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Belly Casting
Birth Art to Capture Your Pregnancy
By Laura Cone
One of Stewart's clients, Vanessa Fritzsche, of Englewood, Colo., says she had the bronze bowl made from a belly cast because she and her husband Kris wanted to remember her pregnancy. "It's such a unique time in your life, being pregnant," she says. "Everyone has been born so it's completely normal and common, but at the same time it's such an amazing spiritual and emotional journey.
Fritzsche placed her 4-year-old son Benjamin's bowl, which is painted red on the outside and turquoise on the inside, on top of the couple's entertainment center. The colors match a ceramic piece in their family room created by Kris, who is an artist.
"The first time [I was pregnant] I thought I would always want pictures of myself pregnant around, but then afterwards I realized I did not really look like myself pregnant, the weight gain and everything else," she says. "The belly bowl became the thing I keep around to remind myself about what an amazing process it was to carry my kids. I wanted them to be art objects, something I could keep. I could not really figure out what I was going to do with just a plaster cast."
Fritzsche also had a bowl made of her belly cast as she was carrying her newborn daughter, Ella. "It's amazing," she says. "The bowl gets a lot of attention. We have it tipped so you can see both the interior and exterior colors. People notice all the time and ask about it." Fritzsche plans to pass the bowls on to her daughter and her son's wife if they decide to have children of their own one ay.
Connie Banack of Alberta, Canada, says she has created many belly casts as a doula. She made her own belly casts when she was pregnant with Brendan, 5, and Breanna, 2. "I did it on myself and found it was easy and fun to do," Banack says. "I continued doing them for my clients as well. I mostly sold the kits because some women are really shy ... I sold them so they could do them themselves or their husband could do them."
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