Belly Casting

Birth Art to Capture Your Pregnancy

By Laura Cone

Some people think of pregnancy art as a portrait of a pregnant woman in acrylic paint on canvas. But for a growing number of pregnant women, pregnancy art is about adding a third dimension of depth by creating a belly cast of their bellies.

Maggie Stewart, owner of Mama's Belly in Englewood, Colo., makes a bronze bowl from the cast of her pregnant clients' bellies. She says she is surprised by the different ways women put birth art to use as opposed to simply putting the bronze bowl on display.

"Most women, after they receive their bowl, cannot believe that was their belly," says Stewart. "It's quite artistic and beautiful. It becomes a beautiful work of art and perhaps it was before just a big belly."

Stewart's bronze belly bowl business is a spin-off of the belly masking or casting craze, which celebrates the transformation of a woman's body during pregnancy. Women usually buy belly cast kits two or three weeks before their due dates.

Stewart says one way her clients use their belly bowls is they take a photograph of their babies in the painted and engraved bowls. "It's interesting," she says. "Some of the women of different nationalities definitely use it. I have an African woman from Nigeria and anytime she wants someone to get pregnant she feeds them from it [the belly bowl]. Some of my Latino customers have used it on the baby's saint's day. It's interesting to see how people have used the bowls for celebrations, for blessing ceremonies."

Before creating the bowls, Stewart sends women a casting kit for them and their husbands or partners. The process is easy but can be a little messy. After the customers complete the cast of their bellies, she makes it into a bronze bowl.

"Our goal is to make a one-of-a-kind heirloom, something you could pass on to the baby," she says. "I think some of the popularity surrounding belly casting, in general, is because they are permanent. It's an heirloom. It's not something you are throwing away. It's remembering a very magical moment. They remember their strength."

Want to see more?

• Share the Joy: Unique Ways to Announce Your Pregnancy
• Maternity Portraits: Capturing the Beauty of Pregnancy
• Butterflies & Hiccups: A Guided Pregnancy Journal for the New Mom-to-Be
• Talk about it!