Happy Birthday Poly

Happy Birthday Poly? Now, what can that be about? I hear you ask. Well, apparently it is the 70th anniversary of the production of polyester, along with nylon the mainstay of women's uniforms and workwear design throughout the 60s and 70s and even 80s (and still today in one form or another, usually as a mixed fibre -but is not the same, is it?). I know this because I had the BBC on the radio yesterday in the morning and it was a whole feature on Radio Four here in the UK extolling the virtues of polyester in those shiny houseboats, overalls and uniforms I am sure many here can remember. Imagine my amazement on hearing a woman on the radio going on about the 'sensual feel' (if slightly sweaty and static ridden) and sound of polyester and how many housecoat and so on from that golden era she owns - it was almost fetishistic.

Now as you may have guessed, I have been focusing my energies mainly on getting the book finished - presently hovering around the 450 page mark and with a little more to finish and go in, I really now do envisage it being released into parts in some manner, the first of which may be ready as early as the week after next. The trouble is that now, along with my dodgy knee and my rather painful foot - that as you may remember some idiot ran over in his car - I now have a touch of severe man-flu (i.e. what my other half describes as a mild cold - but I know different). I have recruited a kind soul (or rather he has offered his help) who is presently aiding me with editing and proofreading some sections (as well as contributing some fresh ideas).

Despite these various pressures I have been able to put aside a little time to play with the blog. Last night, following on from the aforementioned radio show I lavished a considerable time chasing links to stuff about polyester in the hope of dredging up suitable imagery for today's blog entry. Strangely it all got sidetracked and although I found precious little suitable on polyester I did somehow stumble upon a series of French language blogs and a couple of other resources which I thought about showcasing today. But first of all I set out to tackle a couple of comments that had been appended during the past week to the last posting I made why back last Sunday. It all got a little carried away so I thought I'd include my ramblings here... so...

Referring back to the comments left on my last post: I think 'Anonymous' has hit the nail on the head when he (or she - I've learned my lesson, ha ha) says "a uniform has to be something that stands out as being shameful to wear" and that "the 'girl' should look childish, silly and not have a thread of modesty" - although I would personally substitute 'self-esteem' or 'self-confidence' for the word 'modestly'. 'Orage' also has a point when she reiterates that "females regard the most bizarre outfits as normal". If this were the 1950s or 60s or perhaps even the 1970s then this subject would not be quite so problematic and fraught with complication. It is instructive to note that many of the writers I admire and that work in the genre I'm interested in tend to set their tales in the Victorian era, turn-of-the-century (19th /20th) or the 1930s. Indeed when I first set out I myself was tempted to set the scene in the 1930s and 1950s.
One only has to read this edited extract (below) taken from 'The Family Doctor' 1898 (apparently) to grasp the problem.

“Sir, I had long intended to bring to your notice just how the system of keeping girls in short frocks as long as possible is an excellent one. There is no particular hurry needful in the dressing of girls as women and I'm sure that the mere fact of wearing a short frock and with having her hair kept unsophisticatedly coiffured is enough to keep the silly thoughts and inclinations of many girls of sixteen or so in check. There is something about the delicate combination of the dress of a young girl of thirteen or fourteen with the rather slender yet womanly figure and confined waist of a young lady of perhaps seventeen or eighteen - a woman in her own right - or even one approaching her early twenties that makes for a rare and rather lovely picture. I would argue that one can have no hesitation in punishing a girl dressed in this manner by means of the rod or whip, while I would suggest that one would hesitate in caning a young lady if her true age was clear and her appearance appropriately adult.
Two girls of my acquaintance are much marked upon on account of their short frocks and young appearance. Should it be desired to retain some extra element of modestly, then silk knickerbockers of a suitable colour may be worn reaching almost to the knee but the frock should be kept short enough to allow the trimming of the drawers to peep out. The latter perhaps might be decorated around the cuffs with ribbon bows so as to soften the severity of the costume while retaining the necessary formality so important in instilling good discipline. Despite the childish brevity of the skirt, there is no reason why a girl's neck and arms should be left to the ravages of the sun and the frock should therefore be high in the neck, long in the sleeves and may be quite constricting in both the thus discouraging any unladylike extravagance of movement and instead encouraging passivity and a sweet, submissive demeanour.
Although of nearly seventeen summers their stepmother is very careful of their looks in spite of their schoolroom dress. They are fair, each possessing a splendid mass of light brown hair falling over their shoulders and are generally dressed in blue, their skirts reaching two or three inches above their knees, displaying legs encased in black stockings. Their figures are invariably enclosed in regular rather closely-laced corsets which as many people used to say gives the promise of very slim tightly laced figures. Their hands and complexions are always carefully protected from injury from the sun or air”.

