Image: Energy Arc, central electrode of a plasma lamp – Piccolo Namek, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing up in a country known for its agrarian-based economy, I learned pretty early on that touching an electric fence was not a good idea. At the age of six, the jolt I experienced upon touching a live wire (of sufficient strength to keep Black Angus bulls contained in the appropriate paddock) was not only enough to make me dance and hop about like I was standing on hot coals, it also instilled a healthy respect for electricity and electrical devices in general.

I was the kid who was too frightened to touch the metal edge of the trampoline for fear of receiving a static shock.

I was the kid who was too terrified to touch the plasma globe at the local science show for fear of the unpleasant sensations it might generate.

So how on earth, you might ask, did I become interested in violet wands? Or, more accurately, how did I become interested in having one used on me?

Well, that’s the funny thing about kinks and, really, sex in general. Over time, as you explore your own personal hot buttons, become more comfortable with what they are and how they make you feel, it’s entirely possible for them to morph and change. Open up doors to places you may never have thought you’d venture. And suddenly, you find yourself peeping into a room full of possibility that, mere months before, you’d have locked up tighter than a prison cell.

But that doesn’t really answer my question, does it?

I’d have to credit my initial curiosity to a select group of electrical play scenes described in fictional texts. Inexplicably, and despite my previously described feelings about electricity, certain extracts evoked a response that I would, previously, have thought impossible. None of these situations described the use of a violet wand as punishment, although I appreciate that others might use them in this way (with the consent of the person being punished, of course). Rather, they were contextualised within exploratory and sensual parameters, with the wand being seen very much as a tool to heighten both erotic discovery and evoke feelings of deeper submission and trust. Take, for example, this extract from Maren Smith’s erotic romance Kaylee’s Keeper:

‘“At the first snap and subsequent buzz, she jerked back, but almost immediately reached again. Tap, flinch. Tap-tap, flinch. She spread her wildly buzzing fingers out and finally just let it chew its blue lines all over her shaking palm.”

.

.

.

“Are you reading to trust me?”

Trembling, she nodded.

He smiled again, and oh, how that look made her feel. Like his praise, his softly uttered ‘good girls’ bolstered her and helped to keep her fear in check while he lay her back on the coffee table and began to strap her down.’

You may say at this point, ‘Well, that’s all very well, Jane, but you realise that fiction is exactly that – fiction. And what occurs on the pages of a book can not, and should not, be used as a guide to real-life experience.’ And I would say ‘yes, you’re right – to a certain extent’. Because, ultimately, books are about gaining power through knowledge. Would I read an article on mountaineering and them immediately set off to conquer Everest? No. I would not. But I might find that article interesting enough to make some tentative enquiries down at the local alpine club and ask if I could come in and talk to someone a bit more about it before signing myself up for a beginners’ course.

And that’s what happened with my burgeoning interest in violet wands. I Googled. I read some non-fiction articles about them. I confessed my interest to my other half. And then I attended the London Alternative Market and allowed someone experienced in operating one to show me what they feel like. (More information on that experience in my next Violet Wand Diaries post.)

Of all the things M and I have played with to-date, the violet wand has been the trickiest to master; because of the way it’s designed, the degree of variation in the sensations it can generate is significant – hence the idea for this post series. Bluntly, we haven’t fully gotten to grips with our latest toy box acquisition (even though we both understand its potential) and I thought it would be useful to chronicle our progress and our learning curve.

Stay tuned for part two …

The post The Violet Wand Diaries: Part One appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

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Oh, ho-ho. Michael knocked it out of the park with this joint read-and-review choice. Spanking, D/s, violet wands, vegetable safewords. Funny, hot and totally sexy.

MICHAEL’S TAKE

So Kaylee has been saving up for the moment of her life: a trip to The Castle, the hottest BDSM resort in Central Ohio. She gets to spend three whole days living out her fantasies.

