LAS VEGAS — Alt model and performer Lydia Black has started selling her self-designed and manufactured line of BDSM collars and one-of-a-kind resin paddles through her online store, Slut Witch.
Black spoke exclusively to XBIZ about her distinctive BDSM pieces, which have been attracting attention from fans and the adult community through her Instagram posts.
“I started making the custom vegan leather BDSM collars over a year ago,” Black explained, adding that they all have D-rings on the back to attach a leash and are sturdy enough for play.
“I actually found a store in Vegas that had supplies to make your own dog collars and and I thought, ‘That’s both cute and kinky — I wanna make them for me and for my friends!’” she added.
After opening the Slut Witch Etsy store, Black became interested in casting her now signature BDSM spanking/impact paddles with resin.
“I started the resin paddles during the quarantine,” she said. “I actually had to make the molds for the paddles myself because I couldn’t find any pre-made molds online for that kind of kinky stuff that would work.”
For the Real Kinksters
Black did find a few molds that were commercially available, but after trying them out “in the field,” they proved not thick enough for enthusiastic BDSM play.
“If you were really getting into it, you would break the paddles!” she said. “So I made the molds myself by taking the paddles that I had collected and owned for awhile and replicating them. It took me five different times to get it right, but I finally made some usable ones.”
"You may see a lot of copycats out there these days, but none of them will be thick enough for the real kinksters!" Black laughed.
Admirers of the intricate, baroque designs that Black manages to layer into her paddles — a highly personal menagerie which incorporate pictures of insects, blood-and-glitter motifs, significant objects and even references to her prominent tattoos — may be surprised to learn that she taught herself the craft only in the past few months.
“I had never used regular silicone or resin,” she explained. “I failed quite a few times and it took me a lot of trial-and-error to get it right.”
At first, she continued, “I was just making plain paddles one color and then I started looking at other resin artists — cause there’s plenty of other things you can make, like rolling trays, or even bookshelves. I would look at their pages and see how they incorporated art into it and I came out with my own themes and ideas.“
Learning a New Craft
A hands-on learner, Black said it took her a few months to figure out how to layer things and to capture items inside of resin, describing the journey from simple “bricks of color” to eventually learning how to layer different colors and objects inside the BDSM accoutrements.
Black explained that she did not grow up particularly crafty, so “this is definitely a new thing for me.”
“I grew up being more into music than arts and crafts,” she said. “I’m terrible at drawing or painting, so I never thought I was a visual artist and I never thought I would be doing this kind of art. And I never knew that resin was even a medium that you use, so once I found out this was a new way to make art I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll try this.’”
The reaction after she started sharing her work over social media has been overwhelmingly positive.
"The first couple of months that I was doing it, I would try to release all of my paddles on the weekends right after Friday, when people would normally get paid, and within the first two or three days they’d all be sold out,” she noted. “I even had people asking me for customs and stuff like that.”
Black has even started getting requests for non-BDSM-related custom pieces.
“I made a couple of trinket boxes and those also sold well,” she revealed.
The Slut Witch pieces have even started crossing over into adult content, and not only Black’s own.
“I’ve used the paddles in quite a few scenes with other people when I do content trade stuff,” she said, “but I’ve been selling my collars to some other porn girls and I’ve seen them pop up in Evil Angel videos and stuff like that — so that’s awesome.”
Black is currently selling her pieces online via Etsy, but she is also hoping to create an Instagram shop if the notoriously arbitrary Facebook-owned platform allows her to sell her art.
For custom paddles, DM Black via the Etsy Slut Witch shop.
The collars are both available as ready-wear and custom pieces in pink, white, black, baby blue and red, with an option for letters with rhinestones or simple silver letters. They come in two sizes: Small, which fits necks ranging from 12 to 14 inches, and Large which fits 14-to-19-inch necks.
For more from Lydia Black and Slut Witch, follow them on Instagram.
