Ah goody, a topic near and dear to my heart.

Bruce building the frame is only half the job. Unfortunately people don't come with built in rigging points, so we have to get creative.

A couple of things to keep in mind. When doing suspension by the arms blood flow will be reduced because of the force of gravity, reducing the time available. Also the shoulder joints and muscles are used to having stress applied with the hands over the head and the position causes reduced blood flow as well. Also the weight of the person and physical condition play a large role. As a general rule if the person you are truing to life is over 150# or so you could have problems with muscles, tendons and possible dislocations. While this varies greatly with the physical condition of the person. Our main goal when trying to fly a person is to apply the force over a large area as possible and to locations where the body is able to withstand it.

You said you were using cuffs. If they are the common kind with a 2" piece of leather and a strap and buckle you will have problems as all of the force is being applied to the skinny strap in the middle and the wider piece isn't doing anything for you. You need to find or make some suspension cuffs that are wider and have the D ring attached to the edge so that it fits in the palm of the hand. This will distribute the force along the entire cuff and arm and by having the D ring in the palm prevent force from being applied to the inside of the wrist. It also gives her something to hold on to and steady herself.

As for suspension from the feet, the same applies. While the position of the legs here isn't as much of an issue and the joints and muscles are much stronger they still have the same limitations. slavegem's suggestion of suspension boots is a great one. The main characteristic here is that they lace up the leg a ways. This distributes the force and aligns it. Keep in mind though with inverted suspension our old friend gravity will be pulling the blood to the head. This can cause headaches and unconsusness so keep an eye on the clock and check your sub regularly. About a half hour is the max.

So now everyone is disappointed by the time thing, I'll let you in on a couple of secrets you won't see in pretty pictures.

They actually make harnesses to do this and you can buy them. They are called fall arrest harnesses. They go around the shoulders, waist and upper legs. One of their main purposes is, as the name applies, is to keep you from falling to your death if you work up high. They also have a variation with positioning rings that allow you to hang on the side of a building and work safely. Many of you may have also seem the repelling harnesses used for repelling and mountain climbing that just go around the waist but those aren’t useful here. These are available at your local Dom Depot type store and from such online catalogue stores in the US such as Grainger. If you go in person, particularly to a safety store don't tell them about BDSM, as with medication, this is an off label use and becomes a liability issue and they may refuse to sell to you. These can be used safely to lift the biggest of subs and with a minimum amount of wear and tear. Once the harness has the weight you can get out the cuffs and take care of positioning the arms and legs.

A few other things to keep in mind when doing suspension, all gravity related. Probably the most important and the most overlooked is the hardware and its limits and ratings. Lets say for the sake of easy math that your sub weighs 200# and you have them suspended off the floor when you come along and give them a sharp whack with the new paddle. The sub pulls up in glee and then drops down from the effect. The force due to gravity and inertia is several times the 200# weight of the sub. In the entertainment business, when lifting people, we generally use a factor of 4 to 5. So using a factor of 5 that 200# sub just applied 1,000# of force.

So what does this mean hardware wise. First you should only buy rated hardware, shrives (pulleys), rope, links etc. When you buy look for a rating stamped on the piece in pounds or kg. It will usually be listed as SWL (safe working load). For rope look for the same and keep in mind that the rating is with no knots. Knots reduce the strength of a rope by 50 to 75% depending on the knot. You can find these type of things sometimes at the Dom Depot and boating stores. For quick connections we all like the snap rings. Ratings are important here too. I use carabineers used for climbing, which will carry a rating. These are available at the camping store. Remember no rating no buy. The last thing on hardware is the eye bolt. You can always find the bent metal ones that screw into wood. These have a bad tendency to pull open and pull out of the wood. The better choice is to use forged ones with a closed eye and with a machine screw that goes all the way through the wood and has a big washer and locking nut to keep in place. This arrangement will prevent the eye from opening and the threads from pulling out. Never use hooks.

So there you go the very condensed version of the suspension class. Now go play safe, play often and remember to : have fun.