I don't doubt taking such an approach would have been efficacious at the time - but in the present era? But then the other 'Anonymous' (or is it the same one - that's the problem with being anonymous!) Talks about "old fashion school clothing like gym slips worn with a boater" and a whole new world opens up. Even if we satisfy ourselves with such styling as it actually would have appeared at the time there is much mileage to be had - even though a young lady dressed in that manner no matter her age, up to appoint at least, would not have raised an eyebrow in the relevant era. If we start playing with that concept a little, however - stretching the boundaries between what would have been expected in what would have seemed unusual even then, perhaps playing with different and perhaps inappropriate fabrics, incorporating unusual colours or extreme details of styling - then the scope becomes wide indeed. For example, if we're talking about developing a school uniform suitable for the intractable late teen continuing her education at home, under the tutelage of a strict governess or some other suitable personage, we have no need to limit ourselves to the usual muted school colours. 'Ware_simon' suggested in connection with the dress depicted in my last blog entry that it might benefit from being "in [a] pink candystripe", he also suggests the style be modified to allow for buttoning down the back (which of course with a little thought can be made most awkward the young lady concerned) and the addition of "a white satin sash tied at the back in a bow". And why not? (Thanks for the kind comment regarding the site by the way, Simon). I can imagine pillaging from a whole swathe of school uniform designs, perhaps even spread a couple of decades or so, cribbing from the best, or rather the most restrictive, oppressive and, yes, eye-catching, the most outstanding or unusual features - from a disciplinary standpoint.

And we don't even have to restrict our palate to school uniforms as such inspiration, for example if one takes the traditional school blazer then why not substitute it with a short cape based on the style that nurses used to wear but restricted to waist length - along with a short pleated skirt, white cotton gloves, a boater on the head, hair in pigtails and ribbons and her long coltish legs bare down to the little white ankle socks, their frilled turnover-tops threaded through with ribbon of a suitable colour and tied in a bow, it makes for a pretty picture of contrite shy embarrassment. Now factor in the discomfort of traditional full-bodied cotton interlock school knickers but manufactured with a layer of latex or PVC sandwiched between the inner and outer cotton (or why not nylon or polyester) layers, a tightly buttoned high stiff Eton style collar that barely lets her lower her chin tied around by a firmly knotted diagonally striped school tie, rubberised girdle and high-cupped longline bra or stiff longline corsellete. Perhaps underneath it all one might choose instead to put her in the traditional liberty bodice suspenders and black lisle stockings, a flat fronted candy striped school shirt blouse worn under a particularly shapeless gymslip and her breasts suitably restrained and flattened so that she doesn't even have the allure of her developing adult silhouette to fall back on, perhaps braces fitted on her teeth with or not she needs them. Then we have the possibilities inherent in the tightly belted gabardine school raincoat of old.

Then we have those "school dresses featured in the Australian soaps" mentioned by 'Cloudelover'. I'm sure that if the guardian or governess given control over a recalcitrant young Miss were to trace back the evolution of that styling a few decades or so he or she would come up trumps, with a little thought and imagination. Incidentally, thanks for the link, 'Cloudlover' - for those interested several entire galleries of examples of Australian soap opera school uniform dresses can be found in the Yahoo groups: Neighbours Uniform Babes 1 and Neighbours Uniform Babes 2. Although there hasn't been much activity for a couple of years on these two groups I think the galleries are still intact and perhaps a few of you out there might consider contributing a few pics of your own as I don't think either is limited to soap opera content necessary and a little activity might just get the ball rolling again on what at one point appeared to be a promising pair of groups (just click group titles or the picture top left or go to the Yahoo group listing on the right-hand sidebar). And all this brings me back to polyester again. Surely 100% polyester is the most obvious fabric choice for a practical, functional and hard wearing school summer dress such as might be envisaged.

