Since I first met Chanta Rose during a trip to the States in 2003 to cover a Las Vegas bondage convention, there’s been quite a lot of water under the bridge. Not least at WaterBondage.com, one of three extremely successful websites that Chanta ran for CyberNet, San Francisco’s kings of extreme internet BDSM.
Australian-born and bright as a button, Chanta spent time in London working as a Page Three glamour model before heading for San Francisco to become, first, a bondage model and then a bondage rigger, art director and webmaster. Her career at CyberNet came to an end when she was diagnosed with cancer, which she beat, only for it to return again quite recently. That she beat it for a second time is no small tribute to her focus and determination, especially considering she declined chemotherapy on the grounds that losing her beautiful long hair would have been a sacrifice too far.
While Chanta (on the left in this picture) is no longer associated with CyberNet — the split with them was acrimonious to say the least — she is still very much involved in the professional BDSM scene. Not only does she now run her own websites (her first two are BondageExpert.com and ChantasBitches.com) and rig for other bondage sites, but she has also become a bondage educator — a rôle for which she is well suited thanks to a winning combination of intelligence, articulacy and a down-to-earth attitude to sex. She has been teaching workshops on a wide range of bondage-related subjects, from photography to suspension to electrical play, and she has now turned one of her favourite workshop topics into a beautifully produced book called Bondage For Sex (top picture).
Published by BDSM Press and available from Amazon as well as numerous kinky outlets, Bondage For Sex is a book that delivers exactly what it says on the cover. Not only does it distil the author’s knowledge about the many different ways of tying your partner up for some hot action in a straight-to-the-point, eloquent and easily absorbed style. It also recognises, to a greater degree than any other work on the subject, the importance of really good photography. For the first time, a serious book about bondage techniques comes in a very stylish glossy coffee table format with a full complement of high quality colour visuals — see example below right. They’re by one of Chanta’s longtime collaborators, who also happens to be one of Los Angeles’ most accomplished BDSM photographers. Take a bow, Ian Rath, the man behind the legendary Fetish Nation website.
To promote her book in the UK, Chanta has been doing workshops with people like JustRope as well as signing sessions at venues like Coffee Cake & Kink, the Covent Garden coffee shop with the unbeatable USP. I dropped in on one of these CKK gatherings last week, and found Chanta deep in conversation with a mixed bag of people including some obvious enthusiasts and others who were still at the curiosity stage. She was equally impressive whether answering questions about BDSM, property investment or her battles with cancer. If she ever gets tired of bondage, her openness about dealing with cancer could be as a valuable to others trying to beat the disease as her openness about pervery surely is to those anxious to embrace a life of kink more fully.
In the latter area, everyone was very impressed by the pretty girl in the blue dress (left and above) who volunteered (well, begged) to be tied up by Chanta so that our visiting rope expert could demonstrate some of her moves on live flesh. So inspiring was this encounter that the evening ended with the young lady in question deciding that she wanted to become a bondage model, and the rest of us agreeing that it was a wise decision and debating the perfect professional name for her. Now that’s what I call a successful meeting.
For the record, Chanta reckons this girl definitely has what it takes. You know, little things like maintaining a cheerful disposition even when your your elbows are tied tightly together behind your back (see below). And if Ms Rose has her way, her new discovery will be turning up at a kinky URL near you very soon. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for her first appearance on a naughty website to see the debut of new British bondage model Sophie Croft, because it was recorded at Coffee Cake & Kink by yours truly. Remember where you saw her first.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to listen to Chanta talking about erotic bondage, her book and related fetish subjects, there’s a great audio interview with her available from Fetish Flame, the San Francisco-based pervy podcast site. Fetish Flame 23 is free and you can download it directly from the site or from iTunes. What are you waiting for?
www.bondageexpert.com
www.chantasbitches.com
www.coffeecakeandkink.com
www.fetishflame.com
www.fetishnation.com
www.justrope.co.uk
