Hello kinksters,
Today is a Part 1 of a two-part post. I hope your week has been going well, mine has been quite dandy. More things have arrived, and you will hear about them soon. This week, I am painfully excited to share this post. I’ll save you the tl;dr anxiety, and just tell you off the bat: Today’s post is part 1 of 2, reviewing leather gear by “Army of Men” from Australia. Specifically, the Bulldog Harness in Blue, and the Bulldog Cockstrap. We’ll get back to that in a second, but I want to give some context for the elation (if you just want the damn review, skip the next paragraph).
In the past year or so, I have been undergoing a sexual identity reconstruction. For most of my sexually active life. I was under the very wrong impression that anything beyond the world of vanilla was “other” and “weird”. Thankfully, I have encountered some incredible people who have helped me reexamine the boundaries of my sexuality and discover more about myself than I could have on my own. To a very special trio (whom I will humorously discreetly name the “Vermont Glitch-mob”), I want to give them my love and thanks. One of the things I wholeheartedly accept into my life now is my total kinked out feelings about leather. I am a professional seamster, and sew leather pretty regularly, because I make special boots for trapeze artists. I love the feel of leather, I love its texture, and shine. Now, I can also totally say, a stud in leather (including myself) gets me going. When I knew I was going to be re-structuring Fetish Friday into a weekly column, I started connecting with companies all over the world, and the owner of Army of Men responded very enthusiastically, and here we are.
Derrick, owner of Army of Men, responded to me when I began researching companies and products to discuss on my Fetish Fridays. He was super generous with info about his company, and products, and helped me with my selection. After bouncing back and forth with him, we selected the Bulldog Harness in Blue, the Bulldog Cockstrap, and the Leather Jock Base in Blue, with a Chevron Codpiece (you guessed it, in Blue). Everything is made to order, because Derrick makes each piece to fit your measurements. Today, I’m going to discuss the Harness and Cockstrap.
I have a X shaped harness in Neoprene, but this was going to be my first real leather harness, and I was really excited to get the Bulldog harness. As a pretty chesty guy (read: professional aerialist), the Bulldog harness draws focus to my broad shoulders, and chest. Derrick himself makes everything, and builds harnesses with a three snap amount of “ease” so you can snap the straps one step tighter or looser than your “baseline” (with the snaps being about an inch apart). When I opened my package from him, the first thing you notice right away, is the quality of leather being used. As I said, I work with leather all the time, and he is clearly choosing very top grade hides. This harness has a triple layer of leather: a doubled outer layer, with a single black leather layer lining the inside against your skin. His rings are quality metal and welded shut. Snaps are strong and sturdy (and custom colored to match the different leather colors and thread he uses).
Putting the harness on, this harness is magnificent, Blue straps over the shoulders and around the sides of the torso, with a black straps including centered D rings across the front and back. This D ring is for the second item I got which is the Bulldog Cockstrap. This strap snaps onto the D ring in the front of the harness, and reaches down to a ring which goes around your…read the product name again. It comes with two firm rubber rings, but the strap snaps around the D ring up top, and the ring down below, so you can switch it out to a ring of your choice. The Cockstrap also has an adjustable belt buckle to make it shorter or longer. The leather lining makes everything hug your body so sure and warm.
Being a professional seamster who was “raised” by a group of incredible impeccable seamstresses (thank you Jamie and the Temple University Costume Shop), I can tell you that Derrick puts a lot of love and dedication to his leather work. They are pristine, and bold, and strong. His design eye is also innovative, and not just sticking to the basics.
This is just part 1 of the two parter for all the stuff I got. Thanks for tuning in. I think next week, we’ll tackle some of what I received THIS week in the mail, and then we’ll do the 2nd part of Army of Men the week after. If you have a sec, I’d love it if you’d all comment below your own journey with leather, or if you haven’t and want to, let me know. It’d be great to hear from y’all.
Until next time, keep it kinky! TtheAmazing over and out.
