My Bellymask
The idea of a bellymask is to create a lasting souvenir of the pregnancy (aside from the child that is!). I made three attempts before I achieved a decent looking cast, the third of which I did on December 20 2001. These pictures are from that day. I made a fourth cast in the first week of February 2002, just days before my son was born.
You can buy kits to do this over the internet but they seemed like a ripoff so I decided to try it with just the basic materials: gauze, cut into strips; plaster of paris; and vaseline to smear all over for protection against the caustic plaster (*yuck*). (*as an alternative to vaseline, you can cover yourself with plastic wrap or smother yourself in olive oil*, but I didn't know this at the time).
The first couple of times I mixed the plaster with too much water, so it never dried. The second time I was really optimistic and sat, naked, in the wet plaster for about two hours before I realized it was hopeless. Let me tell you that was not a good day. But this time I got it right! The plaster sets quickly, in about 15 minutes, but it takes a couple of days to dry completely.
I kept the mask on my body for about 20 minutes after putting all the gauze/plaster strips on, to make sure the mask kept my shape. I put a "strap" of non-plastered gauze around my back and neck to keep everything in place, just in case.
Ta-da...here it is (still a bit wet)! I'm not sure what I'll do with it now. Most people paint theirs. I kind of like how it looks white, but I'll probably at least take some sandpaper to it and maybe put on a coat of gesso, and then hang it on the wall. Click here to see an online exhibit of bellymasks .
Here's the belly mask I made at 40 weeks, one year later. Yes, that was YOU in there!!
