KnotHead

KnotHead, who also writes the name as knot_head, is a bondage rigger and rope photographer who makes and sells hand-dyed nylon rope under the name Knot Head Nylon. His work centers on Western-style bondage, and the Rope Podcast introduced him in 2024 as “the nylon guy” in a two-part interview on Western rope and rope photography.

Rope and style

The biography on his own site says his interest in bondage began with handcuffs from a flea market, neckties and the belts of bathrobes; the site puts that start 25 years back, while the Rope Podcast’s 2024 description says 30 years. His first rope was Japanese in style, but by his own account he later moved toward strict, clean and efficient Western bondage, naming Jay Edwards, Matt Williams, Lew Rubens and Claire Adams as the riggers he followed. What he cares about, the bio says, is strict, simple positional bondage and what follows once the tie is done, with challenging predicaments as his favorite form. The first podcast episode covered how he defines Western bondage, how it differs from Japanese rope, and the difference between positions that work in play and positions made for photographs.

Knot Head Nylon

According to the same bio, his search for soft, strong and brightly colored nylon led him to develop his own dyeing process. Friends asked for rope kits, then their friends did, and the business grew out of that. The shop offers custom lengths and colors and ships internationally. His tutorials page explains how he ties with the material: because nylon is slipperier than jute or hemp, frictions and diagonals should not be relied on to hold structure, but nylon is much stronger than natural fiber, keeps its strength longer, is not affected by water and can go in a washing machine. Among the knots he recommends are the Sommerville bowline, which he says has been his main single column tie for about three years, and the Farrimond friction hitch, an adjustable quick-release knot that he says stays stable in nylon.

Photography and teaching

The podcast says he took up photography about ten years before the 2024 interview; his site describes his aim as showing kinksters how to get good pictures with the equipment they already own, in almost any setting, and making both rope and photography easy and enjoyable for learners. The second episode covered how Western rope photography developed, model releases, the order of tying during a photo shoot as against play, and his concern about people starting to teach too early.

In 2016 the website of the ROPECRAFT rope convention carried a page for Knothead, filed with the posts for its New Orleans event of 4–6 November that year. For ROPECRAFT Chicago 2018 the convention announced a one-day photography intensive with Knot_Head, open to 15 photographers with any camera including phones, with lighting as the main subject, critiques of participants’ photos and a one-hour shoot assignment. The archived copy of that page marks the intensive as sold out.