Review Us for Discounts!

Hi all!

Just a quick one to let you know that we offer 10% discount codes for recommendations of our kit! It doesn’t matter how long ago you bought it – write a great review and link it to us via FetLife (@Edgeplay_co_uk) or e-mail (sales@impact-toys.com or sales@edgeplay.co.uk). Reviews can be posted on FetBook, FetLife, the product pages on our websites, your own personal blog or website, Tumblr… it doesn’t matter! As long as we can find it and link other customers to it.

A few Ts&Cs just to keep things fair for everyone:

• Reviews should be stand-alone posts – while we of course LOVE comments on our pictures and threads, to get 10% off codes your review needs to be a writing, article, photo-set, thread etc in it’s own right or a review on the product pages on our website.
• Reviews should contain a link to Impact-Toys.com or Edgeplay.co.uk if being posted off-site
• Reviews need to be of reasonable length – again, we LOVE it when you get excited about our kit and have great things to say about it even if it’s just a couple of words, but to qualify for 10% off codes the review needs to be at least a couple of paragraphs and give a good description of the item and how you’ve enjoyed using it
• Reviews need to remain available as long as possible – we collect the reviews so that we can make them available to our customers, so in order to qualify for the 10% off codes the review needs to be in a format that we can provide a link to and stay ‘live’ online
• We offer one 10% code per review, per order – if you place three orders and write three reviews, that’s 3 x 10% codes! If you place one order for three items and write three reviews, we’ll love you forever but that’s only one 10% code (sorry!)
• You don’t have to own something to review it! If you had a great experience with one of our toys then get typing and claim your 10% code

So what are you waiting for? Dust off your keyboard and let us know how much you’ve enjoyed your toys!

http://impact-toys.com

http://edgeplay.co.uk

Whipmaking - Progression and the Mark VI Bull Whip

So I have already moved the whip making forwards and started using leather shot bags and bolsters in the core of my whips, moving on from the lead weighted core I developed over the past few years.

It has been an amazingly steep learning curve, just from changing one thing.

My new leather splitter has arrived as well - who would have thought shaving off 0.25mm of leather would make so much difference to the thickness of a whip?

Now comes an even bigger learning curve…  I have been making whips “wrong” for 4 years! Well, not “wrong” exactly… read on and you’ll find out.

When I started making whips I used a ball chain core which made the whips very thin. To get a decent 16 plait I would add an extra belly to give it some bulk and taper, meaning my 16 plait whips had two plaited bellies. As I progressed onto lead weighted whips I just adjusted the strands of weight down to achieve the desired diameter and taper, giving a nice weight and feel in the hand.

So I move onto using shot bags and apply the same formula:  shot bag core, 8 plait belly, 12 plait belly, 16 plait overlay. The whips are turning out a bit chunkier than I was previously making them –  not a huge difference, just about 25mm (+/- a few mm)  in diameter but they are quite chunky, very much an American style whip.  The trouble being that if I wanted to slim down the whips a little, I’d have to make the shot bag narrower and if I did this too much, I couldn’t get the lead shot down the whip far enough to be effective, leaving me with a quandary!

Also I could never work out why it takes me so long to make a 6 footer 16 plait when other whip makers are doing them in half the time when our speeds are comparable on a 12 plait. Mystery!

After a couple of conversations with a couple of the UK’s top whipmakers, I have come to the decision I have been making them “wrong”… now when I say wrong, I mean I am doing more work than necessary. There is no need for the second belly with a 16 plait shot bag whip as there is enough weight and taper built into it,  so effectively I have been over engineering them and doing far more work than most if not all whipmakers are doing in synthetic whips with a shot bag core. This also means that comparatively I have been underselling my 16 plait work compared to the amount of work other makers are putting into theirs (about 100 foot of extra cord plaiting or 2-3 hours).

So I redesigned my 16 plait bullwhip last night and proceeded to make a single belly 16 plait 6 foot and wow! What can I say? It was a real eureka moment. Not only is the whip sleeker (about 22mm at the handle), it is more responsive and has some real life to it. My heavier ‘American Style’ whips with the two bellies are great for targeting but this is a totally different animal.

When I first started making whips someone said to me “you never stop learning”. This is just so true! You never do… you never stop learning, evolving and making a better whip, trying construction methods, trying new dimensions and materials keep trying to push the envelope.

So, this is the MKVI bullwhip 16 plait 6 foot

Thats the head scratching over with until the next time I find something I want to change/improve/modify.

