//Last Updated: 04/01/2014 This is some general information I've accumulated on fire play over the years via experiment, demo's, research, etc. Use at your own risk. Fire play is best learned from someone experienced in person. Suggestions, corrections, comments should be sent to multicsfan at hotmail.com. There are several types of fireplay. See notes at end before replying;) I've put a couple potential ideas at the end in very rough draft form. There are never any guarantees in fireplay about what will happen. Fire is unpredictable so no matter how well/safe you setup a scene an accident can happen. The best you can do is set things up so the likelihood of an accident is minimized and the severity of the undesired effects are also minimized. One drop of alcohol is safer then two, which is safer then three but if you use too little you can't get the effect you want. 1) The most standard/common is using alcohol (70% isopropyl or equivalent), 70% (140 proof) is about the lowest concentration of alcohol mixed with water that will burn reliably. 50% (100 proof) is about as low as you can go and get any flame at all. An applicator, such as a cotton ball, swab, or fire wand is dipped in the alcohol and then a line or pattern is drawn on the skin and then lit. When done properly the alcohol will burn for a second or less before going out on it's own, though many will brush out the flames quickly. Often the alcohol will burn out faster then the hand can wipe out the flames afterwards. The fluid is applied to flat surfaces and care is taken to make sure there are no creases, etc (belly button...) to hold a pool of alcohol. The person lies on their stomach for alcohol on the back and on their back for alcohol on their front so the flames go up away from the skin. Some people like to use Everclear. The 'victim' will usually feel a brief amount of heat where the alcohol has been lit. The normal result is no more then a light red mark not even in the sunburn 1st degree category. If there is real pain then either the victim is overly sensitive to this type of play (rare) or it has been done wrong (more common). There are many fire 'toys' like wands, canes, paddles, whips, etc that can be used. It is best to find someone experienced to learn from. A well planned and executed example that is a little more then the beginning fireplay (need a free account on college humor): http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1637524 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VyWoB1mwVg The fire is toward the middle and not well planned. Too much alcohol and not enough quick extinguish planning. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1616641 A good example of what NOT to do. The alcohol on the breasts part was mostly ok, though he may have used a little too much fuel. the fire breathing using her burning breasts to light the blown alcohol was very bad as it spread a lot more burning alcohol over her chest and crotch. For the amount of alcohol and type of stunt they did not have enough fast extinguish planned. 2) Fear factor fireplay. No actual pain is really planned, just the fear of it. (there can be fear in the other types, but fear is not the main goal of them). An example of this is the victim is placed in an appropriate position for the scene and may be either bound or unbound. A long candle is inserted into cunt and/or ass and then lit. Depending on position, the victim may or may not be able to watch the candle burning down closer and closer. Hot wax may run down the candle again depending on the position. The victim can safeword in things get too hot for them. (more then one candle per hole can be used as well). One example of this might be the victim is blindfolded. One or more long fireplace (10+inch long) matches are inserted in front or rear. Top has previously prepared several bundles of matches unknown to victim. Top runs lighter around victim to show they have fire. They randomly light either the inserted bunch or a fake bunch held close to inserted ones (but not too close) so victim can't tell which was light. Victim has to guess which was lit with penalty for wrong guess. Same could be done with a taper candle and victim has to guess how much candle is sticking out when they ask to have it extinguished. 3) Clothing can be set on fire using various fluids (axe spray, perfume, etc). The details determine the safety and amount of pain. The best way I now to talk about this is give some examples. Here are some from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rGmHE3II74 Flaming tassels. Looks impresive, but requires something to go wrong to cause a problem. I've also seen this with the tassles on butt checks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9KHVkZvpi8 As long as you are reasonably safe this is pretty safe. Axe, perfume, or some type of alcohol was sprayed on too lightly to really set the material on fire and in a small enough area it is readily extinguished. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrqU-y75_c Same as above but burning butt. Note that the fire burns up the back of the pants so some of the heat was going faster to the seat ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34BFNabta1I Burning crotch, again too light a spray to set the material on fire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEjIof87x78 The big problem here is again the fire is going up the back of the butt and there is nothing protecting the skin above the waistband. http://www.sgeinc.com/~pyro/binaries/ This is my personal kinky 'website'. Feel free to look around and let me know if anything you find sounds interesting or forbidden. There are 4 jpgs starting with a number and centerburn in this folder. These pictures were done for me by an online masochist into very heavy breast torture, though the pictures are mild as they were taken by a vanilla friend who she didn't want to weird out. Notice that only the upper sides of the bra were burned, not the very front or underneath or sides. She did get a second degree burn from the center burn as the bra was soaked through and both side of the material burned in the gap. For real play she will use paddles with carpet tacks sticking through them as fire extinguishers and not start until it starts to really hurt. 4) Flash paper/powder/string. Place on the top surface like a fluid and light, these materials provide a fast bright flash with little heat transfer. Showy but pretty safe if you don't go overboard. Flash Paper is preferred, the others are not as safe. General prep, planning, safety, and notes (You may know some of this but I never assume everyone knows everything so don't complain about the long boring details ;): 1) To reduce the chance of burns stunt gel or similar can be used. I have not tested this, but I've heard that vasalene can help, but is a poor substitute compared to stunt gel. Substitutes will work for bdsm type fireplay as bdsm fireplay is not big and visible like most movie fire stunts. More information on stunt gel can be found at the following urls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnuBaFwFn3g http://www.zeller-int.com/categories/fireret/zeljel.htm http://www.rogergeorge.com/expendables/pyro.shtml 2) Heat rises. If you light someones breasts/bra/etc on fire and they are leaning over breasts down, the fire and heat will go up into the breasts/chest. If they are on their back or standing (and only upper surfaces are involved) then the heat will rise away from the breasts/chest. 3) Make sure you work in a fire safe area. You don't want to do fireplay in a barn full of hay or a room with a flammable carpet/curtains/objects. Everyone should take a careful look around to check for potential problems. 4) Make sure you have more then sufficient fire extinguishing capability for the type of fireplay you are doing. If outdoors or in a water safe location, a garden hose should be handy. Also regular fire extinguishers, but read and check safety for the type(s) you plan on using. CO2 can cause frost bite as well as disrupt oxygen in an enclosed area. Dry chemical can cause other problems if hit in the face. Garden hose and fire extinguishers are good as emergency backups if things go really wrong. Depending on the details I like to have one or more soaking wet cotton towels handy as well as a few cups of water. Even a wading pool for outside play can be useful if the victim is loose as they can jump/lower themselves into the pool. As a general rule, the type of fireplay used in bdsm is small enough that it can be extinguished sometimes with just a quick breath or a few pats. 5) Remember that hairspray, perfume, aftershave, etc are often flammable. Make sure to wash off any of these before doing fireplay. 6) In the context used above, safeword does not mean end the scene, but whatever code word/etc you want the victim to say for immediate extinguishment. This must be something short like NOW, not something long like supercalifragilisticexpealidosous. Things can happen FAST in fireplay. What is a nice warm feeling one second can be way too hot the next. 7) If your flammable is in a bottle, it and any other containers are well away from the fire area before lighting up. Preferably the container is capped and not easily breakable. Spray type bottles/containers that are always covered except during filling are best. 8) With the fluids used here, the fluid itself does not burn, it's the air/vapor mix above the fluid that burns. This is how kerosene and alcohol lamps work. All but the end of the wick is protected by the fluid. This is even true with candles. When a light spray of fluid is applied and lit, often times the flame will only last until the fluid is gone. Not enough fluid is applied to actually set the fabric on fire or burn the skin when applied directly to skin. 9) Unless you know otherwise and have experience and knowledge, the only fluids you should use are alcohol/water mixes and lighter fluid. Alcohol less then 50% will not burn or not long enough to be any fun. One way to start is take 70% and see how it burns (not on a victim) and slowly add a little water until it barely burns and then add a little alcohol back to get a mix that has just enough alcohol to flash over and go out immediatly. 10) When setting clothing on fire always test a sample of the material first. I prefer 100% cotton as some synthetics have very undesirable burn characteristics, ie, burn very hot, drip burning/molten plastic, poisonous fumes, etc. Foam rubber (used in some padded bra's) can be very nasty. 