Smile! You're on candid camera......

....Or at least I thought I was! I made a good attempt at Belly Casting, and well, what a joke!
I began my Belly Casting adventure with:
1.) a giant plastic sheet
2.) 75 varying length strips of plaster
3.) a large bowl of warm water
4.) vaseline
5.) gloves
6.) a bare belly, of course! :)
Here are a few pictures of the BEFORE...

Plastic sheet draped over my counter, across my entire bathroom floor and over my bathtub

I thought this would minimize the mess....boy was I wrong!

Step 1. Grease the momma

Plaster strips and water

I had really thought this thing through, but as anyone who has ever made a casting of anything knows, there is absolutely no clean or easy way to do it.
I greased myself from my neck to the bottom of my belly and began laying the wet casting strips across my belly and chest. Things got tricky downright awful really fast!!! The plaster strips drip everywhere, which was ok because I had laid down plastic, but nobody warned me about the drops of plaster water that get flung onto the walls, mirrors, and ceiling.....yes, the ceiling! To make matters even worse, the Vaseline that I had to grease up with to prevent the plaster from adhering to my skin was working TOO well, and as soon as the plaster strip began to dry even a little, it would start to fall off! So there I am, standing naked and greased like a pig in my plastic covered bathroom hell, trying to hold each strip of plaster to myself while also trying to dip new strips of plaster in the water and apply them to my belly without flinging water on the walls....at one point I honestly starting looking around for the camera. In fact, I wish there had been one because I would have been the proud winner of Americas Funniest Home Videos!
I managed to finish the cast, which has already begun falling apart, and took a picture (because it's going to last longer than the cast is)!

The Belly Casting War Zone AFTER

My belly cast drying on the edge of the tub because it's too wet and flimsy to go anywhere else.

Side view of the belly cast. You can see it's already tearing and collapsing.

If you are pregnant (or ever get pregnant) and think you might want to Belly Cast, I DO NOT recommend it unless you enjoy standing for at least an hour (not fun while 37 weeks preggo) while also not breathing too deeply because it makes the cast move and fall off, and you must also enjoy a minimum of an hour worth of setup and an hour of clean-up. Oh, did I forget to mention that you will also have to take a LONG shower to scrub off plaster and Vaseline from every part of your body?! It's like when you go to the beach, and end up finding sand in places that sand should never go....it's the same concept for Belly Casting!
Cost of Belly Casting Kit: $20.....Hours of Prep, Casting, & Cleanup: 3.......Having a wonderfully embarrassing story to tell Camryn someday while showing her my mangled belly cast: PRICELESS!