Oh, and for all you lovers of big heavy American style whips, do not fear! I am not doing away with the old faithful 2 belly 16 plait. It will be available still but priced more in line with the amount of work involved in it.

- Daz

Check Out Our New Checkout

-tumbleweed-

Ahem! Anyway...

As part of our ongoing mission to improve the user friendliness of our sites, we've introduced a new payment option on Impact-Toys.

It is now possible to pay by credit or debit card without being taken off to PayPal, which we understand can be a confusing experience for those unfamiliar with PayPal or who don't have a PayPal account.

We have three payment options:

Card Payments (NEW!)

What you see: a seamless checkout experience that looks and feels just like the rest of Impact-Toys. No abrupt graphical changes, no wizzing off to PayPal or having to scrabble around with Internet Banking. User friendly and secure!

How it works: card details are submitted via a fully PCI compliant checkout and are sent along to Stripe, one of our secure payment gateways. Everything is fully covered by SSL security certificates and 100% legal, and we don't see or handle any of your payment details. None of your payment details are collected or stored by our server, giving you peace of mind.

PayPal

What you see: once you have entered your shipping and billing address and checked your order is ready to go, you are taken off-site to PayPal where you have the option to log into your PayPal account (if you have one) or to pay by credit/debit card. You will then be returned to our site where you will get an order confirmation. Great for those who regularly use PayPal for their on-line shopping or for those who prefer to pay by card.

How it works: PayPal are a fully secure and PCI compliant payment gateway. With a great reputation worldwide, PayPal is a user friendly and highly trusted solution to taking payments online. As with our main card payment option, we do not see or handle any of your payment details and nothing is stored on our server. The only details we handle are those necessary to complete your order and send it out to you.

Direct Bank Transfer

What you see: when you checkout via our Direct Bank Transfer option, we take your shipping details and then give you our bank account details. Perfect for those who like to use internet/mobile banking.

How it works: we do not take any payment details from you and you don't have to worry about online security. Just take down our bank details and then choose how you wish to pay - over the counter at your bank, or by your trusted online or mobile banking provider.

Sound good?

We think so! Let us know what you think in the comments or by e-mail (sales@impact-toys.com). Any thoughts on other changes you'd like to see?

Please note: we plan to roll out our new card payment option across our other sites soon, but it is currently only available on Impact-Toys. You can still pay by bank transfer and PayPal (including card payments for those without a PayPal account) on Edgeplay.

(I'll probably get punished for that awful pun in the title but it was so worth it...)

Play Piercing/Needle Play Guide

Piercing the skin with hypodermic needles in a non-medical capacity is practised for many reasons, such as:

• Body piercing with jewellery (aesthetic)
• Body piercing with jewellery (spiritual/religious/symbolic)
• Hook pulls and suspension (recreational/spiritual)
• Artistic piercing and skin corsets (aesthetic/sensation, temporary)
• BDSM (sensation/sadism/masochism)

Here we're going to talk about needle use in BDSM and for temporary artistic piercings such as skin corsets.

So why do people use needles in BDSM?

The act of piercing the skin with a needle can trigger the body to produce hormones such as endorphins and adrenaline, which may cause desirable feelings in the person being pierced. This is one reason why some find body piercings ‘addictive’ – they find themselves craving the experience of being pierced as much as the final result. In BDSM, we can utilise these feelings to create rewarding experiences without creating a long term body modification.

Piercing can also create interesting physical sensations, including pain. Depending on the dynamic of the people playing, these sensations can be inflicted for the pleasure of the top/dom/sadist or desired by bottom/sub/masochist, or both.

Some also enjoy the atmosphere and the connotations of needle play, such as those with medical fetishes.

What was that about hormones?

When we pierce the skin with a needle, we trigger the nerve endings in the skin to send signals to the brain that the body is being damaged. In response, the brain produces endorphins to help manage pain. This can create endorphin ‘rushes’ or ‘highs’ which can cause a happy, giddy feeling or a floaty, light headed feeling. The body also produces adrenaline in response to perceiving itself as being under attack, and some people enjoy the feeling of an adrenaline rush (similar to why some people enjoy extreme sports such as sky diving).

There are numerous factors that contribute to whether a needle play session is painful or pleasurable, and this guide will help you explore different ways to use needles in your scenes. This guide will also discuss the safety aspects of needle play, the risks and what you need for a hygienic needle play scene.

