the good stuff running $300 or more. Yikes!
My goal is to start a company centered around providing computer machined bondage gear at a reasonable price, with *no* compromise in quality.
Planned properly, this stuff doesn’t have to cost a lot, even if it looks like it would!
Case in point: My target price for these little numbers? $60-80 each, retail, if the shop purchases in reasonable quantities. Notice that that’s the retail price ladies and gents, not the price before markup. As long as a shop buys a reasonable amount, I can give them a price low enough that my target retail price should be met.
Of course, I haven’t talked to vendors yet, so my projections on their markup could be wrong, but my goal is to provide extremely high quality bondage gear at an affordable price, because I hate seeing cool bondage gear that only few can afford! I could probably charge more and get away with it, but that would deprive too many people of the fun sex they should be having!
So let me know what you think! Drop me a line at tlalexander@gmail.com and give me some feedback. If you are an employee at a leather or kink supplier, I’d love to come show you the product in person. Mike West, Lochai, Two Knotty Boys, or any other rope nuts, I’d love to show you guys too!
I’m renewing this blog to start this new venture, so please come back, or follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/TLAlexander
Oh, and the perfectionist in me has to mention that although the picture may or may not show it, this prototype isn’t perfect. It has a few issues that I simply will not stand for in a product with my name on it. They are subtle finish issues that you may not be able to see, but even if you can’t see them, just know that I will not stand for parts that don’t look and function great. This one functions fine and gets the general idea, but needs some tweaks. I already know how to fix it, and the next prototype will be even cleaner.
Till then, thanks, and happy fucking!
-Taylor
