A New Cover - Your Help Needed

Many, many thanks for the many congratulatory and supportive messages I have received, both as comments and as emails, on the first anniversary of my blog! I was initially quite unsure as to how my approach - and the subject matter of my blog - would be received. Indeed, with the publication of my first book and after my initial postings here, I was bracing myself for a deluge of judgemental condemnations - or at the very least, bemused misunderstanding. It is so gratifying to have met so many like-minded - or at least, tolerant - people willing to explore beyond the accepted bounds of 'conventional' spanking, S/M and D/S literature.

.....

But work goes on and now I have a favour to ask of you: As you probably know by now, I have been hanging back from more widely publishing INSTITUTIONALISED Vol 2 because I am not particularly happy with the cover as it stands. I have come to the conclusion that I would like to have something of a uniform look running through the entire series if at all possible - a sort of 'brand identity', if you will. As volume 1 has already been published through conventional channels its cover can not be altered; thus for better or for worse if I want to go down that particular route then the other covers - in this case, volume 2 - will have to be based around it. This is where you come in: below are three versions of the proposed new volume 2 cover design I have knocked-up today. The question is... which one (if any) do you like or prefer? Or should I stay with the present cover (as at the top of this post)? Or do you have any ideas of you own - some preference perhaps? What would make you want to look inside?

Let's call them version A,B or C respectively: Well, what do you think? Or are they all equally crap - which, incidentally, is how I'm feeling today. I'm pretty much confined to home: sore throat, aching limbs, high temperature - all in all a bit 'flu-like. Blimey! Grunt, grunt, grunt! My next posting will incorporate some of the stuff I have recently scanned in from my long-lost collection, now retrieved from the loft.

Happy Birthday My Blog - Behind the Barred Window is One Year Old Today

Greetings from North London, humans: Did you know that...wait for it...

Behind the Barred Window is One Year Old Today? I didn't and it's my baby - what a rotten farther! I only just realised, otherwise I would have come up with something special. As it is I have to go to Brent Cross (the local shopping mall) with the other 'alf (wife) and kids, who for some reason or other are off school today! How mundane - I'd much rather be working on a new version of the cover for volume 2 so I can get it finally properly published, ie with an ISBN and available through Amazon et al as with volume 1 (or better still - hangin' down the local pub, although the weather is a bit naff today anyway).

To see the first ever entry click HERE or check out the blog archive pull-down menu which can be found in the sidebar over on the right somewhere. PS: It is my birthday soon also - on the 16th (Thurs). I'm creaking and feeling ever more ancient by the moment!

Aussie School Uniform Summer Dresses, Soap Operas and Inspiration

Hi folks! You know, generally I hate TV soap operas (That’s ‘TV’ as in television, folks) but I used to just love those Aussie school uniform summer dresses that appeared on 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' (and probably still do for all I know) on the rare occasions that I came across either while Chanel-hopping. There is something juvenile about the styling, an image so robust that it persists no mater how adult the actress wearing it appears - and actually is, in chronological terms. And isn't that something a strict governess might strive to achieve with her charge - to undermine the young lady's burgeoning sense of adulthood and thus self confidence and Independence. Its all in the little details, the collar, the half-belt to the rear (right), the (some how essential) invert pleat at the front (top left). Quite a few of my ideas were informed during those fleeting views - and then later further bolstered by my discovery of a Yahoo group featuring those very uniforms (actually I seem to think there were once three, two featuring uniforms from 'Neighbours' and one featuring 'Home and Away' but the latter seems to have vanished).

.....

Of course, for my girls, my creations if you will, I would prefer to think of something a little more tailored. In my mind's eye I can see perhaps a nipped-in belted waist, a subtly flaring skirt and a high buttoning collar - either large, circular or of the 'peter pan' type - teamed with subtly puffed 'lamb-chop' shoulders and long, button-cuffed sleeves yet nonetheless essentially juvenile in the extreme.

.....

Why the long sleeves and high-buttoning bodice in a garment apparently deemed suitable for wear in warm weather? Discipline, simply that!

Anyway if you appreciate those Aussie school summer dresses you'll love the Yahoo groups: Neighbours Uniform Babes and its sister / overflow site Neighbours Uniform Babes 2 (As always; just click either to visit or see the rapidly growing Yahoo group list in the sidebar to the right)

More on Home Schooling, Victorian school uniform and Other Stuff

Hi folks! Well, what can I say; despite my best intentions for the life of me I couldn't get my wireless 3G Internet thingy to work sufficiently well to satisfactory update my blog while I was away travelling. I'm back in London for a few days and having done a fair amount of writing wall on the move I shall be concentrating on scanning various items from my collections that have inspired me over the years and at the same time looking for further inspiration for the two upcoming volumes that I outlined last time.

