Out of Body

This is not the cast of my belly. I found this image at http://www.mamarhythms.com/

 In undergrad I took this sculpture class with my friend Sara. We did a lot of collaborative stuff. We would go Home Depot for inspiration. We bought clear tubing and ordered a bucket of latex so that we could make a life sized human/alien made from molds from our own bodies. We casted each other with plaster strips to make the molds and let's just say, thankfully, we didn't have to call the ambulance...and I will never get anything on my body waxed (except for my legs)...and if you're going to cast your body with plaster make sure you slather yourself in vaseline and make sure you are standing up and not lying down where drippy plaster can sneak it's way into sensitive areas to dry. Other than this slightly traumatic experience the results were wacky. You really can get some good detail.

Our yoga teacher happens to be the Business Director at the WBWC. She asked me if I wanted to volunteer my belly to be cast for their Boutique. They will display it in May around Mother's Day (I'm going to be a mother?!) to promote their boutique and belly casting kit. Despite my traumatic art school experience I said sure, as I love this place and would love to lend a hand (or a belly) to help them out. I also like that they will keep it as I don't want a cast of my belly for myself. Maybe I can bring my baby in later to show it what it looked like underneath my fleshy belly.

So, I went over there after work and met Rose, the woman who casted me. She was very sweet and I felt extremely comfortable with her as she saw me in all my glory. She did a really nice job of putting the plaster strips neatly on me. She started at my shoulders and worked her way down to my belly. I told her that I was excited to see what it looked like because I'm sure it would be different from just looking down at myself and even from looking at my reflection in the mirror. As she was putting the second layer of plaster strips on I could barely feel her pats. It felt like I was novacained - you could feel a little bit of pressure and you could see that someone was touching you yet I couldn't feel it. It was bizarre. When it started to dry, my skin started to break away from the mold. It felt like I was hatching out of a shell. You could hear my skin peeling away with each deep breath that I took. FFFwwwwuP - it sounded kinda like that. It came off of my belly and shoulders without assistance but my breasts hung on like a hungry nursing baby. Rose gently pulled it away and rocked it back and forth. There were moments of it feeling like she was ripping a band-aid off of my arm - but slowly and I made faces like I was in labor or something, although it wasn't that painful. It finally came off and it was so funny and amazing! For one thing I look bigger than I imagined and secondly two things are different sizes from one another, if ya knowhattamean. I will be nicknaming the right side "Thanksgiving" and the left side "Midnight Snack" for when the babe is ready to eat. Hahah!