By the way, anyone know of the magazine a couple of whose covers appear above. I came across them on one of the french blogs I mentioned but can't remember which - I'll get it sorted before next time. Translating from the French (or rather, having Google do it for me) it seems the author found them in a box in his house someplace and they date back to the 1970s / 80s (there are other examples on the blog) - but I thought I'd pretty much seen every spanking mag there is and has been and I have never seen or heard of that one!

To end: I feel I can safely say that all our thoughts go out to all those out there in Japan at the moment who are suffering. It has been one hell of a shock watching the news pictures over the weekend and a humbling experience for all of us, even those of us safely watching on TV, the way that nature can wipe entire towns off the face of the map in little more than a blink of an eye, despite all of mankind's much-vaunted technology and I wish them well.

That Old School Summer Dress

Just came across the blog 'Discipline Her' being "Tiffany Scarlet's spanking musings" on Wordpress.co (click to visit or check out the blog link list in the right hand sidebar). And I am jolly glad that I did, too as one of the first entries I happened to blunder upon – not necessarily the latest – featured this brace of charming shots taken from Blushes (I think it was – certainly one of that stable; though it might just be from Roue I suppose) that I did have in my collection at one time but that seems to been mislaid over the years; I have been looking for a replacement for some time in fact. The photo set this is taken from dates back to the mid to late 1980s though the room setting might almost suggest the 1970s.

.....

The dress design itself possibly dates from the late 1960s. Why I think this is that I once uncovered an old woman's magazine dating back to that period featuring a pattern for a near identical dress while taking up some lino in a house I was involved in renovating. It is the modest high collar that I think makes the thing work and though not perfect I still think it goes a long way towards forming the design basis for a school uniform summer-dress suitable for the older teen being educated at home or indeed held in a strict privately run institution.

.....

Any thoughts or suggestions? What improvements /changes might you make, if any?

School Uniform for the Less Mature Older Teen and Twenty-Something

Remember when a while ago I featured a composite construct created and sent in by a contributor of his vision of the ideal school uniform suitable for the late teen or even the less than mature young lady in her early twenties? No? Then click here or scroll down the page a ways. As has been pointed out, it was very much in the style of the American Catholic schoolgirl. While not ordinarily ideally to my personal taste – far too contemporary, you see – nevertheless there is potential there for a starting point. Why the (partial) change of heart? Well while perusing the web I came upon what I believe to be one of the finest implementations of that style of uniform I have ever seen – and I have trolled through the entire SchoolTeasers,com collection in my time (and very good it is too!). I blundered into this particular example, though, on someone's blog late one night recently and for the life of me I have not been able to track down which one. I don't remember the text with it saying so but I wouldn't mind betting it originated on The Real spanking Institute site (click site name to visit) – it has their 'signature'. I visited the aforementioned site fairly recently in my search for new and appropriate affiliate opportunities to sign up to in the hope of offsetting the ever falling book sales on Lulu and was most impressed.

Talking of affiliates; of the few featured here, at least one at present generates no revenue at all as recently there has been a change of ownership and I have yet to sign up for their new scheme . I will get around to it eventually, but at the moment most of my efforts are gong into finishing the book – at present standing at a ridiculous 390 pages and close on a quarter of a million words (no, really). It really is going to have to be split into two some how, but the question is; in which way? There are two interwoven threads and three overlapping time periods... Oh God! What have I done? (Author throws hands up in despair in quiet coffee shop – one or two customers scuttle away with worried looks on their faces - “it's that long-haired nutter in the corner again! Chuck 'im out, quickly!”)

