More Art by Bazz

 Not the wittiest caption by Bazz
But a great image, love those trunks

- and the butt rubbing!

Don't know the names or studio yet

More art by Bazz at mitchmen

101 Uses For A Belt - No 13 Incentivisation - Unlucky for some

Bazz - Woodcutter

 Image/caption courtesy of Bazz

Anyone know what video the image comes from?

For more Uses, click on the 'Belts' label at the foot of the post

More Bazz next time

101 Uses For A Belt - No 12 Lottery Ticket

 

Our local Leather Bar has come up with a clever way to keep patrons drinking.
You leave your belt with the wardrobe slave when you arrive.
Last man to reclaim his belt gets to take the slave too.
Looks like tonight's gonna be a long wait for him.

~

For other Uses click on the 'Belts' label below.

Art by VolfKing

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p2

This is the opening scene of VolfKing's 'Tentacle Foodchain' and it seems a perfect complement to my own recent post 'Army Buddies in Tentacle Trap'. The naked man struggling helplessly as tentacles immobilise and grope him is depicted with tantalising subtlety and I love the way the artist has created his jungle background from a simple palette of black, grey and white shapes.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p5

VolfKing's story isn't about soldiers ambushed in the jungle at all but it's easy to imagine here that one of the army buddies has somehow been rejected the the tentacle creature, leaving him free to enjoy watching his buddy being groped while he considers whether and how to to free him.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p10

Realising he seems to have immunity he's even emboldened to join in and create a strangely erotic threesome. Despite the fact that his buddy seems to be suffering badly from the squeezing of the giant feelers he's also excited by his predicament.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p11

But it seems the kinky 3-way is less exciting to the capative than the attractions of his buddy's body which he cannot touch. He must also have a lurking anxiety that the tentacle creature's grip is a prelude to more demanding activity with perhaps a fatal outcome. He'd rather his buddy showed a bit more eagerness to free him and not just stand back and watch.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p12a

His friend's response is to gag him seemingly confirming his worst fears.

 

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p12c

If this poor man is doomed, at least he's getting a decent send-off.

Discovering a little late the thrill of living on the edge.

This is a lovely picture and a refreshing take on the tentacle scenario.

The elegant shaping of the captives leg and feet seems at one with the waving tentacles. 

It suggests an underlying symbiosis is developing.

Even the gently leaning tree seems to be involved, luring the man to his fate. 

The rest of the jungle seems to recede into an indistinct slightly murky web.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p17

This is possibly not the sort of coming together our poor captive would have chosen if he had the choice but at the same time it's evident that his ardour isn't exactly flagging. That's apparent in not just his dripping signal post but also the passive toe-curling bracing of his legs when he might have equally dropped them and closed off the pass. 

It's amazing what a bit of danger does for the libido and there's obviously a bit an adventurer in this man which is probably what led him naked into the jungle in the first place. There's a slightly comic sense that the tentacle was originally intending to angle up between his open legs but has suddenly spotted something more interesting lower down and ducked in for a closer look. The captive's bulging eyes seem to reflect this worrying (for him) development.

I love the balletic shaping of the tentacle and legs here, very refined. 

Perhaps a suggestion that our man is revealing his feminine side.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p18

It seems a shame to spoil the beautiful romance of tentacle seduction 

but nature must take it's course.

The long suffering captive seems disappointed too, but he'll learn.

He's suddenly acquired a splendid pectoral display 

as if confirming his ascent to a more developed manhood. 

 This isn't the best picture in the bunch but VolfKing does his best to infuse a sense of the artistic in the elegantly raised leg (again), but also the upward flow of the texturing of the bark of the tree emulating the thrust of the tentacle. The leafy background is pretty but doesn't quite match the drama of the despoilment.

VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p21

As the scene concludes his buddy takes the place of the tentacles and frees him from their embrace.

It seems an idyllic scene if emotional scene with another splendid and sophisticated jungle rendering seeming an entirely appropriate .

~

VolfKing has a truly artistic talent that infuses the atmosphere of these images to great advantage. The sense of suspense is sustained and developed with great skill. I can't say I'm thrilled by the styling of his subject's faces and flirtation with age taboos but I guess he's just observing the traditions of his genre.

