Dirty DIY with Drew Episode 6: Floggers

Hey everybody!

I'll be doing more on the paddle next week; I've been looking at alot of different finishing options and think I finally have all the bugs worked out of the way I'm going to complete the piece; more on that next week. This week we get to play with floggers, and I've based my tutorial on this one from another excellent kinkster:    • Видео  

Floggers can be alot of fun in the bedroom and can range from thuddy floggers that feel more like a back massage, to sharp stinging sensations that can be a real pain (in the fun way of course (; ).

For this project you will need:

Materials:

a large piece of material at least 2' by 3'
Many different materials will work: denim, rubber, leather, PVC, duct-tape, rope, you name it!
a segment of dowel rod suitable for your handle
I used about 12" of 3/4" dowel rod
contact cement
a series of tacks or nails for extra security
any additional materials you may want for handle/grip embellishments
(optional) zip-ties to help in the gluing process
Tools:

a good hobby knife or box cutter (with replacement blades, heavier materials will dull your blade quickly)
a hammer for nails/tacks
a saw to cut your dowel rod
a good device for marking on the material you've chosen
a straight edge measuring device like a yardstick or metal ruler
Steps:

Plan your project out, think about what kind of sensation you want from your flogger using these general rules:
The more falls (strips of material) you have, the thuddier the sensation typically. More falls is usually stingier
if you choose a very flexible material you will have less sting overall; stiffer the material - more sting
The longer your falls are, the less sting you'll have (typically)
The wider your falls are the less sting you'll have (typically)
Square up your material choosing a size 1"-2" longer then the length of your falls and equal in width to the sum of your falls (width of each fall * number of falls)
tack down your material to your work surface and mark your falls out, ensuring you don't cut into the 1"-2" strip you've left at the top connecting your falls
Cut the falls using the straight edge and hobby knife being careful to keep them as consistent as possible
Carefully use your contact cement to bind your leather to your handle, wrapping it slowly, ensuring the glue is good and tacky before continuing to ensure a good binding of the material to the handle and itself.
depending on what your doing you may want to use an adhesive other then contact cement, but that is what I used in this project
Once the handle has been fully wrapped let the material dry and use the zip-ties to keep it secure to the handle
Add nails or tacks to the material to further bind it to the handle ensuring that its good and affixed
Next comes the handle, really what you do here is up to you, I personally took another portion of left over material and cut it into a sharply angled parallelogram and did a simple wrapping of the handle over some spare foam I had lying around, nailing it on both ends.
Complete your piece with a hanging loop/wrap as I demonstrate in the video or eyelet on the end


And there you have it folks! Making floggers is easy and fun, mine turned out very well with the deer-leather that I used. After I was done I decided to cut the falls in half making them 1/8" falls and braided those to make it a bit more brutal then it started.

Show me your projects and I'm always here if you have questions or ideas! Drop me a line though these comments or on my twitter @thatdrewlion.

Next week we get back to finishing the paddle project!

~Drew