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Thursday, April 09, 2009

Belly cast


My midwife came over today and did a belly cast. Her teenage daughter helped while her boys played outside. I've never done one before. Here's how you do it:
  • Put a drop cloth on the floor
  • Cut plaster casting material into strips
  • Get a large bowl of hot water
  • Rub torso, arms, and shoulders generously with Vaseline
  • Helpers dip plaster strips into hot water and apply them to your belly, working quickly to get it all done before the cast dries and starts to peel off
  • Belly dance a bit to loosen the cast
  • Reinforce any weak or thin areas with more wet plaster strips
  • Support the cast with crumpled newspapers until it's fully dry, usually 48 hours
  • Shower to get the Vaseline and plaster bits off
  • Sand & decorate the cast
I think I'll smooth mine out with plaster and then spray paint it bronze.

13 comments:

  1. This looks so great! I didn't do one with my first pregnancy. I really want to do one with my next. If I like it, I will probably do one for each following pregnancy. The only question I have is, where to keep it?

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  2. i thought about doing one with no 3, they just werent around in the consciousness with the first two but i just couldnt work out what to do with it after either??? hang it on a wall, upturn it for a bird bath in the garden? I had a huge 11.5 pounds mound and thought it may be just a little overwhelming

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  3. Yeah, it is rather large and cumbersome. I hope it can make the end product nice enough to hang on a wall as decoration. If I painted it bronze it would look nice with the colors in our dining room--but I'm not sure that's the best place for such a thing, especially if I have company over who don't know me well! Probably will end up in my bedroom.

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  4. I did a belly cast with my first pregnancy, and 2 years later, I still don't have it finished. I spray painted it a color to look like skin...
    But, a warning about using Vaseline- it is a petroleum based product and has been known to bring on contractions (and starting labor)! Using a natural oil based product is much safer.
    There is a company, Eternal Maternal that sells belly casting kits that include a natural oil product (in place of using Vaseline). Their website is www.eternalmaternal.com
    I love your pose for the cast! I think I will try something like that next time around.

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  5. Rixa, that is beautiful! I've never seen one before that I liked so much. Your pose is very motherly and beautiful. Good job! I can't wait to see the finished product.

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  6. That is beautiful. I've done one with both pregnancies, but not so creatively with the arms!

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  7. beautiful!!

    the first cast i did i bought all the materials at Michael's art store.

    the second time, i bought a pre-made kit online. less expensive, and worked just as well.

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  8. That's going to be beautiful, Rixa! Congrats on the new baby on the way and on finishing your PhD.

    ~Jodie

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  9. I really like the pose you chose. We did one with Clara (standard torso one), and I planned on doing one with Oliver around 39 weeks (I wanted to compare first and last baby bellies)...but of course, he had other plans LOL

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  10. Beautiful! I love the pose. I wish I had done one when I was pregnant with my daughter!

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  11. I thought about doing this but since we moved into our tiny stone cottage, I have absolutely no place I could possibly keep it. Can it go in the garden? Will it withstand rain and snow? Fleas and plagues?

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  12. I suppose you could try coating it thoroughly on both sides with some sort of waterproof resin...but otherwise it would turn into a soggy mess if you left it outside, since it's made of plaster. Actually I like the idea of making it an outdoor sculpture, and I'm sure there's a product out there that would do the trick!

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  13. What a fun photo! You look like the statue on the right of your blog, even better.

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