Read the original story of VolfKing's Tentacle Foodchain

which is utterly different and more complex than my interpretation!

Vintage Bondage - Hal Paul

This has to be one of the most famous bondage images of all time, from an era when bondage and nudity were both still not quite respectable. I imagine most of my older readers will have vivid memories of seeing it for the first time. Even today, it's stark simplicity remains a classic rendering of what bondage is all about. 

It inspired the lead picture in my recent Deon post

If you think the fluffed up hair and clone-y moustache mars the original, the naughty photo-shopper who transplanted a celebrity head onto it created a variant which seems virtually timeless*.

*Although I suppose the day will come when exuberant head hair is once again the must-have styling for a real man!

To give credit to the original shoot, it has other bondage shots of equally high quality. 

This image from the opening sequence is a masterpiece of understatement 

with the subject standing head bowed facing the wall like a naughty schoolboy.

 

His broad shoulders however tell us that he is an adult man of some substance. 

With wrists already tied, he seems totally resigned to his fate.

His half-lowered jeans signalling that it will be a humiliating one.

He turns at the approach of his captor, revealing a chunky physique

and a libido apparently already simmering with excitement.

I guess in anticipation of what might be in store for him.

This shot shows a face that's seen many experiences. These images, however, come from an era of true leather lovers who cared not a jot about the superficialities of appearance, but about a man's inner strength and ability to perform under pressure. 

It's a pity this image is not in colour because it's equally worthy of the accolades of bondage lovers.

Stripped of his remaining clothes our hero has been further restrained at elbow and ankle.

Parked on the floor, completely helpless.

I suppose you might call this style of bondage 'rustic'. 

There's minimal elaboration of the roping, 

none of the sort of complexity that characterises shibari.

No artiness about the knotting, just the basics required for the job.

This image was the first sight I ever had of this series and it was hidden away, one of 52 male images in a novelty pack of 'saucy' playing cards. I can't remember the denomination (the 8 or 10 of something) but it was the only one depicting bondage in the whole pack, many of them were not even nudes.

What was so astonishing was that this wasn't even a run-of-the-mill bondage image, his balls are tied to his feet for goodness sake - and in tension, although I was too young at the time to fully grasp the full significance of that detail.

The model's face, burdened with the distorting effects of a gag (and dodgy hair style), does not exactly enchant, which is a shame because he has a beautiful, softly undulating physique gleaming with nervous perspiration and topped by remarkable square-cut pecs.

This black and white variant serves him better, I think and diverts attention to his groin area where there is another notable size effect. You might observe that the coiffuring at this end is 'au-natural' and untamed, in contrast to his lovingly layered top mop. He would probably sniff at modern, trimmed pubes but to me his own cock-crown cries out for a close encounter with a razor to better align the area with his hairless torso.  

There's nothing like a 'little boy lost' look to bring out the helplessness of a man in bondage.

But what a man he is, his pecs positively loom in this shot.

This is a rarely-seen image from the shoot,

a study in predicament contemplation.

Somehow it brings out the incongruity of his haircut

Good balls shot too.

The captive is released for the closing sequence and left to ruminate on the experience.

Paying overdue attention to a cock that has been simmering manfully throughout.

Although I dare say the photographer lent a helping hand to keep him going.

I've wondered about this model's identity for many years. Some magazines tagged him as 'Hal' but it wasn't clear if that was his 'real' name or invented for the bondage narrative. Quite by chance while preparing this article, I stumbled across an identification at Tim in Vermont and that led me to the picture below at Adonis Male

That's pretty clear now!

My next project is to identify the model in the picture I have christened as 'My Initiation',

a post which I've recently updated. There is some similarity there seems to be a disparity in model ages and build.

I'd welcome comments from those better informed than me.

