Less than a year ago, Sarah Maitland found a lovely heartwarming “wreath of hands” that she wanted to have made or casted of four of her five children who were still living at home.
She had seen the wreath and thought, “I’ve just got to have one of those of my children.” Well, her search led her to dead end. No one in Virginia does the plaster casting of hands. Sarah felt that was truly a sign. “Back in April, I saw a video of a family being cast and I fell in love with the idea and really wanted my children done in the wreath of hands,” she explained. “I quickly realized nobody was offering this service in the state.”
“I had been looking for work,” Sarah said. “I had been fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom for many years.” But, she wanted to bring in some extra income for the family as her children got a little older. “I just hadn’t found my niche at that point.” She still has children at home ranging from seven to 17 and one adult son who is not at home.
So, came the birth of Sarah’s small business — EverCasting Love. “I’d tried a lot of things in my search for my own working world niche,” Sarah shared. “But this was something totally new and different.” She started researching how to create plaster casts of hands. She watched hours of videos and read what seemed like “a million articles on the art of plastercasting.” She had a lot to learn. “I spent countless hours studying the process; I ordered the ingredients and tried and failed; yet, I was determined that I was going to get my wreath of hands on my wall,” Sarah said. She said the casting took her at least three months and 10 attempts to get it right. “It was many tears before I finally got it right,” she said.
Sarah refers to the skill as “lifecasting” and said after much research and many hours of experimentation she thought, “Well, I can do this.” The closest plaster caster she had been able to find was in the Washington, D.C. area. So, she gave the owner a call and talked over the business.
“We mostly talked about where to get supplies, the best prices, and the owner shared her experiences with me,” Sarah explained. Sarah said it just seemed right. “Things just seemed to come together — I had to learn to do this on my own, but that I was willing and it was just no way to learn it — just had to do it,” Sarah said.
Sarah had her daughter Hailey join her in the business so that she could learn the craft, as well. “I thought it was a great idea,” said Hailey.
“I like to be helpful and this nice to be able to give people something special.”
The casts are made of all safe, natural products. “The products form around your hands like a gel,” Sarah explained. It is a rubber mold made with water and other safe products that blend to form around the hand or the other body parts.
But, it is not a quick process. So, the Maitlands have found that babies are sometimes hard to cast because they do not stay still for very long. “It starts out as a liquid format and you have to hold your hand very still — it captures your hand and forms to it,” explained Hailey. Eventually the rubbery cast hardens up and the hand slips right out. Now, they have a rubber mold. This is the cast they use to form a plaster replica.
“We then mix a cement-like compound and pour into the rubber mold,” Sarah said. “We also do belly castings for mommys-to-be.” She said the most popular castings are baby hands and baby feet. Sarah explained that she will tell moms with babies that movement works against the casting. “I tell them that it might take two tries so be prepared,” Sarah said, “And they are good about this with little ones.”
As Valentine’s Day approaches, the call for two hands together is popular. “New engagements are always popular for the couple to share this momentous news,” said Sarah.
Pregnancy tummy castings have been big for the new business. “They are popular,” said Hailey. “And we offer a service to paint on the tummy castings.” Sarah and Hailey had a family member who was pregnant last year when they started. “We experimented on her baby belly as she grew and the months passed,” said Hailey. They use the plaster bandage casting technique for the pregnant tummies.
They also work with a local artist, Bobbi’s Murals (bobbismurals.com), if moms-to-be are interested in having their tummy casts painted with artwork. Some have the tummy cast done and have all their friends and family sign them at showers and share well wishes. Some women use the casting as part of their nursery decoration. All the casts come out white, for a fee they can be painted or a plaque added.
They have done quite a few dog paws. A friend was having her pet put to sleep and wanted the keepsake. “It was a touching moment for me knowing that she would have the paw once her pet was gone,” Sarah added. The team will travel to veterinary offices and other locations, based on availability.
Sarah and Hailey feel there is so much goodness that comes from a business like this. Recently, the duo was contacted by a family of a man who had found out he had Stage IV cancer. “The family wanted to do a wreath of hands and it is just so awesome to think of the detail that’s there,” Sarah shared. “This is something you can touch that is a wonderful and meaningful piece of them that the family can still hold on to.”
She believes this helps in the healing process. “A picture is nice but my work creates a memory that is a 3-D representation of someone,” she said. “How amazing is it to have an actual 3D replica of that person’s hand that shows every detail, down to the fingerprints that can be held and touched?”
EverCasting Love can be found on Facebook at EverCasting Love or EverCasting Love LLC.
