Description

The Pregnancy Show Presents: Learn how to Create a Belly Casting

Transcript

Melanie Raposo: Hi! Welcome to The Pregnancy Show everybody, I am Melanie Raposo, and today we are getting a little artsy with our guest Dania, from Snugabug Portrait Studio. And today she is going to show us how to create one of the most wonderful keepsakes that you can have from your pregnancy. Hi Dania! Thank you for being with us today. Dania: Hi! Thank you. Melanie Raposo: So why don't you do the honors and tell everybody what we are going to be creating today with these. Dania: Okay. Well, we are going to be creating an exact replica of her pregnant form, basically made out of plaster and gauze. This is basically a belly cast. So it's very lightweight. It can either get painted or stay white. It's an exact replica of how pregnant this particular woman was. It's pretty painless. It takes about a half hour for the plaster to dry, and then I go through several layers of plaster and sanding in between, and that's it. It hangs with wire. So as a keepsake it will last for generations. Melanie Raposo: Great! Alright. Well, let's get started. This is Shannon, our lovely model, pregnant model. Alright, so what's the first step. Dania: First step, it's totally up to the woman whether she wants to remove her bra. In this case we have just put some cream, just to protect. Now I am actually going to put some Vaseline, just to put a layer between the plaster and the pregnant form. It's not absolutes necessary, it's absolutely safe. The plaster that I use is an artist's stuff, but it's a same stuff that a doctor would use on a broken leg or a broken arm. It just helps us pull it off. Generally, belly casting is done between 32 to 36 weeks of pregnancy. Melanie Raposo: Alright. And I guess as long as they are really kind of showing, they can -- even if they are not as far along but they are showing they can get it done, right? Dania: Oh absolutely! It's basically whenever they want to capture the moment. Female Speaker: The great thing about belly casting is that you can do it yourself in the privacy of your own home and it's simple to do. So I decided to give it a try. Melanie Raposo: So I just take one of these, dip it in like that, and put anywhere? Dania: Pretty much. Perfect! Female Speaker: Dania recommends that if you are going to do a belly cast at home, it's a good idea to get a professional to do the final touches. Dania: It is pretty simple, although I have fixed a lot of belly casts that were done at home, and some of them were not in great condition. And a lot of time what happens is they are not as creative as -- you said your mother did it, they are not as creative as that, so they have a somewhat raw type belly cast, that will just ruin their closet unfortunately. So as much as you can do it at home, it's also good to then take it someplace to get it finished, polished, put some wire in it, do something with it so that you will display it as a poster. It start to crumble away because you haven't strengthened it properly. Melanie Raposo: Now Dania, why do you think belly casting is such a great keepsake for moms? Dania: Because you never know how big you are until after you have had the baby, and it's just a great memory. It's a three-dimensional memory, as opposed to a picture. The pictures are absolutely great, but this is three-dimensional, hangs from the wall. And the other neat thing is, if you do it in the first pregnancy, you can also compare your second pregnancy to the first. My customers do that all the time. The other thing that's great is if it's a second or third pregnancy, you can also include your first children's hands right on the casting. So that's nearly neat. Female Speaker: And after lots of careful layering, the cast is finally ready to be taken off. Dania: You just want to stretch a little. Melanie Raposo: Wow! And then you just, I guess, trim it all up and everything. Dania: I don't touch it for the first 24 to 48 hours, because it's still very fragile. The belly is the strongest part, so I build that up the most. Basically go with the seams, do some smoothing. It usually goes about through three layers of plaster and sanding. Shannon: It was a wonderful experience knowing that you are going to make this keepsake of the moment that you were pregnant. I personally love being pregnant, so for me it is a special moment. It is really gooey, but it's a warm feeling on your belly, so it's quite a nice experience. Melanie Raposo: For more information on how you can get your own belly cast done, visit our website, and be sure to check back with us to see the final results of the belly casting we did today at www.ThePregnancyShow.com.