Although it is more traditional to receive a whipping standing up, the artist said that he had more control if the "canvas" was horizontal, so I laid down on a table. Since it was my first session, we decided to try some strokes across the butt with my pants on to see if I could handle the pain. That was "nothing", so then we tried a few "light ones" across my bare back. I was quite surprised at how little those hurt, and I noticed that bystanders where now starting to take an interest in the proceedings .
The whip artist asked me how I was doing and I told him "Fine, let's try some more". I took another ten strokes and asked the bystanders how my back was looking. They said that it was starting to shape up into some nice whip art. I told the artist that I had traveled some distance to try this and that I wanted to make it worth my while.
The artist said that he had been "aiming off" and now he would give me some more direct "shots". These hurt, but they were still easier to take than the cat o' nine tails. Now the bystanders were really taking an interest, I got off the table and everyone was admiring the art, One artist in particular noted that I had a very nice back for whip art, and would like to "paint" me once the existing art had faded.
I did actually get some cuts from this session, which the staff promptly cleaned off with isopropyl alcohol. That stung, but not too badly. The art looked great for the first day, then started to fade, and a week later it was all gone.