In this article we are going to discover tutorials explaining how to make a whip.
Attempting to make a sex toy at home is no easy feat: to get a satisfactory result, you generally need a lot of gear and a good dose of know-how.
Fortunately for the MacGyvers of sex, there is a field in which a DIY enthusiast can create quite lovely erotic accessories, with materials found in a DIY shop: BDSM.
There are several types of whips, and the difficulty of making each one varies.
Making a flogger
The flogger is probably the simplest whip to make.
The easiest method, which you can see on video in the tutorial below, can be summed up in a few steps:
- Take a rectangle of leather (or another material that resembles it), about 60 centimetres wide (or smaller for a flogger of more modest dimensions). The length will depend on the number of strips you want.
- Cut this rectangle into strips 5 millimetres by 50 centimetres, leaving a 10-centimetre margin on one side.
- Choose a piece of wood to serve as a handle, and wrap the uncut part around the end of this handle.
- Fix the whole thing with upholstery tacks: and there you go, the flogger is ready.

A video making tutorial, from the series “Dirty DIY with Drew”, a YouTube show devoted to making home-made BDSM accessories:
Another technique, perhaps a little less sturdy, is to glue the strips, and to reinforce the whole thing by wrapping the handle in a layer of leather (or other material).
And a third technique, in images, from Bob Elderberry‘s Flickr gallery (Creative Commons) :
Variations:
- This tutorial for making a flogger from a roll of duct tape (in English) combines a little of the first two methods.
- A nice alternative: the flogger entirely braided from cord, which also seems quite simple to make, from fine cord and a metal ring.
Making a cat o’ nine tails
The cat o’ nine tails, “cat o’ nine tails” in English, is a whip that, as its name indicates, is fitted with nine tails. Handle with care.
- On Imgur, a very clear tutorial, in images, for making a cat o’ nine tails from cord.
- A video making tutorial:
Making a bullwhip
The bullwhip is a whip, once used by cowboys to keep their herds. It is also Indiana Jones’s whip.
Initially, the bullwhip was made from braided leather strips, a material available in abundance in the Wild West. But these days, paracord is gradually replacing leather. Indeed, this very strong nylon rope, originally designed for parachute suspension lines, requires less maintenance. Also, it makes the accessory usable by vegans.

- A video tutorial explaining how to make a bullwhip from paracord:
- A second tutorial, with a cowboy in a hat:
But also:
- A gentleman who explains on video, in French, what a bullwhip is made of.
- A tutorial (unfortunately missing a few steps), in French, detailing the making of a bullwhip-type whip.
- Another tutorial in French for making a bullwhip.
Making a snakewhip
The snakewhip is a variant of the bullwhip, but with a flexible handle.
Originally, this whip was designed because cowboys, when falling off a horse, had the bad habit of impaling themselves on the handle of their bullwhip, which they carried on their belt. The rigid handle was therefore replaced by a flexible handle, sometimes filled with metal balls or shot to weigh it down, thus avoiding this kind of accident.


Braiding techniques for making a whip
Several tutorials for making a whip that I have mentioned previously require braiding strips together.
- This page lists and explains the different braiding techniques that can be used during the design of a whip.