To read more, check out the full article on our website

Sounding and Invasive Urethral Play

(You can now find this article on our website!)

Go to any sex shop (either online or physical) and the chances are you will find a selection of urethral play products, from short penis plugs to full sets of urethral dilators. Go to any BDSM forum and the chances are you will find pictures and posts about play sounding. It is popular as a form of medical play, as a self-pleasure tool and as a sadomasochistic act, and if anything it's popularity is increasing now that big-league sex shops such as LoveHoney and SexShop365 are stocking sounds and urethral play toys.

However, play sounding is perhaps one of the most misunderstood acts in our lifestyle.

With the availability and popularity of this act, it is easy to assume that it is relatively risk free. Especially when you can buy a set of non-sterile chrome-plated sounds from a major retailer with no safety advice or warnings. Why not buy a set and try them, see what everyone is raving about? Surely if it was actually dangerous, there would be more advice out there, especially from seeming sex-experts (are we calling them 'sexperts' now?) who make a huge profit from the adult market. Surely, if sounding was actually dangerous, sounds and dilators would be treated with deserved caution, rather than widely available from 'vanilla' sex retailers?

Alas, it is not so. Anyone can buy a set of sounds with the peace of mind that comes from dealing with a large, successful and reputable company. Anyone can open a leatherette case, take out a sound they bought in good faith as safe and appropriate for the intended use, smother it in Durex lube (or Astroglide, or KY Jelly, or whatever your preferred brand is) and slide it down their urethra, and do so while none the wiser as to the risks they are actually taking.

Because it is one thing to ignore advice or take a great risk, and quite another to not realise you are actually taking a risk because the very people who should be warning you are the ones cheerfully taking your money without a second thought.

Now, I'm all for RACK, I'm all for players doing their own research and I'm all for personal responsibility, but I also believe that if enough people out there are performing urethral play in a very risky (and probably not risk aware) manner, how is a newbie to know what questions to ask? How is a newbie even to know that there are risks to consider, if the boards are full of photos of people sticking Sharpie pens in their cocks?

So what is so dangerous about sounding? And how can a responsible player mitigate the dangers of urethral sounding and still have an awesome time?

DANGERS OF INVASIVE URETHRAL PLAY

• Mild urinary infections - getting the wrong bacteria down the urethra leading to annoying urinary tract infections. It stings to wee, you feel a bit unwell, you need to pee lots. Quite common, usually a case of drinking cranberry juice and a trip to the GP for antibiotics.
• Moderate/severe urinary infections - a nasty UTI can be hell to deal with. Maybe it'll reach your kidneys and you'll need to be hospitalised. Maybe you'll need several courses of antibiotics. Might have you out of action for a few days... or a few weeks. You might have lasting damage to your kidneys or bladder. You might get renal failure. You might need to be on dialysisfor the rest of your life.
• Abscesses - build up of dead and infected organic matter, usually caused by urinary trauma combined with an infection, and which can lead to further trauma and infection
• Urethral strctures - often caused by trauma to the urethra, strictures are bands of scar tissue in the urethra that can cause problems with urination. Problems passing urine can cause infections, swelling & inflammation, pain, frequent urination... which can lead to more severe infections, kidney damage, kidney failure, the creation of a false passage, etc
• False passage - this is when something causes a new channel to open up in the urethra, for example due to a sound being forced down or handled roughly once inside. This can lead to urethral strictures, bleeding, infections, etc.
• Bladder damage - if the sound goes down too far or is roughly handled, you could cause trauma to the bladder, including tearing it, which is not only really painful but leads to infections and the need for surgery.
• Prostate damage - as the prostate glad is close to the urethra (one of the reasons sounding often feels good for those born with a penis), rough sounding or using an inappropriately sized sound can cause damage to it.
• Rectal damage - if you puncture the urethra, you could tear through to the rectum which is not only very painful but introduces fecal matter and rectal bacteria into the urinary system, which is a major infection risk.
• Urosepsis - this is when an infection from a UTI gets into your blood, it is a form of sepsis. Sepsis is also known as blood poisoning. Identifying and treating sepsis quickly is a case of life and death. Around 1/3 of people worldwide who develop sepsis die.
• Septic shock - if sepsis is not treated quickly enough, it can develop into septic shock... which can lead to organ failure and death

And how can you decrease the risk of these complications?

