Looking for a unique way to preserve memories of your little ones? Have
plaster casts made of their hands and feet.
By Grace Chen
Pictures by Low Lay Phon
When your daughter brings her date home one of these days, you might want to
show him the 3D cast you made of her hand when she was a baby. Surely, this
beats faded photos of her in diapers?
Well, Melisa Kam, 31, seems to have that thought in mind for her
three-year-old daughter, Nicolette Ramadass. Her home studio is filled with
sculptures of Nicolette’s feet and hands from the time she was four months old.
“It took many tries before I finally got them right. But I was lucky as
Nicolette was a willing model,” quips Kam.
It turns out that Kam isn’t the only sentimental mother around. Others are
coming to her to commission plaster casts of their children’s limbs. She is even
making belly casts for pregnant mothers and “bronzing” (encasing in copper)
keepsakes like baby shoes, pacifiers and even umbilical cords!
“I love looking at the plaster casts of little toes and fingers. They are so
cute. It is something I love to do because every piece is unique. As for the
belly casts, they are a celebration of life. Just imagine a baby growing within.
And if you want your baby’s pacifier to be a lasting keepsake, bronzing will
preserve it forever. You won’t have to worry about the rubber teat crumbling
away,” she says.
“Anyone can make an imprint but a cast is like a sculpture where the finest
details like wrinkles and creases are captured,” explains Kam.
To give me a clear picture of the sculpting process, Kam invites me to bring
my two-year-old son, Mikhail Dawson, for a demonstration. Her child Nicolette, a
pretty girl of Chinese-Indian parentage, is an instant hit with him.
She communicates with him in baby language and manages to make him sit still
while her mum makes a mould of his hand. It is over in a matter of seconds.
As the children go off to play, Kam explains that she would have to make a
replica by filling the mould with stone powder. It takes another 10 days for the
cast to be dried and framed. To let me know what to expect, she shows me
finished sculptures – already sandpapered, sprayed in gold and silver and
mounted on pinewood frames with metal plates engraved with relevant details such
as age and name.
She also takes out two bronzed items belonging to Nicolette when she was a
baby: a baby shoe and pacifier. “These are proud reminders of my baby’s first
step and when we weaned her off the pacifier,” smiles Kam.
Every item she bronzes is electroplated with copper. At the moment, she has
them done in New Zealand, as she is unable to find anyone who does it here. But
what really catches my fancy are Kam’s belly casts – nude studies of the
pregnant form.
“You’d have to be careful with those because my customers have already given
birth. There’s no chance for me to redo them should they get damaged,” warns
Kam, as I lift one up for a closer look.
Visibly relieved when the item is safely put down, Kam says making belly
casts requires strips of wet plaster to be placed across a naked torso. The
subject then has to wait an hour for the plaster to dry. It takes Kam 2½ weeks
to deliver a belly cast, complete with stand and supporting framework.
Shy mums, who are not keen to undress in front of strangers, are given D-I-Y
kits with step-by-step instructions.
Kam, who began her little enterprise in 2002, learnt her skills from a lady
in New Zealand. She stayed five days there and had to fork out NZ$10,000
(RM26,900).
“We did it in spite of family members expressing doubts that the idea would
sell here,” she recalls. Today, Kam gets up to 20 orders a month, and this means
that her husband has to lend a helping hand sometimes.
“When I go for an appointment, I never expect a child to be 100% cooperative,
but neither will I expect the worst. There have been times when I have had to
wait for a child to fall asleep at a customer’s place before I can make a mould
of their hand.
“Children will only remain small for a very short while, and I feel it is
important to preserve the memories. If you are looking for something beyond the
usual, then this would be the perfect gift,” says Kam.
Kam charges RM240 for a hand and a foot, complete with frame and name plate.
A belly cast is RM200 onwards. Charges for bronzing depend on the items.
Bronzing a shoe starts from RM220 and a pacifier RM180.
For enquiries, call (03) 5882 9415 or 012-2525577