Thumblogger Blog Links Now Added

Hi chaps. As you will have seen, I have finally gotten around to changing the site's categorization to 'Adult Content', albeit largely due to someone reporting a matter of objectionable content to Google. I have been meaning to do this for some time and have mentioned it before, yet somehow never seemed to get it done, though it took only a minuet or so - I guess some good has come from it then.

Now the real reason for this update: I have gotten round the Thumblogger problem by not listing them on the usual blog roll but rather creating form them their own section in the sidebar. There are only four of them at present but they are all well worth visiting - the Thumblogger link list can be found located immediately below the blog roll.

I have also added to the conventional blog list the following blogs for your perusal:

Fisrt up there is Babes in Diapers; then there is Carla in the Corner (from where I think the picture above right came, though no one seems to know it's real origin); Girl's pyjama Spankings and Souvenirs Cuisants d'une Jeune Fille Punie - a nice French language blog, that one with quite a few links to others. Links to all these and more can be found in the right hand sidebar. See y'all next time, hopefully with more from the book at last - 345 pages at last count and mounting rapidly!

Another 'Ideal' Uniform and Those Pesky Thumblogger Popup Problems

Hi Folks: I just tried once again – and failed - to add a Thumblogger blog to my blog list. Just like the last time I did – towards the latter part of last year – I have started getting a popup demanding a password. Anyone out there have any idea how to get around this. I have come across a whole cornucopia Thumblogger blogs recently and it seems a shame I can’t feature them.

.....

For the time being I am going to remove the one link that I added, but I'm not in the mood to give up just yet. There's some good stuff out there in Thumblogger-land and I may try to set up a list of links to these blogs in the sidebar that operates in some manner other than through the traditional blog-link aproach.

Now, recall my post: Composite Uniform Design and the Imagination (just glance down the page or click the title). Well my collaborating artist chum in the ‘States has just sent me his attempts in putting together the elements of his ideal school uniform (Well done Snooze, great stuff). Actually he sent them to me several days ago, but what with one thing and another I am lagging well behind rummaging through my email in-tray. He does admit that he would like to put together a suitable blazer to go with it one of these days, but I think it’s great, if not my own personal vision – but that’s the whole point! Let’s see your personal vision - food for thought, is it not? I’m not suggesting the others of you out there that might be tempted to give it a go should stretch to the sophistication of generating a 3D model to dress up, but be my guest if you can – I’d be on too steep a learning curve if I tried it. But I still think it would be interesting to try to put together the elements of the perfect uniform using Photoshop-type techniques – as a concept it has the potential to open up a great insight into the psyche of the dominant (or submissive) and seems the perfect exercise to stretch the imagination.

As for the new book; it presently stands at 334 pages completed comprising some 187,500 words.

It Never Rains, It Just Pours and Pours and Pours... Oh... And a Couple of New Links

Orage, having lamented the sudden and unexpected disappearance of britishspankingmagazines.blogspot.com a couple of weeks ago has written in to say that the site has now reappeared as http://britishspankingmags.sexusblog.com/
My thanks, Orage. (click blog name or pic on left - from the blog - or see blog list in right hand sidebar.)

Now too the serious stuff. My days running this blog may well be numbered - it is now in danger of being reported to Google / Blogger for copyright infringement. Going back some time, many of you will remember the debate (also ongoing elsewhere such as on Wikiart) as to whether the artwork that has been around on the web for some time under the name of 'Thorn' was in actuality attributable to 'Hobbs' and that this 'Thorn' chap had merely plagiarized the work by adding his own signature. Well it seems that particular debate has now been settled. I first came upon an example of such artwork signed by 'Thorn' on the web (I forget where) around ten years ago and was under the impression at the time that it was a scan taken from an old spanking magazine. Today I received an email saying that a certain internet-based company had left a comment on my first ever posting "Introduction and welcome message" - a posting dating back to August 2008:

"Please contact me via -------------- regarding the unapproved use of our copyrighted images on your site. The are thorn01.jpg and thorn05.jpg, [my italics] images for which we own the originals and, as they were commissioned from the artist Hobbs (not Thorn) by ourselves, for which we own the copyright. We shall give you 14 days to reply before reporting the matter to Google/Blogger"

Well, I don't want that - this blog and the books I have been writing constitute a major hobby of mine and practically the only distraction I have from the day to day grind of being unemployed. Many of us here in the UK use blog writing and creation as a social outlet - often our only social outlet when money is short; as it is right now, incidentally. If Blogger knocks me off then there would seem little point continuing with the book.