• Do not force the sounds or handle them roughly (wanking someone with a sound, or wanking with a sound in, forcing them down the urethra, pushing when meeting resistance, not using ample lubricant, etc) - gentle, careful sounding with an appropriately sized dilator decreases the risk of trauma that leads to bleeding, strictures and false passages (and in turn reduces the risk of infection)
• Use sterile sounds - the bladder and urinary tract are actually sterile parts of the body and they are also quite vulnerable. UTIs are pretty common even when someone isn't ramming an 8 inch metal rod covered in who-knows-what down their urethra, because the penis/vulva are often covered in bacteria and other micro-organisms, and they can easily make their way inside without proper hygiene (especially after sex). And no boiling or soaking in alcohol will NOT sterilise anything. Really, it won't. You want single use sterile sounds or a way of sterilising at home such as an autoclave or cold sterilising fluid. And remember, as soon as you expose the sterile item to the air, it gets contaminated so sterilise just before you play, not as part of post-play clean up
• Use medical grade stainless steel/medical plastic sounds, or single use medical catheters, or sterilised silicone plugs - sure, that set on SexShop365 is advertised as "stylish chrome-plated brass" but you don't want that in your urethra. If the chrome plating flakes or degenerates, you could get bits of metal flake in your bladder or a reaction to the brass core (not all brass is created equal so you don't know what other metals are included in the alloy). AVOID. Same goes for urethral plugs made from 'jelly' or some unidentified plastic. It needs to be body safe, internally safe and sterile/able to be sterilised.
• Use lots of sterile lube - no, not your Durex out of the pump dispenser, and not that lovely passion-fruit scented warming massage oil. STERILE. SINGLE USE. And lots of it, ideally put directly into the urethral from a sterile syringe.
• Clean the opening and surrounding flesh - be it the penis or vulva, clean it in the shower/bath and then liberally coat it with something like iodine or surgical scrub to really clean it. You want a layer on the skin that no micro-nasties are able to live on or travel over.
• Sterile gloves - everything that touches the sound or urethral opening needs to be sterile, so glove up properly. Non-sterile gloves are great for prep (applying surgical scrub, etc) but when it comes to the actual sounding, you want sterile gloves and to keep them sterile (so don't pick up a bloody camera or use your phone without changing your gloves afterwards, jeeeeez)
• Sterile fields - usually found in woundcare kits and clean area packs, these provide a sterile surface on which to put sterile tools such as sounds to help avoid contamination (only sterile things, including your hands, go on the sterile field, not all the packaging etc!)
• Sterile procedure/aseptic technique - no, having a ton of sterile kit isn't enough if you're going to ruin it by contaminating it all. See here for a comprehensive guide to sterile technique
• Pay attention to you partner's reactions/your reactions - if they/you are in pain, that might be really sexy from an S&M perspective, but it's a good indicator that you are doing damage... see the aforementioned risks
• Discuss all of this with anyone you want to sound with and don't let a "nah, it'll be fine" attitude get in the way of your/their safety. Discussion of risks is part of informed consent.

Eeeeeek! So if you should avoid plated brass sounds and if the big sex shops don't know what they are talking about, where do you get quality urethral play products?

• Stainless steel sounds - van buren, rosebud, hegar
• Sterile catheters
• Sterile lubricant
• Iodine and surgical scrub
• Sterile fields
• Sterile gloves
• Sterilising fluid
• Surface sanitation

Even with all of these steps, sounding is not 'safe'. It is still very much RACK (risk aware consensual kink). We're not trying to nanny you or kill your buzz, we're just trying to reduce the risk of you dying of renal failure.

More details on urology, urinary trauma and urinary infections can be found on these sites:

• Urology Health
• Uro Today
• Sepsis Alliance
• Addenbrooke Hospital patient information (note, the 'common side effects' - greater than 10% of patients are likely to get these, and they occur even when proper sterile procedure is used)

Still serious about trying sounding? Good luck, look after yourselves and have fun

Edgeplay_co_uk

What do you need for play piercing...

We got a lot of questions from people who would like to try sharps play but are not sure what they need, so here is a helpful list of the essentials and some recommended extras:

The Essentials:

• Your sterile sharps of choice (needles, scalpels, sutures, etc)
• A sharps bin - this is a legal requirement for the safe disposal of opened sharps and is very important for reducing the risk of needle/scalpel sticks
• Alcohol wipes (or similar disinfectant wipes) - these are to clean the skin prior to using the sharps, even if the person has just had a shower!
• Gloves - latex or one of the many non-latex varieties, these procedure gloves are invaluable for reducing infection risk when breaking the skin as hands are very hard to clean and the gloves can be 'freshened up' with alcohol gel during the scene as well as reducing the risk of cross-contamination in the event of a needle/scalpel stick.
• Gauze swabs or other clean (ideally sterile) wound care swabs - these are for controlling blood trickles and cleaning up the wounds after play.