The mitchmen, 'Vintage Bondage' Series:

• Hal Paul
• Mikey by Loquillo (Bound and Gagged)
• Dean Spencer (Zeus)
• Jeff Golden (Bacchus)
  
• David Stark (Zeus)
  
• Jack Wrangler (Bijou)
  
• Bo Richards aka Ryder Knight (Zeus)
• John Winship (AMG, 1-off sample in Vintage Season No 11)
• Leroy Nelson
• Mark Nixon (WPG)
• Leonard Chambers (AMG)
• Vintage Bondage Blog  (feat. Fred Halstead, Jack Wrangler + ano)
• My Initiation (William Higgins)
  
• Royale Studio series No 17 (Soldier-Sailor, notable for it's asses in tight shorts)

There's also some retro stuff in my Muscles and Rope series, notably No 11 (Steve Landless by Zeus), No 15 (Robert Black at CanAm & Beau Hopkins at Zeus), No 19 (Can-Am) and No 20 (Rocco De Vega, Zeus). 

Or simply click on the 'bondage' label at the foot of this post!

BDSM and Fetish Art by Deon

Felix Deon - Japanese Bondage

This picture is based on one of the most familiar of vintage, bondage photos (see Hal Paul in bondage). Deon has sprinkled the elixir of youth and added shoulder tattoos but otherwise has left it unchanged. When you know the original you get the eerie sense here that the captive has been tied up for the very purpose of inking his body. A Westerner being subjected to the arcane arts of the ancient East.

The other striking feature of the image is, of course, the styling, derived from the traditional pen and ink drawings of Japan. The parchment-like surface adds authenticity and he's even included Japanese script, a poem perhaps?

Felix Deon - Bullfighter

You'd hardly credit that Deon drew this image. The academic, pastel style seems quite unlike his more familiar images, but he has a drawn many pictures in this style. The subject too is more dramatic than you expect from him and although he hasn't quite caught the sense of strength and struggle, the concept is a marvellous expression of masculinity. Of course, wrestling naked with the bull is precisely what bullfighters don't do. They exhibit a similar level of bravery but instead of engaging directly, prefer to strut in elaborately decorated clothes, frustrating the beast and despatching it from a distance. 

Felix Deon - Japanese Bondage 2

This example from the Japanese Bondage series features a chunky man who looks like the Japanese youths of Okawa and his contemporaries. He is not totally naked, having been allowed to retain his head band and fundoshi (loincloth) both of which have a deep cultural significance in that country, related to manliness and growth. 

 He's surrounded by the creatures of the sea, including an octopus or squid between his knees which may be an allusion to the famous erotic picture of 'The Dream of The Fisherman's Wife' (see Octopuses at mitchmen blog). The parchment colour gives the impression of a sandy beach but the creatures are drawn in a way that gives the sense that he's actually lying on the seabed, like a character being tested in an ancient legend. The simple, loosely secured hogtie does allow him scope to escape, like a latter day Houdini.

Felix Deon - An Unfortunate Encounter

Escape seems less easy for this swimming party in the open sea, ambushed by two octopuses who seem have more on their minds that just dinner, stripping the unfortunate young men and sexually assaulting them. One is being dragged off for some other nefarious purpose in private. The seaweed seems to be aiding and abetting the abduction, reaching up from the depths. Or perhaps the immobile seaweed has bribed the octopus to bring the young man to it, who knows?

Deon has depicted the swimmers in 1930's bathing suits, loose fitting and modest (but easy meat for a multi-armed predator). He's employed a matching, contemporary style of painting like that once used for boy's adventure comics which lends a perverse sense of nostalgia to the scene (see also the Art of Sherer). There's a nod to Japanese art in the styling of the wave crests on the surface and the tiny signature scroll, top left.

Felix Deon - Saint Sebastian

If you looked at the Sherer link above you'll see the connection to this image which is European in origin but was enthusiastically (and morbidly) embraced by the famed poet and writer, Yukio Mishima and it later found it's way into the erotic works of other Japanese artists like Hasegawa.

Deon stays within the European tradition here deploying an arty, elaborate cartouche (frame) and saintly upward gaze, which silently rebukes the Lord for his part in this fine mess. The fleshy build of the martyr seems to reference females in Renaissance art but the styling of the cameo inside the frame is mid-20th Century. The simple, loose sheet serving as Sebastian's loin-cloth has somehow become snagged on the tree as though it's participating in the torment, like the seaweed in the swimming disaster image above.

