In this post I want to share one of my most favorite pieces of art that I recently made: my daughter's pregnant belly cast!
Here is the story:
During her pregnancy, she kept showing me all types of belly casts she saw on the internet. I never made anything like this before and I told her to buy a kit and try to make it together. So she did, and when she was 8 months pregnant, we all wrapped her up and did the cast. It was a mess and quite an experience, but I never thought to take photos and to document the process. I never thought that I would get so involved in decorating the belly cast. Look how beautiful it came out and imagine the amount of work and love I put in creating it!
Here are some details:
Now, let me tell you: it was a long process and I worked in small increments, just because I did not have time, I was too busy with my job and also with helping her with the new born baby.
So let's start the journey... at first, it was just a white body. I started to glue some mosaic pieces I bought on Amazon. I had a plan and a blueprint I previously created, my own design of course!
I basically experimented with different types of compounds, as I never ever made a mosaic piece in my life, and honestly, I don't think I will try to make another one. Ha, ha! Messy...
Next step: paint. I liked this part, because I love colors. Bright and vibrant, this is my style. So my cast looked like this:
You can see the cast before and after :)
The theme of the belly cast is Peacock, so I bought some feathers and I got puzzled: how am I supposed to incorporate them in my piece of art? Also, my cast was getting heavy and my initial idea of hanging it on the wall was not a realistic one any more. So... I will have to display it standing on a table or something like that.
I decided to attach the feathers on the back of the cast, so I needed to strengthen the interior of the cast, so I started the gluing process. Fabric!!! I used a T-shirt that my daughter loved to wear while pregnant, so I doubled-up! More sentimental value, yes!
It was a long process, I needed a lot of patience to cut and glue the fabric, not to mention the feathers! But I got it! If you notice, I added some shine with glaze, glitter and tiny mirrors.
The Pregnant Belly Cast stands tall on the top of a dresser for now. It is safe and secured, as I made a stand from an old lamp base that you can't even see, it is hidden in the body. I am all about recycling, baby!
Here is a short video I made:
https://youtube.com/shorts/yD5aPeL7EZQ
PS - I put some pictures on my social media and lots of girls are asking me to make pregnant belly casts for them. OMG, did I open the Pandora box? I am happy to share the process of making such a cool piece of art, but I couldn't do custom orders, it's really time consuming and also very personal, I think.
What do you think?