In particular I will be researching into the designs and styling of school uniforms of bygone ages, especially the Victorian era. As I said before; without giving too much away, the premise behind volume 3 is the idea of a pair of late-teenage sisters being schooled at home, having been removed from the conventional education system just prior to taking the final exams that would undoubtedly have opened the door to university placement and Independence. Their guardian’s original expressed reasoning being that, in this way when they did finally take those exams the grades they would achieve would be far superior - thus their placement that much more prestigious - seems belayed by the fact that some two years on, educationally they are still no closer to that goal, indeed if anything they are further than ever from it. The governess employed to rule over them, placing the greatest emphasis on discipline above all else, is of the opinion that there is little point in her attempting to further their education until such a time that she is satisfied that she has them both properly under her control, by which term she means living under - and accepting - what she calls ‘good boarding school discipline’. Two years of written impositions, line writing, parrot fashion rote learning of nonsense rhymes and meaningless tables of numbers - all under the constant threat of the cane or the strap - have undermined their expensive education and eroded their self-confidence.

.....

By the time we first meet them they are both completely and hopelessly under her domination and the question then is - under those circumstances, can either Susan or Meredith, joining them to make up a quartet for the summer, hang on to any semblance of Independence and self-reliance and will either be able to stand up for herself when at the end of summer she is handed documentation to sign there will effectively return her to the incarceration of the institution of experimental psychology? I feel it would be likely that, freed of the straitjacket of convention, any guardian or governess given totally free rein over a small select group of late-teenage girls in such a situation, particularly given the predilections of the particular woman discussed above, would expend no little imagination or effort in the design of a suitable school uniform, for what other form of attire could be more apt? Assuming that to be true, as the creator of the character, I too must expend a similar amount of effort and creativity.

.....

For example; in the situation where a girl is largely confined to the home or at most her excursions are limited to a very occasional, closely supervised and guarded stroll in the secluded and high-walled grounds of the house; three from prying eyes and well-meaning busybody interference I can well imagine elements that would normally be associated with so-called ‘shame clothing’ being Incorporated in her dress -I would certainly expect an emphasis on restriction in the design, as I have said before. Why the emphasis on Victorian school uniform? Well, the entire wing of the house in which the two sisters are pretty much incarcerated in one way or another has not one modern contrivance - even the lighting is by way of gas lamps - and it is furnished almost as if a museum exhibit of the Victorian era. Indeed by the time we meet the sisters their governess, along with her nursery-nurse assistant, is beginning to get them into the state of mind wherein in some ways they are actually beginning to believe they are really living in the 19th-century, so isolated have they become from the outside world under her influence.

But therein lies my problem as to date I found very little pertaining to Victorian school uniform, although I have come across one or useful sources dealing with the early part of the twentieth century. An example is the drawing on the top left dating from the 1920s; not likely to be particularly influential in my thinking - I'm thinking along far more fussy and restrictive lines - it is food for thought nonetheless. If anybody comes across any suitable pictures or descriptions or has any suitable ideas and inspirations please feel free to let me know either as a comment or by direct e-mail to yours truly.

Now last time I promised you a couple of links and here they are, albeit somewhat delayed (sorry). If you're interested in restrictive clothing as pertaining to discipline of the female than it's worth visiting Retroxotique (just click the pic on the left or site title to visit the fashion links - but I've also added it to the resource list in the sidebar). As well as vintage pictures they also have stories so click HERE for the site's story page or HERE to check out the story link list.

By the way, if you just can't get enough of those vintage spanking magazine covers and can't find enough of interest in my own album (see Picasweb album list in sidebar on right) then you'll be interested in a YahooGroup I recently came across that has literally masses. It is where the cover picture on the above right came from so just click on it to visit, or look for the link in a YahooGroup list in the sidebar (of course you have to join yahoogroups first).

.....

You might also like to visit The Woody Back to School Unit an interesting little blog I have neglected to mention some how (embarising considering the owner was kind enough to congratulate me on the publication of INSTITUTIONALISED Volume 2 on the pages of his blog!

The Posibilities Inherent in Private 'At-Home' Schooling as Pertaining to the Young Adult

It feels as if all I ever do these days is apologise, but after saying in my last post that from that point on I would be updating my blog every other day or so in actuality it has been something like nine days since you last heard from me. At that time such had been my intention but the opportunity unexpectedly arose for me to undertake something of cycling tour of the UK and given the marvellous (for the UK) weather we have been having recently I could hardly turn it down. I am home just for today and then I'm off again along the south coast but from this point on I really will be updating more often as I am taking a little lightweight laptop with me with wireless and 3G Internet connectivity. I'm also going to be doing a little work on the move on completing that small ‘in-between’ prequal/sequel volume I've been talking about as well as doing some preparatory work developing ideas for volume 3.

