Collaring

15”.

TB sent me his neck measurements. 15” a finite number an actual and precise amount. 15” of leather that I am going to create in my image and lace around his neck. 15” of leather that will define our relationship. 15” has never turned me on more than it did today.
It got me thinking what exactly do I want to see in a collar that I put on him. How does my image of The Boy in a collar look, and why is this and can I get this made?

I’m not that into the accoutrements of the goth/bdsm subculture that relies on tons of black and vinyl and studs etc. I want something that has more evocative power something that says dominance and ownership in a way that I find alluring and sexy. This is a collar for my sexual stimulation, I want it to reflect that. My collar is something that will wear with time; I want something that wears gracefully with use, like your favorite belt. I want something that smells like a tannery and evokes images of hard working tanned farmhands not dungeons and the possible smell of mold. Something that represents what wearing a collar means to me. I want this collar to represent my romantic cultural imaginary, not the one that has been deemed appropriate by Goth teens and a subculture that I am still intimidated by and not really ready to belong to. Not to say that’s wrong, that’s just not how I roll. I don’t want him in studs and skulls all fluffed out like a rapper’s pit-bull. I want this collar to represent a sense of ownership that also doesn’t reference teen angst, punk music and its creation: Avril Lavigne.
My ideas of collars involve ownership; I give my dog a collar so he is visibly marked as mine. He has tags that say my name and phone number {he is also the cutest thing on 4 legs, just a little side note}. It’s a way to prove he’s mine if lost. The collar is a form of marking where I’ve been and what I own. A black leather mass-produced collar just doesn’t do it for me. My fantasies of ownership lean to images of branded cows and masculine cowboys. My mind doesn’t go to Goths and dungeons, European fetishes or Victorian era prudery. My mind goes to sun kissed farm hands that smell like sweat and leather. Warm naked bodies slightly red from back breaking physical labor and too much exposure to heat and sun. I think Marlboro man and Wyoming ranches; I want to tame the wild, not chain the undisciplined schoolboy. I want him to be able to smell the leather and know that its there, feel the weight and understand the consequences. My collar is my brand.
The collar I plan on placing on the boy is personal. It gets worn with use and time becoming darker and more nuanced with the oils of his skin and continued use. It becomes darker suede, slick where it used to be soft. It’s a dark oxblood or light tan suede against a black background. It wears with age and becomes more dignified like the strap of my Louis Vuitton bag. It has presence in itself and represents an entire different set of cultural meanings; my collar sits proudly on his neck like a fine coach bag aging gracefully with time. My collar is an aesthetic investment, not the means to a dominant end. My collar is metal and leather and permanent, it’s also branded. Branded like the hide of a cow, branded with my claim on this boy, branded with the word “MINE”. When I run my hand over the recessed lettering feeling along like Braille this brand will mark what I control. This aggressive masculine man smelling like tanned leather and warmth will put this on for me and let me look and admire gaze at what’s mine. Fuck the masculine gaze, this gaze is 100% made in a woman’s image.
When I clasp that buckle tightly over those 15” and it jingles softly he is reminded that he is branded and belongs to me. He is my masculine submissive, my wild bull branded with the words MINE (and perhaps initials, I haven’t decided that yet, maybe on the inside?).
I’ve been looking into creating this collar and have come to the conclusion that I will need to combine the aesthetics of a dog collar with the durability and size of a traditional human collar. I am working on how to get this done now…