Sealable collars without buckles?

[ciphergoth]

I'm looking for ways of making a collar on which I can make a tamper-evident seal, such that you can't take off the collar without breaking the seal. I'd like it to be suitable for long-term wear.

My first thought was to take an ordinary fashion collar, and seal the buckle with sealing wax. The trouble with this is that buckles tend to catch long hair, especially when you sleep. So here's plan B: use a plain wide black satin ribbon, pin it shut with a couple of small safety pins, then put the sealing wax on the safety pins. But I worry the wax might be too brittle.

Any other ideas very welcome!

Comments

[wechsler.livejournal.com]

Hrmmm... with only the support of the satin ribbon, the wax is likely to crack when lain on. Equally, drawing-pins near the throat while sleeping sounds risky. However, my curiousity is piqued, I shall think about this one ;)

First random thoughts; paper, glued shut or with a staple-less stapler; and can you get those single-use snaps they use on concert wristbands, without the band?

Cable-ties fit in here somewhere, but only as very short lengths to use the mechanism... can't imagine you're any keener on the thought of one all the way 'round your neck than I am.

[adjectivemarcus.livejournal.com]

Get the tool used for putting eyelets in belts - it can also be used for studs, yes? Looks like a pair of scissors mated with a wheel I recall.

Alternatively - ribbon and then sew it. Sign the join in felt tip.

Alternatively 2 if you're feeling dextrous enough not to spill - ribbon and superglue.

[gothtart.livejournal.com]

would liquid latex work in place of the wax?

i used to sometimes make ribbon collars and sew myself into them, but that might be a bit of a pain. i stopped when i got sick of turning myself into a pin cushion...

also, it took ages to dry when i washed my hair. i'm really not helping, am i?

[alienspacebat.livejournal.com]

Thinking of tamper resistant stickers here (like they use on computers) tamper proof paint (screwheads) or one of those metal seals you have on the electricity meter

Not sure what to do with them, my heads been fried by using dos apps for two days solid

[giolla.livejournal.com]

A cloth/leather collar with a set of matching eyelets on each end, which can be joined with a tamper evident eal would be the best bet and very easy to make.

Probably worth having the collar made so that it can be worn and adjusted first and then sealed.
So either velcro or bra style hook and eyes, and then eyelets.
For suitable tamper evident machanisms look at:
http://www.seton.co.uk/ (http://www.seton.co.uk/)

the eyelet puting in devices cost about 10 ukp in most habadaherys.

For more ideas why not ask on:
http://www.ogham.org/kink-couture/index.html (http://www.ogham.org/kink-couture/index.html)

[lapis-lazuli.livejournal.com]

The "Property of" barcode labels at seton.co.uk would be a nice touch as long the wearer can't get at your label supply to remove and replace with a new one (*grin*), but I don't see it functioning well between two eyelets. Perhaps over the keyhole of a small padlock?

[giolla.livejournal.com]

Well you could always get them with serial numbers, and then even give the person some spares, that way if they "really" need to take the collar off they can, and reseal it again afterwards. Then you just compare the serial number thier wearing at a later date to the one you applied and...

However I was thinking more along the lines of the various security seals, in the security seals and ties sections.
The Poly-Lok plastic seals can be ordered with up to 17 letters printed on them, so as long as you've got a 5 letter name you can still have "property of XXXXX"

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Ah! I see this now. And I'm imagining modifications that involve an extra flap of fabric to cover the plastic seal so it doesn't rub the skin or snag hair. Thanks!

[giolla.livejournal.com]

a cloth flap behind the seal would be a good idea, and if you're doing that you might as well extend it to provide backing behind the D-ring.
Also I hand in mind the hole being aligned vertically rather than horizontaly as that would gie the collar more support.
so the holes are like : rather than ..

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Ah! I understand when you mean about the holes. Now I can't envisage where you plan to put the D-ring or how the cloth backs it though...

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

OK, here's one possibility. Again, excuse crap artwork.



The big circles are the eyelets where the seal itself goes through. The bar between the rightmost eyelets is meant to represent the D-ring; you thread the seal through the D-ring rather than covering the D-ring with the seal. The rectangle at the bottom of the L-shape is a small slot cut in the leather. The little circles are pop-studs.

So, step one, close and seal the collar. Obviously the leftmost eyelets go to the back, rather than covering the D-ring. Then wrap the flap that's left around the whole thing: fold it around the back of the collar, then over the top, and across the front. Fasten the poppers together to close the whole thing.

Now the flap covers the whole gubbins, and looks perfectly innocent if a little strange. However, if you undo the pop studs, you can feed the D-ring through the slot, and close it again, to make a workable collar. Ta-daah!

My only worry is that the tamper-resistant seals on seton.co.uk don't seem to be adjustable length; I'd be happier if they worked like cable ties.

[lapis-lazuli.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kinda meant to have the holes vertically aligned, but forgot to rotate after I drew them.

Tape?

[ellbie.livejournal.com]

Some kind of tape, e.g. insulation or masking tape, over the join?

Drawing pins?

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

I *think* you mean safety pins...

Re: Drawing pins?

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

D'oh! Fixed.

and here's one I made earlier...

[suzerain.livejournal.com]

ok. firstly, I'm crap at html. so the link below is probably abysmal. apologies to all who actually understand HTML and want to take me out and shoot me right now.

anyhow. I made a ribbon collar with seal about a year ago for one girl, which seemed to work quite nicely, and the design could be switched over to leather or fabric quite easily.

it's a ribbon with spring eyelet fastening (might work better with a fabric cover with longer hair - the girl who wore this had short-ish hair). the fastening was sewn into place, and an embroidered eyelet was made in the ribbon, which meant that with the small holes in the fastening, a spiral copper wire seal could be drawn through the collar.

the wire in this one was sealed with a grain of solder and a jeweller's blowtorch (using an insulated aluminium plate to seat the wire on) took about 10 seconds to seal the wire in place, and was quite safe. (well, I've got steady hands)

only nagative comment was that it took ages to dry out after showers, and was worn a couple of times without trouble

so there you go, one practical suggestion.

I've scanned it twice, and stuck the images into a yahoo photos folder (only thing I can grab offhand.)

http://photos.yahoo.com/adrenochrome_hit

is the url to the main page... click on the "yahoo!" folder, and you'll find three photos lurking, one of laura's old cat, Sammy, that I did'nt even realise was still up there till about 15 mins ago, and the two new scans of the collar and a sample seal that I stuck onto it just to scan it.

hopefully, that'll work. if that link goes pear-shaped and you want to see how it came out, then I can happily email the images to people who ask :)

Suz
AKA J.G.Elmslie