Trigger Warning: Blood play, cutting, blood and knives
When I first filled out my BDSM checklist, I felt entirely insufficient. For every one activity that I really wanted to try, there were two that I said I never wanted to try. There seemed to be infinitely more zeros (which indicated hard limits) than threes (which indicated things that I definitely needed). My partner and I looked at our lists in despair and wondered if our bondage, spanking play, and other such tame yet kinky activities were far too vanilla to be considered part of the lifestyle. We shrugged our shoulders, tucked our checklists away, and decided we could call ourselves kinky if we wanted to, and moved on assuming that we would never even consider any of those zeros ever again.
I did not seek out any of my zeros intentionally when I read blogs or perused people's online kink profiles, but some of them seemed to find their way onto my computer screen. I opened my mind to new things. The people who participated in these activities and publicly discussed them online seemed like normal people. This helped to dispel some of my initial trepidation.
My trust for Chief grew as we attempted more of the twos and threes on my list and suddenly we found ourselves suddenly being drawn to things that we never thought we would be interested in. Our most recent, and most dangerous addition to our kink is a combination of knife and blood play.
These activities take many forms, so I can only tell you of the ways in which Chief and I play and the safety precautions that are required.
Knife and Blood play, as you can probably guess, comes with a lot of intrinsic danger - so before embarking in this type of play, you need to make sure that you have an adequate safety kit ready, though you should really have a safety kit nearby whenever you are participating in kinky play. For this style of play, you should make sure that you have antiseptic, Band Aids, gauze, ice packs, and anything that you need to prevent sub drop (a stuffed animal, a blanket, a book, a pillow, etc). Make sure these things are within reach and that you have a phone nearby to call for help in case things get out of hand.
Please note: If you are on blood thinners, have a clotting disorder, are squeamish with blood, or see cutting as a trigger then this activity is NOT for you! You should also never participate in any form of kink activity when you are angry as it then falls under the category of abuse, not BDSM. Remember that your SAFETY comes first.
The above picture indicates safer zones for spanking and cutting. Purple circles are critical zones, where a knife should never go for risk of causing fatal harm! Red zones are DANGER ZONES. Here, veins are close to the skin increasing the risk of cutting a major vein or artery or a tendon. Yellow zones require caution and green areas are totally fair game. That being said, you are playing with a knife, and you still need to be incredibly careful of everything that you are doing. Knife play should never be mixed with sex or other types of play simultaneously because of the safety risk that the knife could slip and cut a dangerous zone.
Now, there is a difference between knife play and blood play according to general internet consensus. (Please note that some blogs indicate that knife play involves being stabbed in the gut with a knife and this is not what I am talking about.) From what I have found online blood play involves cutting the skin deep enough to draw blood from the cut. Knife play involves the cutting of the top layers of skin, but not deep enough to draw blood, because there are seven layers of skin before you bleed.
I am never bound tightly when we are participating in knife play because it can impact balance, circulation, and if I needed to go to the hospital for any reason, that would be one more step impeding the process of heading there. We always lay down a towel to prevent blood droplets from falling on the sheets, and we keep our safety kit within an arm's reach.
Over a dozen knife play tutorial videos available on Kink Academy!
My favorite part of knife play is exhilaration because I do not know exactly what Chief is going to do to me when I am laying there and he is holding the knife. He usually alternates between three forms of play:
(1) Drawing the dull back of the blade over my skin. The steel is cold and it leaves a mark upon my skin, and in the heat of the moment you cannot always ascertain if you are being gently cut, or simply scratched - thus you still get the excitement without the risk. It also is safe to gently draw the dull side of the blade over the red zones of the body (you should not draw the dull blade over the purple circles however because the risk is too high).
(2) Gently cut into the top few layers of skin with the sharp side of the blade, but not drawing blood.
(3) Gently cut the skin in order to draw a line of blood.
I enjoy both knife and blood play because of the potential danger that it presents and my deep trust for Chief. My fear and my trust are both so strong that these activities overwhelm me and I am incredibly euphoric.
As with all other BDSM activities - this should be following SCC standards and there must be constant communication between you and your partner. If you are at all uncomfortable with this form of play, then you should not participate. If you become uncomfortable during play, then you need to be able to communicate this with your partner. Remember that even as a submissive you have a major say in the activities within which you participate. Do not put yourself in danger just to please your partner.
Further Resources on Knife Play and Cutting
