Bondage Furniture

Bondage Furniture is a particular focus here at Paul Mauser Studios. In particular, High-quality bondage equipment. I believe in good materials, ergonomic engineering, proper woodworking techniques, and quality finishing.

I think this makes my work unique, or at least rare, and I have as high an expectation of my customers as I do of myself.

 Design

The Original Mark II bondage chair introduced in 2004 contained over 76 individual pieces of wood, had 19 multi-part straps, adjustable neck, ankle foot and elbow rests, and optionally a self-bondage mechanism for the wrist straps. This was quite a lot of work, and each one was built individually to spec. As you can see, it was Awesome. But all that work came at a cost, up to $2000, and that was in 2004 dollars. Frankly, it was just too expensive for most people.  Only 8 were ever built (and #7 is my personal copy).  Each example was an improvement over the last (The one pictured here is #3.), but each also took longer than the previous due to creeping perfectionism.  But I learned a lot about building quality equipment in the process (Not to say that I didn't start off doing some damned good work, thank you.) When I talk about Ergonomic design, if you ever get a look at one of these, you'll note that everything has a certain incline.  In wood and metalworking, right angles are easy,  They're very comfortable for the builder and the materials lend themselves to right angles easily.  But right angles are not comfortable.  The seats at Fast Food joints are made at right angles so you won't be comfortable enough to loiter.  By tilting the seat, inclining the back, and swinging out the feet, this chair, even without padding, is very comfortable.  Some have stayed in it for several hours at a stretch.  That says something to me about how to make a good chair.

Technique

The Original Spanking Bench, introduced in 2005 taught me how to use templates and jigs to make perfectly matching and reproducible parts. Any leg from any of the benches made for the original reseller will fit any other, which means I can still make replacements and accessories which will fit them. This same technique will be applied to the Mark III chair on a grander scale. When it comes to woodworking techniques, whacking something together out of 2x4's straight from the home center with some deck screws isn't going to cut it.  Now run that 2x4 through a planer and a jointer and you might unearth a decent piece of wood.  Use proper joinery techniques like biscuits, mortise and tenon joints, or pocket screws, and you can end up with some quality furniture.  I like to use Furniture/cabinet grade hardwood veneer plywood from a specialty lumber yard.  It's more stable than that 2x4, and won't split or warp, and the fine layer of maple or oak on the surface gives it impeccable smoothness without knots.

Finishing

Latex paint is cheap, non-toxic, dries fast, cleans up with water, and is utter crap when it comes to making durable furniture.  The water raises the grain, the plasticizers in the paint can attack latex clothing, and cause seemingly dry parts to stick together after as little as a day of contact, even months after drying.

Here at the studio I go the extra mile, using my exclusive ventilated paint booth, I apply an acrylic primer to all painted pieces, re-sand (I am obsessive with my filling and sanding), and spray with oil-based enamel, applying several coats over the course of a week or so, and heat-dry.  Oil-based enamel is glossier, harder, more resistant to cleaners (but no finish is impervious to every chemical), and is more resistant to "blocking" - the painter's term for self-adhesion.  Yes, it takes longer, requires a respirator and other protective gear, but the results are worth it.  Some folks have looked at the gray chair and assumed it was made of metal.  My idea of unachievable perfection is to make it impossible to tell.  I'm working on it.