News / Isles’ first body-casting business launches
SHETLANDERS now have the chance to immortalise their loved ones in sculpture form after a new body-casting business launched in the isles earlier this month.
Keepsake Castings will initially focus on creating plaster models of hands and feet, with casts of young children proving particularly popular with new parents.
Founder Laura Hodge has a family studio in her home in Walls, while she can also travel to take moulds.
The body-caster is also hoping to extend her business into making replicas of different body parts in the future, including “bums and tums” for adults. She also makes casts of families and pets.
“It captures that moment in time,” Hodge said. “New borns, for example, grow so quick and you forget how tiny their hands and feet were. You’re never going to get that back.”
The casts pick up intricate details such as fingerprints and hair follicles, Hodge added.
She has been creating the body sculptures for around a year and decided to launch the venture to allow her to stay at home with her two young children while also running a business.
Hodge said she tried her hand at casting after her own family got the treatment on the Scottish mainland as a lasting memento just days after she tied the knot.
“Me and my husband got married last year and we went to the Edinburgh casting studio to get a family cast done,” she said.
“It was absolutely amazing, and it proudly sits on our shelving unit. It was two days after our marriage, and obviously we’re never going to get that time back again.”
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