The really odd thing is that, having rummaged the blog archive with the archive search facility (see top of the right hand sidebar) I can find no sign of the offending images ie thorn01.jpg and thorn05.jpg. The only image I could find possibly attributable to 'Thorn / Hobbs' was the ten year old one that was the first I ever came across - this I have removed as a precaution. Generally wherever I use an image - and assuming I know it's origin - I credit it to its source and if a site address is included as part of the image I leave it be or add a link to it in addition. And that seems the way in the world of the blog. Few of these blogs we all visit are comercial ventures and though a little revenue may be raised through affiliate banners, the few a blog such as mine supports do little more than help pay for my broadband connection.

I think the point is that we all - meaning the larger blogger community, especially the spankers - are going to have to be more careful as to the origin of content. A quick run through a few of my favorite blogs this morning revealed a plethora of likely copyright material - all those stories and illustrations taken from 'Janus' et al for example that are spread all over blogger-ville! And as I think we all know: the powers that be behind blogger only need the slightest excuse to get rid of we spanking / discipline / bondage / fetish types - witness the number of blogs that have vanished of late (and don't be surprised if this one is next, by the looks of things).

Anyway, for those interested (and who have waded through thus far - well done, true believer) below is a copy of my (a little bit groveling) reply. Should the blog by some miracle survive this, rest assured that from now on the only pictorial content will be that generated by my own hand or my collaborator in the 'States or that provided by the affiliate sites I feature. If it comes to it I'll just have to increase the number of the latter to provide content, though I should have some more from the new book completed soon that I can post here. I urge you all to take a note of my email just in case and then if the blog falls and I can no longer garner the enthusiasm to finish the book I'll distribute it in its messy, vignette-style unfinished state, along with all unfinished chapters and roughed-out sections and notes to any who want it on my email list in the hope that it can be distributed around relevant places on the web where others may have the time and patience to complete it. By the way: any other of you bloggers out there had this experience and run into this trouble? Please ask around.
So, for better or for worse, here is the response I sent:

"I am terribly sorry if I have somehow inadvertently infringed someones copyright. I didn't realize the problem. Strangely I have not been able to find the illustrations concerned (thorn01.jpg and thorn05.jpg,) on my blog but many images attributed to Thorn seem to be all over the web and featured on various sites and blogs and many have been sent to me by email in the past. I have always been under the impression that the images were old and originated in some now defunked spanking magazine.

I think I may have featured a couple of others attributed to this 'Thorn' chap and had a dialog with someone who stated that this 'Thorn' was actually plagiarizing the work of this Hobbs of yours by simply replacing the signature. I have in the past discussed these allegations on my blog as a point of interest. But work signed by 'Thorn' has been widely spread across the web for many, many years and as I say, I have always been under the impression that the artwork was quite old.

My intention has never been to profit from anything on my blog other than through increased sales of the two books I have written and that have sold in the hundreds rather than thousands since their launch. In that way both the books and the blog constitute a hobby and nothing more ambitious than that; though I have added a couple of affiliate banners in recent times in an attempt, partly to generated content for the blog and partly to try and generate a little income to keep me going while I try to finish my third and final book (a little ambition of mine that helps keep me going). I am long-term unemployed with little income, little social life to speak of, other than visits to the local pub, and little more than writing my stuff and keeping the blog to keep me occupied.

As I say, this is a hobby for me, no more than that and certainly not anything that might be considered a commercial project. Maybe I have been a little naive but it has never been my intention to tread on anyone's toes.

I am more than happy to trawl through my blog and remove any and all images attributable to 'Thorn' and / or Hobbs and will get on with that task at the soonest opportunity.

Meanwhile; if you could let me know the location of the offending images - thorn01.jpg and thorn05.jpg – I would be most grateful.