Helpful Extras:

• Clean area packs - these packs contain a sterile paper sheet that can be laid down to create a 'clean area' for your sterile play supplies, and some contain gloves and gauze swabs as well. Recommended
• Bio-haz bags - useful for containing any contaminated swabs and wipes as well as needle cases, these can go in the general domestic waste.Recommended
• Skin marker pen - a skin safe pen for marking out designs
• Ribbon - for skin corsets and other designs
• Alcohol gel - for 'freshening up' gloves during play if you need to handle something other than your sharps and the cleaned area of skin. Also good for glooping all over the recipients skin for added post-play tingle... I mean cleanliness! Recommended

Everything here can be purchased on our website, Edgeplay.co.uk

We also do a range of starter kits and taster packs:

• Needle Taster Pack - not yet on the website, this little pack has a handful of the essentials for a single short session to allow someone totally new to needles to see whether they like the experience or not in a safe manner.
• Needle Starter Kit - the older sibling of our needle taster pack, this kit has a selection of needles in a range of sizes as well as the necessary safety supplies to allow for a few sessions for those just starting out with needles. It also comes with a set of instructions that will guide you through and answer questions you might have.
• Scalpel/play cutting starter kits
• Skin staple starter kits
• Skin corset kits
• We can also put together suture kits and body piercing kits.

If you have any questions or would like to enquire about an order, contact our profile on here or e-mail sales@edgeplay.co.uk

Check out our page of sharps play resources!

Needle Price Update

Thanks to another price and supplier review, we've been able to drop the price of our play piercing needles yet again!

Starting at just £3.50 for a box of 100:

• 16 Gauge (white/1.6mm) by 1.5 inch - £22.00
• 18 Gauge (pink/1.25mm) by 1.5 inch - £4.00
• 18 Gauge (pink/1.25mm) by 2 inch - £3.50
• 19 Gauge (cream/1.1mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 19 Gauge (cream/1.1mm) by 1.5 inch - £3.50
• 19 Gauge (cream/1.1mm) by 2 inch - £3.50
• 20 Gauge (yellow/0.9mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 20 Gauge (yellow/0.9mm) by 1.5 inch - £4.25
• 20 Gauge (yellow/0.9mm) by 2 inches - £3.50
• 20 Gauge (yellow/0.9mm) by 2.75 inch - £3.50
• 21 Gauge (green/0.8mm) by 5/8 inch - £3.50
• 21 Gauge (green/0.8mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 21 Gauge (green/0.8mm) by 1.5 inch - £3.50
• 21 Gauge (green/0.8mm) by 2 inch - £3.50
• 22 Gauge (black/0.7mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 22 Gauge (black/0.7mm) by 1.25 inch - £3.50
• 22 Gauge (black/0.7mm) by 1.5 inch - £3.50
• 23 Gauge (blue/0.6mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 23 Gauge (blue/0.6mm) by 1.25 inch - £3.50
• 24 Gauge (purple/0.55mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 25 Gauge (orange/0.5mm) by 5/8 inch - £3.50
• 25 Gauge (orange/0.5mm) by 1 inch - £3.50
• 26 Gauge (brown/0.45mm) by 1/2 inch - £4.25
• 27 Gauge (grey/0.4mm) by 1/2 inch - £3.50
• 27 Gauge (grey/0.4mm) by 3/4 inch - £3.50
• 30 Gauge (yellow/0.29mm) by 1/2 inch - £3.50

All our needles are in date, sterile and either Terumo Neolus or BD Microlance - no cheap imports!

And of course, we're still offering our mixed needle packs starting at just £2.75,£3.00 needle taster kits and needle starter kits from £19.00!

We're continually reviewing and updating our prices, always looking to bring you quality medical and edge play supplies that don't break the bank. We believe our latest price update makes us the cheapest supplier of needles for UK fetish and BDSM, and of course we offer a free advice and back-up service for needle and sharps players, along with comprehensive written guides that are available in our kits and on our website.

Edgeplay_co_uk