This post is part of an effort to provide a glossary for novice submissives of words commonly seen on this site and in the BDSM community.
One of the specialized talents that some submissives and slaves pick up is boot blacking. It holds its tradition in the leather community as an honorable service to a Dominant who is or has earned their leathers. For others, it is a way to ritually care for the Dominant’s leather goods - especially boots. Still, others use it as a form of worship, called boot worship.
BOOTBLACKING: Polishing and spit-shining a pair of boots, sometimes as a gesture of submission, sometimes as a part of a military-style uniform play, sometimes as part of boot worship, and sometimes to mark the beginning of a scene. Commentary: In some corners of the old leather community, bootblacking was used as part of a ritual between a dominant and a submissive; the submissive partner would shine the dominant's boots while the dominant sat above the submissive.
Every year the International Mr Leather and International Ms Leather hold Bootblack contests as a part of their convention. If you are interested in learning more, check out their pages.
How to
- Bootblacking Demonstration by Bella, Kentucky Bootblack 2009 (youtube.com)
- How To Do a Spit Shine by black
- Everything I Know About Bootblacking (FetLife discussion)
- Building a Basic Bootblacking Kit
Online Resources
- Anyone Can Shine
- Bootblack Forum (yahoo group)
- Bootblacking as a Scene - redwarrior’s battles
- Bootblacking Group (fetlife)
- Bootdog
- Shoe Lacing Methods
Books