This is the fourth in a series on budget sex toys, which began with a visit to the dollar store. We’ve also visited office and restaurant supply stores.
The economy is foundering and over the holiday season you spent a month’s rent on that sex bench with built-in cuffs.
But now that you have your lover locked down, you can’t afford to spend any more on store-bought sensation toys. That’s why I have my series on budget kink toys — I’m a broke writer too, and I need to get the most out of what little I can spare on play.
Though I’ve never been very crafty, from my Burner friends to my lovers to the Austin Art Nerds I’m surrounded by people who love to make things. I accompanied my girlfriends Pet & Honey to a big box hobby store recently and did my research while they hunted for yarn and art supplies. Both gave a number of useful suggestions to this piece.
These stores sell some awful garbage — like a dozen different ceramic ducks to decorate your … whatever that kind of thing is appropriate with. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll find a lot of fun pervertibles. Many toys we featured in other installments, like duct tape, are found at a hobby store. However, I try not to feature any repeats.
1. Feathers
This is probably one of the original sensation toys. You don’t want to use any old filthy thing off the street, but you also shouldn’t spend $5 for a feather on a stick. At a hobby store, you can get a whole bag of feathers for less than half the cost. Feathers are great for tickling scenes, or when you want to contrast soft, light sensations with others that are heavier, sharper, hotter, and so on. Be sure to make use of both the feathers and the quill.
Cost: $1.99/bag.
2. Wooden Dowels
Sure, you could construct your own feather-on-a-stick but we’re pervier than that. Wooden dowels — and a host of other wooden shapes and objects are found in your local hobby store. These make great makeshift canes or similar impact toys. They’ll leave a mark and they cost next to nothing. You might break one — or several — on a willing sub, but at these prices that just adds spice to your scene.
Cost: $0.29 to $2.99
3. Clay Tools
I used to love to play with clay in art classes. Part of the fun were all the tools involved. Now it occurs to me that a lot of those same tools become sensation toys. Here we have a bag of assorted clay tools which, for under $15, gets you toys that are textured, bristly, and pointy. Combine this with a dollar store blindfold and you’ve got an evening of fun. Also available — metal cookie cutters and clay stencils to press on skin.
Cost: Clay stencils: $1.99, clay tool sets: $2.79 – $13.99
4. Fabric Tools
I’m starting to get more into sewing, but I am still a rank beginner. I’m lucky if I can patch a torn pocket and make it last more than a few months. So the stuff here is way over my head. You can find tracing wheels, which look like a bargain version of a Wartenburg wheel. Or take this needle felting … thing. I think crafters use it to mash up soft mosses into homemade felt. Since it’s interestingly sharp and scratchy, I’d for put it to other uses.
Cost: Tracing wheel: $1.99, needle felter doodad: $9.99
5. Tiny Clothespins
We featured clothespins before, but these little bastards take it to another level. Because of their size, they need much less flesh to hold on than their bigger brothers and they come in assorted colors too! My first domme had a bunch of these, and believe me, she could stick them anywhere. Ouch! You can bet I bought a set on this visit.
Cost: $2.99/bag
Bonus: Paddles, again
I can’t resist highlighting when a mainstream store sells real paddles. These are found in the woodworking section. I imagine they are either for frat houses to decorate and use in homoerotic initiation ceremonies or, given the financial backers of one major hobby chain, for creepy fundamentalist families to decorate and hang over the fireplace. I’d rather use them — as I have in the past on a memorable afternoon with a crafty, subby boy — on a consenting adult lover. Cheerleader costume optional.
Cost: $6.99
If you bought every kinky toy on this list, you’d only spend about $40. You’d have a mean wooden paddle and a bag full of other toys, all while spending less than the cost of this leather one (which, admittedly, I wish someone would send me to review).
I’ve got some ideas of my own — but what kind of store do you think I should visit next?
If you enjoyed this post, check out more of Kit’s writing or his sex toy reviews.
