Rope Care and Maintenance Workshop

Whether you've just bought your first set of ropes, are thinking about investing in your own kit, or don’t properly understand how to maintain your ropes then learning how to care for your rope is an important part of developing safe and sustainable Shibari practice. This workshop is designed to help you make informed decisions about the ropes you buy, as well as giving you the knowledge to care for them throughout their working life.

Designed for those taking their first steps into rope and those who want to understand better, we'll explore the characteristics of the most common rope materials; including jute, hemp, coconut fibre and synthetic ropes. We’ll discuss the advantages, limitations and maintenance requirements of each.

This workshop is designed to give you a better understanding of which ropes may best suit your budget, preferences and style of practice.

Together we'll cover the essentials of rope care:

• How to inspect your ropes for wear
• Recognising common issues
• Understanding how ropes change with use
• Different types of rope ends and finishes
• Distorted strands
• Worn bights
• Cleaning and conditioning natural fibre ropes
• Storage
• Tips and tricks for everyday maintenance
• How different knots and styles of tying affect wear over time
• How changes in a rope's texture can influence grip, handling and knot behavior
• Identifying when a rope can be maintained or restored, and when it has reached the end of its safe working life

Participants are encouraged to bring one or two of their own ropes to examine and work on during the session.

There will be opportunities to discuss individual maintenance questions, assess the condition of your ropes together, and demonstrate practical maintenance techniques.

By the end of the workshop, you'll have the confidence to choose rope that suits your needs, care for it throughout its lifetime, recognise when maintenance is needed, and understand when it's time to retire a rope from use.

Frayed Knots began their rope journey at Anatomie nearly eight years ago and has been tying regularly ever since. Their practice is primarily aesthetically driven, often combining knots, weaves and patterns to supplement traditional Shibari styles.

An occasional teacher and performer, Frayed Knots co-founded Loose Ends, a Bristol rope community created while they were living in the west of England, before subsequently relocating to London.

Curiosity and creativity sit at the heart of their approach to rope. Their teaching focuses on understanding why things work and the principles behind a technique, rather than simply learning harnesses as sequences of steps to memorise. By exploring the thinking, benefits and considerations behind different approaches, they aim to give people the foundations to adapt what they learn, make informed choices, and develop greater confidence in freestyling and creating rope that reflects their own practice.