I would also be happy to clarify on my blog that any images signed 'Thorn' that folk may come across on the web are in fact plagiarized from the work of Hobbs (as your claim to the copyright seems to validate that allegation once and for all) and paste up a link to your site for all those interested in that art work."

Composite Uniform Design and the Imagination

'Madmonkey' wrote to me recently by email (well, 4 days ago) to say: “ Awhile back on your ‘behind the barred window’ blog you asked what everyone thought was the perfect fantasy school uniform [It was Thursday, 2 December 2010: Best Gymslip Design of all Time? You Tell Me (click to view)– Garth the ever attentive Archivist]. Attached is a picture I made from a composite of other pictures and is what I think of as the perfect school uniform for the recalcitrant young lady (or grown woman one needs out of the way).”

Well, here is the fruit of Madmonkey’s labour (above left). Thanks for that, Madmonkey old chap. It’s an interesting idea don’t you think, this composite idea. The would-be designer could in principle put together all sorts of combinations of elements on the figure of one’s choice, pillaging from both old and new. In particular some of those old classic black and white shots could be first colourised in Photoshop or its equivalent and elements – or perhaps whole outfits – put together in imaginative ways. Alternatively the designer might leave the source material in monochrome and convert any more modem elements one might choose to include – such as the school ‘jumper’ of Madmonkey’s vision – into monochrome to match, the idea being to recreate that pastimes air of strict reform-school discipline. The one proviso I would add is that the uniform should be clearly designed to conform to the biologically adult form of the late teen. Whether one starts with a 3D computer generated figure as a framework (an interesting concept in itself) or one drawn from some other source (one has to be careful here) it should be possible to morph the impression of a mature figure into one’s design. So there’s the challenge – let’s fry those imaginative little grey cells out there! I’m always looking for creative input to aid in the design of the new book cover and it may be possible to integrate the outcome into the design as it presently stands.

Now you will have noted my absence for some time from these pages: I have been a little 'indisposed'. Some fool using a mobile phone drove over my foot while parking close to where I was crossing the road. This did my foot no good at all as I only had trainers on, although x-ray revealed nothing broken (don't know how - must be made of rubber!). The real problem is that I have osteoarthritis in my right knee that I refused an operation on as long ago as 2001 (I was coming up to the 12 month report stage of my PhD and couldn't afford the time off involved). Of course it has worsened somewhat over the years.

It is little surprise that when, having argued with the driver, he subsequently leaped out and jumped on me from behind (brave chap) my knee promptly gave up the ghost pitching me onto the ground - whereupon said driver proceeded to give yours truly a 'good kicking', as we say here in the UK. Hmmm nice! No real damage was done other than a bit of bruising and I felt absolutely nothing (I was very, very drunk - of course!) but it has made my knee swell and walking painful, so I am using it as an excuse to springboard myself back onto the treatment track. I had no GP so I have been in and out of x-ray and registering myself at a GPs surgery and all the rest to ‘get the ball moving’. After all this time I would imagine we are talking knee replacement surgery (at least that is what I am hoping - they have some good stuff these days). So a little bit of a silver lining there!

Despite these...er...distractions, I have been working my way through my files from time to time and cutting and pasting into the book. At last a logical story progression is emerging. The upcoming new book now stands at 315 of 9 by 6 inch pages of 10 point text, should it be published as a single work. Of this figure, perhaps 300 pages will likely survive further editing by my estimate. Unfortunately the next part to be inserted will not be such a simple cut and paste job as I am going to have to run through it first, changing the tense it is written in. You see there is a section in which one of the characters first encounters her new ‘home’ - her first impressions of ‘The Ward’, as the place is euphemistically known - which at present is told in flashback at a later point in the girl’s mind's eye. After the adjustment I propose, the reader will encounter the layout of ‘The Ward’ in 'real time' as the girl first enters. It makes for much more sense that way from the point of view of storytelling, as the reader immediately has the backdrop picture painted in their mind for the action to then play out against. As always the devil is in the detail and the essential thing is that the action should flow in a logical sequence.

By for now – have to fly.