11) If you want something that looks more impressive then it is with extra safety, use a layer of nomex clothing soaked in stunt gel underneath everything next to the skin. There seem to be others these days, but nomex is the one I know the most about. 12) Remember that any skin you set on fire will have all the hair removed. I do know someone who has used alcohol and fire to shave her legs. Burning hair smells so do not burn hair inside. Also be careful to protect any hair you don't want to burn, unless you like the bald or random bald spots and scars look. 13) Make sure you have appropriate first aid handy for treating any burns including those you don't plan on. Ice packs are good to have as well as the tissue below the skin can keep cooking once the fire is out. DO NOT put ice directly on the skin as you can cause frost bite/damage. Know where the nearest emergency room and medical assistance can be found/called. 14) Heat does not transfer instantly. There is a delay. The more insulation, the more the delay. If you put a think cotton bra on top of one or two thick ones, you can slow down the heat transfer and if you use stunt gel and/or nomex you can make it very slow. I've chatted with one person who wore a bra that was on fire for over 2 minutes and she never felt more then uncomfortably warm but wasn't burned at all. 15) If setting fire to clothing, remember that if there is any gap under the burning area, the fire could break through and burn on both sides of the material. If the victim dressed in a skirt and standing and you set the seat or crotch area of the skirt on fire, it is very possible for the fire to burn on the inside, particularly if the fluid used has soaked through the material. If it is a light spray on top of the material, then that is much less likely to be an issue. Same is true of setting a bra on fire. If the fire goes from breast to breast and there is a cleavage gap, the fire could burn on the inside of the bra where that air gap is. Some possible ideas for adding fire to a scene as a part of the scene (Unlews otherwise noted all assume clothing is set on fire, no direct skin on fire): A) You are (optionally tied) face down/butt up. A candle is set so at some random time you don't know, it will set the seat of your pants/panties/etc on fire. lighter fluid or other slow evaporating fluid is applied to seat to make the actual ignition and determine how much or little is set on fire. The Top has a paddle. When you think your butt is on fire you say SPANK ME. Perhaps clover or other clamps are attached to your nipples holding a small bucket. If your butt is not on fire then another assistant adds a weight to the bucket. This happens each time you say spank me and your butt is not on fire. If your butt is on fire then the Top starts spanking you to put out the fire or some predetermined number of swats or maybe only once for each time you say SPANK ME. Most paddles will put the fire out on the first swat, but using something that moves less air like a crop or cane might extend the required swats to more then one swat. B) Similar to above but you are face up and your breast area clothing/bra is set on fire at a random time. C) A series of punishments are written on pieces of paper. There are 20 of them with the lightest numbered 5 and the heaviest numbered 100 going up in sequences by 5. You are at the starting line. Your seat is set on fire and you start running. You can sit down at any time to put out the fire. Each 5 ft you travel is one less punishment you have to take. If you go 20 ft then you only have to do punishments 25 through 100. If 50 ft then 55 through 100. An option here is instead to write the punishments on slips of paper and you have to draw one for each 5 ft you dont make to the 100ft mark. The type and thickness of clothing and area on fire would determine how long before your 'seat gets too hot'. 2 or three heavy cotton briefs under jeans would allow a longer run then one pair or 3 pairs with no jeans allows longer then one pair. D) You start flat on your back. Your hands are tied out to the sides. Your legs are attached to a spreader bar. Your legs are lifted by the spreader bar over your head so you are bent at the waist and resting on your shoulders. Candles are inserted front and rear and then lit. While these candles burn your breasts are tortured. hot wax, clips, clamps, etc. until you say too hot and the candles are blown out, possible with a flogger to the crotch. E) You are standing with legs spread in a fixed location. You can more your torso back and forth. clamps are used to attach a 2 ltr/qt container to your labia. You can bend your knees so you can squat enough to let the container rest on the ground taking the weight off your labia. The container starts empty. You are wearing shirt/bra/clothing over your breasts. Candles (or other ignition source) is placed under each breast far enough away that when you stand fully you are safe from ignition. If you do squat enough to let the container rest on the floor your breasts will be set on fire. A second bottle is placed higher then your container and a hose run between the two bottles. Water is allowed to flow slowly from the full container to the empty. The Top can see when your bottle is full. If you squat and your breasts are lit you can stand back up and your breasts will be extinguished with a cane/crop/rod/paddle and as needed more fluid applied to your 'bra'.