Firecupping 101

A human stegosaurus...

 Firecupping is one of our most recent forays into learning new things from FetLife friends. It's actually a massage technique offered at many day spas locally, and so, while we learned about it as a BDSM activity, it's more of sensation play then anything D/s or S/M.

The basic process is: wipe the inside of the cups with 91% alcohol (found at any local drug store in the first aid section), place the cup upside down about 2 inches from the skin, place a lighter under the cup and flick it until the alcohol on the inside catches fire, remove the lighter and place the cup down on the skin (while the fire is still burning), the fire quickly burns out when the oxygen is cut off and the resulting lack of oxygen between the cup and skin forms suction that sucks the skin and top layer of muscle up into the cup. Leave the cups on for 10-15 minutes (the longer you leave them the darker the hicky marks), and while they are on, you can tap the cups, tug on the cups, rub the skin around the outside of the cups, do some light flogging or knife play, give your subject an orgasm, or whatever the feel of the scene is for you both. Then remove the cups either by twisting, sliding, pulling, or wedging a finger under the rim of the glass to break the suction (tho are listed by level of "pain" with twisting being the most painful and breaking the suction with a finger being pretty much pain free).

Add some scratch/smack play...

I love having many different sensations mixed in together with the Firecupping. This picture shows a wooden spoon being used to alternately scratch and smack the flesh around the cups. Every sensation is heightened by the fact that the skin (and nerves) are pulled tight under the cups. Add all sort of feelings together and the subject (me) can sometimes almost be overwhelmed by all of the sensations. It's borderline overload at times.  In my opinion, it's better when a blindfold is used, that cuts down on one sense and helps focus your attention on all of the other senses - main one with Firecupping being touch.

Multiple hands on me makes for a nice scene...

 One of the things that I really enjoyed about this session was having the attention of multiple sets of hands on me. There is something nice about knowing that four or five people could be taking turns using varying tools and/or their hands on my body. It adds a comforting emotional element to all of the physical sensations going on within the body throughout the Firecupping.

I think symmetry is important (i.e. don't use 3 cups, use 4) up and down the spine... or on the butt, or boobs, or wherever you place them. When you're pulling them off pull straight up and don't twist or slide (unless you want the pain). When a lot of alcohol is used in the cups, the tightness of the skin pulled up in them can be borderline painful, but as someone who likes pain, that's OK to me. I think it has something to do with the more alcohol the more the fire burns before going out and the tighter the suction.

Cut off my breath and smack my ass and I am in heaven...

I also like breath play... and having the Dragontail whip looped around my neck added another level of sensations that increased my pleasure throughout this session. My body (and I'm sure everyone's) gets pleasantly tingly when I feel something tighten around my throat. My man knows the pressure points in my neck to knock me out completely, which he will do at times and almost brings me to orgasm from that alone, but even just a slight pressure around my neck can make me squirm in pleasure. My body tightens, my pussy dampens, and my entire sub side comes out as I lay there and willingly put my life in anothers hands. The little crop shown above also added sensation after sensation as it was used on my back, ass, and even on the Firecups themselves. That's another thing that can be done... alternately tug and push on the Firecups themselves. This is part of the massage techniques used and really works the skin/ muscles/nerves in and around the Firecups.

Only "downside" to Firecupping is the unavoidable marks that are left behind. I personally love being marked by anything as its a constant reminder of that activity. Bruise me, cut me, whip me, cane me, Firecup me... anything that leaves its mark on me is enjoyable. The best activities are ones that you can't forget, that every movement reminds you of, that people can see the effects of and ask you about.

I definitely recommend Firecupping to anyone who is into sensation play or even simple massage. You can customize this activity to be included in whatever your personal kink is through breath play, whips/floggers, knives, etc... Its cheap to set up your own kit from the dollar store, easy to learn or teach someone to do on you, and very very relaxing and enjoyable.