Craftmill Pregnant Belly Casting Kit review

As some of you may recall I mentioned that I'm not a big fan of others taking photos of myself, me looking at myself on a photo and finding lots of things I don't like, for that reason I didn't really take any bump pictures or wanted to do a maternity photo shoot, but I still any parent-to-be wanted to capture one of the most amazing moment of our lives- my pregnancy.

I googled (as you do) to see what other people suggest and found local ladies who provide private bump/belly cast services in the comfort of your own home. Photos of their works looked amazing, but prices are absolutely ridiculous. I accept the fact that others will and can pay over £100, but I wasn't prepared to pay that much. Not to worry, for people like me who can't afford the luxury of someone making a belly cast I found DIY belly cast kits, which are reasonably priced and give you that bonding feeling with a bump.

Thanks to Craftmill (specialises in delivering high quality 3D craft, modelling and artist materials) I was provided with a EasyStandard Pregnant Belly Casting Kit (£7.54).

The kit consists of:
- gift bag
- 4 rolls of top quality medical grade super safe 15cm wide plaster bandages
- petroleum jelly
- instructions

Before we started applying the content of the kit we needed to prepare the working space, material and model (myself).

Working space:
we used our dinning area as it is the only part of our house with laminate flooring which I thought would be easier to clean. I put few newspaper sheets on the floor, covered my chair with a cotton sheet and put few more newspapers sheets on the table which we were using for preparing the kit.

Model:
I had a quick look online at belly cast examples to have an idea of how I would prefer my cast to look like. I thought that if we are planning to show the cast to our relatives and friends I would be very uncomfortable if they see my nipples therefore I opted to wear a bra, which was covered with cling film, for the rest of my bump and parts of my body I wanted to feature in the cast we applied petroleum jelly provided. And the last preparation was to decide am I going to stand or sit down, as we didn't know how long it will take we thought that it would be much better and less tiring if I was siting on a chair.

Kit:
Prior to opening the kit I was wearing rubber gloves and asked my husband to wear gloves as well in case if it gets too messy and it did. Handling bandages is the most messy part as before you apply them onto belly they are dry and a bit flaky. I needed to cut bandages onto 30 cm strips and to soften them you would need to use warm water and off you go.
   

I must say it was definitely an interesting experience, even though I was a model I tried to control the process by checking in the mirror the position of bandages and how they are applied, mostly I was worried about the chest areas as I wanted it to be the same shape as my bra and I think we did a great job.

It took us approximately 30 minutes to apply all bandages (each strip applied was drying very quickly once put onto my body), we left it to dry for few days after. It was a bit messy on the floor and my trousers needed a wash but I quickly rubbed the floor and washed my trousers and all looked as if we didn't do anything. Ideally I would like to smooth it and maybe paint but it is a different story.

I am extremely happy with the result and I just can't stop looking at the cast, even my husband said that it looks as if it was created by a professional, what do you think?

DISCLAIMER: I was sent the above item for the purposes of this review. All thoughts and opinion are my own.