The latter volume, although set in the present, I expect will deal with aspects of imposed discipline more likely to have been encountered in the Victorian era, perhaps around the turn-of-the-century. I intend it to be a tale full of stiffly starched, tight high collars; restrictive, breath-denying and spirit-quenching bespoke corsetry; deportment training and the use of rigid backboards; crushingly tight little lace-up ankle boots; ruffled-seat bloomers with their leg-cuffs coupled by an intervening short length of fabric that, should it become torn or damaged in any way, can so easily lead to a prolonged caning or birching over a leather topped whipping stall; cutie-pie ankle socks or short gartered and beribboned stockings; sailor suits or ridiculously flouncy childish and feminine school uniforms, the crisply starched puffball sleeve blouse, its high collar tightly buttoned and as stiff as to require the girl’s chin be kept always slightly elevated - and beneath it, the tightly knotted and freshly pressed school tie. Although set in a domestic environment rather than some private institution, here we delve into the private world of the country house, with the live-in governess, children's nanny and having the school room once traditional in an age when home-schooling for girls was often seen as the done thing. In such a world a young lady of, although too old for school in the conventional sense, at least to modern eyes, might nevertheless easily find herself continuing her education past 17, 18 or even 19 years of age or older and within a disciplinary regime far more rigid than anything that might have been encountered in the outside world even at that time. Now imagine a situation wherein such an environment has been recreated, down to the tiniest minutiae of Victoriana at the whim of the guardian of a pair of teenage sisters, both already trained by the time of the beginning of the story to the point of complete and accepting docility. Now imagine two of our heroines from volume 2, our modern day misses, albeit somewhat tamed by their experience in the institution in which they have been recently incarcerated, delivered to the door and staring astounded at what appears to be a view of from a bygone age.

The part about the stiff, high, collars has been largely influenced by input from an e-mail correspondent of mine but also, more recently, by having seen a series recently screened on UK television - see the picture above that I scanned in from some television magazine or other (I forget which). So having been stimulated off I went typing search terms into Google such as “stiff collars + discipline”. I came across a couple of quite interesting links, that I will post up later this evening I also came across this great little drawing - it really sums up the possibilities when one is no longer constricted by convention; such as if one were returning a small group of girls of above school age to the world of school-room discipline behind high walls, shuttered windows and locked doors. The design of the school chairs in particular is devilish, consisting of little more than a narrow and uncomfortable perch and leaving the rear of the buttocks permanently within reach of the correction of their master’s cane. (Note the hooks on the wall, waiting to receive their school knickers upon entry.

An Anonymous Reader's Contribution and a Couple of Blogs to Try Out

An anonymous contributor has left a new comment on your post "A Reader's Contribution and a Note for Judith's Aunt:

"Combinations might make an interesting choice of undergarment, but it's worth bearing in mind that these were normally made with an open crotch like Victorian drawers, which produces a somewhat different effect. Of course you could have closed combinations made with the lining material of choice, or add some sort of button fastening down below. I think the 1920 style combinations which had buttons down the back meeting a drop-seat in an inverted T shape would be better since the drop seat would provide easy access for discipline and the back buttons would be equally inconvenient. "

Yes, I think that for my preference I'd have to go along with the 'drop seat' approach especially if in combination with a suitably bulky absorbent towel or even a diaper - should the young lady warrant it. I feel I really must apologise for having left a week between postings but I have been away, cycling around the East Sussex country side. From Monday (or Tuesday, depending on whether or not I do the London to Brighton cycle ride) I plan to return updating on a more regular basis, perhaps every other day as I used to. My trusty note book goes everywhere that I do and I have been working on putting together some ideas regarding the structuring of the 'inbetweeny' volume that I have been talking about recently and also as regards the revamped cover for volume 2 that I wish to get completed before publishing that volume fully, ie through Amazon et al. Meanwhile a couple of blog links have been sent to me that you might like to explore: the first is Britsh Spanking . net (just click to visit), the link wasn't working when I tried it just now and so I am presently holding back from including it in my sidebar blog list (I am sure this is a temporary glitch, though, so keep trying and let me know).

.....

Also someone signing himself 'Spanking OTK' has left a new comment on the post "A Liberal Dose of the Nurse’s Tawse": "you have a nice blog. I wonder if you like exchange links between our blogs. Let me know! best regards ". I'd love to - but I have no idea of the blog address! Any ideas out there? Talking of nurses and tawses (which strictly speaking we weren't) someone recently sent me the photo of the wonderfully traditionally stern and uniformed matron adorning the top of this post - what do you think? The two school uniform pics are more from the set of scans I spoke of last time and originated from one of the Blushes, Whispers, New Supplement magazine stable (not sure which) and date (I think) from the mid 1990s.

.....

Bye, bye for now - Garth... somewhere in sunny East Sussex

A Liberal Dose of the Nurse’s Tawse

I have been getting on with a little bit of long over-due scanning today and came across this old photo that I thought I’d long ago lost and that I thought I’d share with you. I can’t quite recall where it originated but it has been stuck on a piece of cardboard with glue since the mid to late 1980s or early 1990s at the latest which explains its rather sad condition. Suffice it to say that this picture was almost single handily responsible for spawning my interest in nurses and their uniforms as depicted in a dominant role and went a long way in influencing the way in which I tend to depict the characters of the institution staff in my mind’s eye when writing.