She just has one teeny tiny little problem. She’s no clear idea of what her fantasies will be like in real life. She has never played, never been to a club, never done anything. And she is sure of one thing: if she tells The Truth, admits to her inexperience, she’ll be spending her entire stay in the kiddie pool wearing water wings.

So she lies. Not a big lie. She just wants them to think she has some experience. What could go wrong? It isn’t like they are going to drag her down to an underground dungeon and send in a Hulking Brute in an Executioner’s Mask with a Bullwhip, is it? Okay, so maybe it was a big lie.

What I loved most about this one was how patient the staff were with her. A fantasy doesn’t work out? Sure. No Problem. As soon as she’s dried her tears, they send her back to costuming and try again. (They had so many things to choose from in that department, I don’t think for a moment we saw everything it had to offer.) Not unlike Goldilocks, Kaylee just has to try and try again until she finds the kink that’s just right.

I think the most negative thing I can say about Kaylee’s Keeper is that it’s a little sad that The Castle isn’t actually real.

JANE’S TAKE

Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “Jane! Can you skydive?”
Jane: [Hell no, but you look kind of hot so I’ll give it a crack]: “Yes, of course I can! In fact, I used to be an instructor.”
Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “Awesome. Grab a parachute and get your arse in that plane over there.”
Jane: [How hard can it be?] “You’ve got it.”

6,000 feet later …

Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “Are you okay, Jane? You look kind of green …”
Jane: [Fucking hell this is high!!!] “Oh, fine, fine. I think I had a bad prawn at lunch.”

12,500 feet later …

Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “You ready to jump?”
Jane: [FUCK!!!] Totally … absolutely … er … definitely. My, that weather doesn’t look at all good, does it? Maybe we should turn back?”
Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “It’s 30 degrees and sunny with no wind.
Jane: [FUCK x 10!] “See! Terrible conditions!”
Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “Er, Jane? Are you sure you’ve done this before?
Jane: [Oh, my God. Does Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear suspect something? That I’m not, perhaps, the skydiving goddess he imagines? Act defensive! Put him off the scent!] “How dare you! What exactly are you suggesting?”
Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “That you may not know how to skydive?”
Jane: [He’s fishing! Play it cool; there’s no way he can know I’m not telling the truth …] “Now why on earth would you say that?”
Attractive Random Person Dressed in Skydiving Gear: “Well, for starters, you’re strapping yourself to the emergency first aid kit rather than your parachute.”

Have you ever fudged the truth a little? Massaged your C.V. to get that perfect job? Not been entirely honest on that health questionnaire: “How many times a week do you take regular exercise/eat chocolate/drink more than two units of alcohol?” (Never, no, every day, only at Easter, and only at weddings. (Snort.)) Well, Kaylee’s Keeper is all about what happens when a sub pretends to have a little – okay, a lot – more BDSM experience than she actually does (none).

“Have you ever engaged in BDSM play before? Kaylee checked off her answer, yes, and kept going, swallowing back that same slight twinge of guilt that she’d felt back when she first typed that lie. She had never played. Up until now, all of her spankings had been received through fantasy and daydreams.”

I loved this book for a number of reasons. It did a wonderful job of showing that the fantasies in our heads don’t always play out as we imagine they will in real life. It did a wonderful job of showing how important open and honest communication is between partners. It did a wonderful job of showing that we don’t automatically know what will turn us on, that we often discover these things over time, through experience, with patience. Oh, and it absolutely showed why it is never ever a good idea to lie to a Top.

I don’t want to say too much more and ruin this delightful tale for you, but I will confess that the violet wand scene at the end of this story is awesome, as is the one that leads up to and includes Kaylee’s first use of The Castle’s universal safeword, onion. You’ll never look at an Allium cepa in quite the same way again.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to purchase a copy:

Amazon.co.uk

• Kaylee’s Keeper (Masters of The Castle #2) – Kindle

Amazon.com

• Kaylee’s Keeper (Masters of The Castle #2) – Kindle

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