Ah, the cream of the crop, the showpiece of everyone's toybag, the leather flogger.
There are so many kinds of leather that can go into falls, want to know some of my favorites?
Suede : So light and soft! Because the leather is so thin, one flogger can pack a lot of falls - sixty or eighty on one flogger! This makes a flogger with a thud, and a REALLY loud noise, but not much impact. What about dragging falls over all kinds of sensitive areas? Suede floggers are great for sensation play.
Brain-tanned deer - so soft!
Deer : Deer leather it a bit heaver than suede, but is still a relatively light leather. Its spongy texture makes for a thuddy flogger, especially when you have a lot of falls. Under the right hand, though, it can sting as well! It comes in a lot of colors, so if you're looking for something beyond basic black, look no further! Deer is also one of the few leathers people can tan themselves; I've made a wonderful pair of floggers for a man who shot deer and brain-tanned his own leather!
Elk : Another wild leather, and a bit harder to find than deer. Elk is still soft, but it's a lot denser than deer, and can pack a wonderful wallop! It comes in mostly natural colors, and can be harder to find than deer.
Moose : Even harder to find than elk, moose leather is as soft as butter. Very dense, very flexible, and VERY nice! Since moose are not farmed, and rarely hunted, finding good moose leather is a treat. If you like sensual and thuddy, I recommend you pick one up if you find it!
Cow : When someone says "leather", cow leather is usually what they're talking about. It's the easiest to get, and the most versatile! If you can imagine a color, you can find leather to match, including patterns and metallic. It can be thin, light and stingy, soft and flexible, or thick and thuddy.
Bullhide : While some might consider it cow, bullhide has it's own special properties. It tends to be a lot heavier and denser than plain cow leather. It also can have a very distinctive top grain, giving it a lot of character. Bullhide can make a very intense flogger.
Thick and heavy buffalo falls.
Buffalo : Buffalo leather is similar to bullhide - it's thick, it's dense, its heavy. But it's also got a suppleness to it that makes for some really nice falls. Like bullhide, it also can have a very nice grain on top. Buffalo can usually only be found in natural colors - browns, black, and earth tones. Because of the leather's density, a buffalo flogger can deliver thud AND sting in the same blow! It's also very heavy - a big buffalo flogger just might be a top-killer! (But your bottom will be feeling it even more, I promise!)
There are other leathers as well, less commonly used in floggers. I've made a flogger out of bear leather, which was very fun (but who knows when I can find bear leather again?) Mirabella lamb is exquisitely soft, but a bit too fragile to be used alone in falls. The same with goat leather. Stingray has amazing texture, but is too rigid to make good falls. Horse leather would probably make an OK flogger, but I haven't met anyone who has really wanted something made out of horse leather (horse hair, on the other hand...) And there are exotics like snake leather or toad leather. Not sure how that would work, but if you really want a python flogger, get in touch. Lets find out together!
Click on the pictures to find out more about that flogger!