 

Felix Deon - Japanese Bondage 3

This third variation on the Japanese Bondage theme tweaks the hog-tie in an unconventional arrangement whereby the captive's arms are pinned to his sides by a simple harness looped around his backside. The captive himself is given the thirties, Leyendecker treatment with bouffant hair and suspiciously pink lips. The traces of tattoo we can see are different to the dense, samurai-inspired shoulder ink in the previous examples, here it seems lightly decorative rather than block-like bulk and comparatively feminine 

Felix Deon - Happy Servants

The sense of pre-war WW2 decadence pervades the styling of this image too with the subject matter itself reaching back to the Edwardian Belle Epoque. For an artist normally associated with the cute and witty this take on service is surprisingly S&M. It's pleasing to see the stereotypical role of camp dominatrix given an all-male treatment. 

There's an unusual double edge to the term 'servant' here exploring beyond the modern world of consensual leather servitude with a Downton Abbey, Upstairs-Downstairs twist that sees the footman and the groom vying for the attention of their kinky, aristocratic paymaster. Unfortunately, thanks to the sensationalism of the current era it's a scenario that doesn't have the power to surprise like it once did.

Felix Deon - Tattooed Submissive

Strangely enough this undramatic variation on the theme of domination is more unexpected. Or to be precise, the sight of a young westerner totally engulfed in oriental tattoos is unexpected. They simultaneously seem to disguise and yet in a strange way accentuate his nudity and vulnerability. It's hard to imagine why he would do this to himself and in this image he's not so much being submissive (as the title implies) but being dominated by the neatly dressed, leather master.

Felix Deon - Spanked

Another pastel drawing, directly inspired by an image which is well-known to me but which I can't quite place. It's a slightly awkward spanking  position but I can't fault the authenticity of the spankee's pain-filled face which Deon has beautifully captured. 

Felix Deon - Bird In Hand

I don't even know where to begin with this one. As one comes to expect with Deon, it draws on popular art of the past with distinctly Art Deco trees and turn of the century iconography in the peacock seducing the young (inevitably) gardener of some stately home. The naïve depiction of the formal garden in the background goes even further back to the 1700's. I suppose it must have roots in the legends of Asia as well, since Westerners are usually more reticent about relationships with the animal kingdom.

Royale Guardsmen Colourised

These fascinating, colourised versions of three Royale Studio photos showing two Guardsmen wrestling, bare-top were kindly submitted to me by Roo Morgan. The colouring transforms these images. The flesh tones draw in the eye, promising erotic interest, which is there if you care to look - the hand placed on the one man's raised buttock , the forearm embedded in the other's own crotch and as for the hidden head, we can only surmise what that is doing. Their interlocking itself is supremely intimate

The uniforms these men are wearing are genuine and Roo has given them authentic colours persuading us that these are real soldiers, real Guardsmen, which they probably were. Men chosen to represent the heights of maleness and strength in our society. The wrestling scenario amplifies those manly characteristics and these two even have tattoos, a badge of uncultured maleness in the 60's, not a fashion.

Royale's predilection for real servicemen gave their images a thrilling tang of reality. Making them strip and touch each other in erotically interesting zones like buttocks, implied that the manly veneer conferred by their uniform concealed undercurrents of bold, homo-erotic desire. In this picture the hint of physical domination and submission to intimacy seems to epitomise that.

It subverted the whole military service ethos of obedience, discipline and working together.
No wonder the establishment was alarmed.

These images show the two Guardsmen in undignified poses, not the sort of image to command the respect their superiors would want of the Services. The upraised bottom and open crotch are hugely suggestive sexually, distasteful even today and socially unacceptable then. There's already a suggestion of mutual embracing here but these two, carefully contrived poses only need to shift a little horizontally to become a simulation of oral sex. A typical example of 60's hidden eroticism which gay men would spot but would go over the head of the average 'man on the Clapham omnibus'. 

 If you haven't visited the new Royale Studio Blog and Gallery yet I encourage you to do so. 
There are several new or upgraded posts there that have never appeared here:

Sailors Wrestling in the Rigging - expanded from one picture to four. 

Peter George in Underwear (the missing PUN-1?)

Peter George's Storyettes (new list)

Peter Watts tied to the rigging (new information)

Plus a whole series of posts about Royale and how they operated
and index of forthcoming storyettes.

~

I welcome any feedback (via comments)

about how you find the design of the new site