It’s always a great feeling of accomplishment to finish a project. Especially a project that I sat on for as long as this one. You may remember the large wooden tiki spoon that I had been working on last year. I bought it in February, discussed how it had potential in April, gave an update on it later in April, put some black stain on it in May, and then let it sit collecting dust for a year, since I more or less withdrew from the scene after that bad experience last July. Having withdrawn from the scene for a while after that, only going to two functions in ten months (a munch and a class), I saw no reason to finish the spoon, putting it low on my priority list.
However, now I’m slowly easing my way back into the scene, as I’m now occasionally playing with someone that I used to casually play with last year at DCDungeon (now DC Speakeasy), and while I haven’t yet been to a public event in 2013, the time will soon come. I’ve got my previous bag of fun, plus I have some new stuff, as I’ve gotten a blue zentai suit, a Sportsheets hogtie set, plus a big roll of sticky stretch wrap. The zentai is mainly for me – I love the feeling of being played with while fully encased in spandex. It also makes whole body an item for sensation play, as the spandex has its own texture that’s very different from that of skin. Then the Sportsheets set is just pretty awesome. I bought it not so much for the hogtie element, but because I wanted a set of four cuffs, and this was the most economical way to do it. Additionally, because the four cuffs are all supposed to clip to a fifth piece that links it all together, all four pieces are identical. That means that if they’re being used like handcuffs, each can be separately clipped to the other, which makes it harder to escape from. Then the stretch wrap was a lucky find, and I got it for free. The potential for that is limitless, at least until it all gets used up.
And then there’s the spoon. As I mentioned, I used a black water-based stain on it. I used black for a couple of reasons. First, I already had it on hand from a previous staining project that I did. That’s always a plus, because that means I didn’t have to go out and buy anything. Secondly, it matches the color of the furniture in my bedroom, and that meant that it could hang inconspicuously on the wall as vanilla decor when not in use and look like it’s supposed to be there. Only those who need to know will know that it’s really BDSM equipment. I’ve shown this spoon to my mother, and told her what a wonderful find it was at the thrift store, and showed her where I planned to put it up in the house. She loves it. She doesn’t know its real purpose (and it’s going to stay that way).
It was kind of a shame to put the black stain on it, since the removal of the original finish revealed the details of the carvings on the spoon that were obscured by the old stain. The new stain is even darker than the original, and so the carving patterns are deemphasized once again. Unfortunately, though, it couldn’t be helped. While I think I did a pretty good job sanding off the old stain and finish, the color of the wood was uneven. I believe part of that was because the wood was not intended to be bare, and thus the color didn’t have to be even. Then I believe part of it was due to the need to just remove the old finish in some spots, and work it harder in other places to eliminate splinters. But I think you’ll agree that the new finish looks much nicer than the old, seen here right after application in May of last year:
Not too shabby, eh?
Then this past weekend, I finally got it out of the closet and put the finish on it. I already had the can of finish at the house, having bought it last year before I stopped work on the project. So I put a few coats on it (it’s quick drying, so I could do it fairly quickly), and this is what it looked like:
Then I used a very fine sanding sponge to work the imperfections out of the finish:
And then the final coats of finish went on:
And finally, on the wall:
Not too shabby, if you ask me. And there it will stay, awaiting the time when it will be needed to administer corporal punishment of some sort or another on its owner.
Now that the spoon is finished, though, I need to figure out how it feels, and what the best methods of use are. I like thuddy impacts. I like ones where the impact travels through the top layers and is fully felt more deeply. My gut tells me this is more stingy, but there’s no right or wrong way to play with this. And that’s half the fun of this – testing this new, unproven entity and seeing how it works out. It could be a paddle, on the concave or convex side. The edge of it could be used for sensations once the skin is warmed up. The handle could, for all I know at this point, provide great thuddy impacts. Or maybe not. Who knows! We’ll just have to find out.