RopeLabs at WHY2025

Follow Us After WHY2025

We’re hoping to be at Congress, EMF, CCCamp, Bornhack, and other similar hacker camps.

You can follow us at:

We can also be found at ropelabs.org (work in progress).

Village & Workshops Sobriety Rule

To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone, please be aware that entering the village requires sobriety.

This guideline helps us maintain a secure environment where all attendees can relax, share ideas and connect.

Village Opening Hours

SPECIAL OPENING HOURS FOR Tuesday: 1pm-4pm, after which village teardown starts.

We may be open a bit after teardown. Anyone who has some time to help will be much appreciated.

Normal opening hours:

  • 2pm - 5pm
  • 7pm - Midnight (Except during our workshop or rope jam)

Please respect these times so we’re able to able to take some moments to ourselves.

Where can you find us?

You can find us at the north field near the tree line, on the left side of the field.

It’s a shaded and slightly secluded spot, but still easy to access through the trees.

Guidelines

RopeLabs is a queer-friendly, sex-positive, and inclusive environment.

  • Consent comes first. Always ask before touching, tying, or photographing someone.
  • No sexual activity - everything at this event is non-sexual.
  • Minimum clothing is required at all times.
  • Respect personal space and boundaries.
  • Shoes off on any of the matting or carpet.
  • Take care of each other. If you’re unsure, ask.
  • Outside of safety or consent concerns, do not interrupt other people’s scenes*
  • Explicit permission from one of the village organisers must be given before you can make use of the suspension frame

*Ideally grab one of the RopeLabs team if you have a specific safety or consent concerns. Our team are trained safety monitors and can make a good assessment of the risk.

Equipment & Facilities

  • We provide:

    • A private area to tie with soft flooring
    • Space to spectate others tie
    • A small amount of practice rope (also for sale)
    • A suspension frame - ask permission to use

  • Please bring:

    • Bring a blanket or cushion for sitting comfortably on the ground
    • Your own non-stretchy rope (we may have some to borrow)
    • Expect shoes-off areas and chill zones

Rope for Sale

We are completely out of rope for this event, we have only a few pieces left for practice in the village

We have sets of 8m rope for sale at near cost of production. Please donate what you can afford. Prices listed are our costs.

It will be on sale at the end of our Saturday 7pm workshop for people that attend, or after 11am on Sunday at our village.

  • Ogawa Jute - high end treated rope 6mm - €15/8m
  • POSH - synthetic 6mm - €15/8m
  • Normal Jute - older rougher untreated jute 6mm - €8m/8m

Ask for Pez (4PEZ) or Laura (BBYG).

Rope Treatment

For people that purchased some of our rope, this is what you need to know:

POSH

POSH needs near zero treatment - it’ll become softer to work with the more that you use it.

If you want to speed up this process you can run it back and forth through a carabiner or around some metal.

Jute

We’ve sell two kinds of jute: high-end Ogawa Jute from Japan and lower-quality jute from the Netherlands.

While we’ve already partially pre-treated the ropes to soften them and reduce loose or scratchy fibers.

To finish the rope, we like to:

  • Apply a small amount of natural oil (for example, jojoba, camellia or mineral oil) to keep fibers supple
  • Optionally seal it with a light wax layer.
  • With regular use, your rope will soften further from natural body oils.

If you Google “how to treat jute rope”, you’ll see lots of conflicting advice - flaming it, baking it in an oven, breaking it in with carabiners, roughing it up, or even washing it in a washing machine. Here’s what we’ve learned from testing ropes until they break:

  • Getting natural fibers wet weakens them over time.
  • Burning, singeing or getting the fibers too hot reduces strength.
  • Breaking in the rope (pulling it over something rough or frictioning it aggressively) literally breaks up the fibers and weakens the structure.

That’s why we suggest doing as little as possible — just treat it gently — and let it age into softness through use.

Of note: like most jute from Japan, our jute was processed with jute batching oil (JBO) so has a light smell. It’s generally considered safe for humans but there are mixed reports of skin irritation or other problems, online. We’ve partially processed the rope to remove most of the oil, but leaving it to hang and dry will help the remainder make its way out. Along with treating it.

For extra context, here are a few more methods people recommend online:

  • Letting the rope air-dry on a curtain rail and gently wiping it with your hands to help remove fuzz and balance the strands.
  • Lightly singeing the rope over a blue flame (like a gas burner) to burn off fuzzies — though this can darken the rope and requires care.
  • Using tumble drying (with no water) combined with rope butter and light flame singe, followed by jojoba oil, then air-drying.
  • Wiping the rope with jojoba oil on a rag, rubbing with beeswax, then hanging to dry.

All of these methods can work — just know they trade some rope strength for softness and look. We prefer a lighter touch.

Please feel free to reach out if you’d like help choosing a method or troubleshooting.

Message us on FetLife (DoodleMe & KnottyLola) or on Mastodon (Pezmc & Lola).

Workshops

Handouts

A PDF of our workshop handout can be found on Github.

Workshop Changes

At 8pm on Friday, we’ll be running a small, limited in numbers edition of the 101 workshop in the RopeLabs Village. Please queue at the entrance to the village, bring blankets to increase our floor space!

At 7pm on Saturday we’ll be running the 101 again in Workshop Giotto.

The 102 is rescheduled to 12pm on Sunday in Euclid Workshop.

And the rope jam is at 7pm on Sunday in Giotto Workshop.

Please consider this wiki page as the source of truth. We’ll keep it up to date.

Schedule

  • Shibari 101 – Rope Bondage for Beginners

    📅 Saturday 9 August, 19:00–21:00 (Workshop Giotto)

    Learn the basics of Japanese rope bondage. No prior experience required. Bring rope, blanket, and comfy clothes. 18+ only.

  • Shibari 102 – Rope Bondage (Follow-up)

    📅 Sunday 10 August, 12:00–14:00 (Workshop Euclid)

    A continuation of 101 or for those with some experience. Build on previous knowledge with more technique and practice. Bring rope and comfy clothes. 18+ only.

  • Rope Jam

    📅 Sunday 10 August, 19:00–21:00 (Workshop Giotto)

    An open and relaxed rope space. Come tie, be tied, or just hang out. Great for sharing, learning, and connecting with others in a non-structured way. 18+ only.