It's a Wrap: Gallery Owner Preserves Local Moms' Pregnancies in Plaster

It’s no surprise that Patty McWilliams doesn’t just own the in Frankfort. She’s also an artist who continues to practice what she teaches.

McWilliams’ undergraduate work was in sculpture, using a variety of media—clay, plaster and plaster wrap. Little did she know at the time that one day she’d be using the plaster wrap technique for more than mask-making.

McWilliams said she’d been teaching out of her home studio and making masks with kids when she got the idea to wrap her pregnant nieces’ bellies.

“It was just for fun and for family members,” she said.

Shortly after McWilliams opened Monkey Mind in October 2010, fellow Frankfort Chamber of Commerce member Lori Dunkman, owner of , called to see if McWilliams knew anything about bellycasting. Dunkman carried do-it-yourself bellycasting kits in her upscale boutique across the street and said that moms were interested but not very comfortable with doing the plaster wrapping themselves.

Dunkman wondered if the two businesses could cross-promote, with McWilliams being available to do the bellycasting for moms who purchased the kits and wanted help. McWilliams agreed.

The ideal time for a bellycast is around the eighth month, said McWilliams, and it doesn’t take long.

“The wrapping process takes about 20 minutes, depending on how much we’re doing,” she said. “Then the mom has to sit and let it dry for about 15 minutes.”

A mom can come by herself or bring her husband or girlfriends along, depending on what kind of experience she wants to have.

“Most women comment, ‘This is so relaxing.’ They love that they have to sit still and can’t move,” McWilliams said.

“Women had been doing the bellies before it was fashionable to do that, but there seems to be a different level of social acceptance now. The women who do it, love it!” she added.

After the cast is removed (she uses petroleum jelly so it doesn’t stick), it needs to set for about a week before it can be painted. Moms can do their own painting, or McWilliams will paint it for them.

New mom and Frankfort resident Lara VanderPloeg didn’t plan on getting a bellycast done for her second child, but after meeting McWilliams last fall she agreed to be a belly model.

“I think it’s important for women to see this in person. It’s kind of hard to imagine,” VanderPloeg said.

VanderPloeg said she didn’t expect the bellycasting process to be as reflective as it was for her. She realized when she journaled about it afterward that this pregnancy was a surprise and a blessing but also a turning point.

“The bellycasting was a neat way of celebrating all that,” she said.

Monkey Mind Art Studio and Gallery and The Belly Factory have a sample bellycast on display. Monkey Mind Art Studio is at 3 W. Nebraska St., and The Belly Factory is around the corner at 25 S. White St., in Frankfort. For more information, contact McWilliams at (815) 464-8818.