Juliann Rubijono of Lexington makes plaster casts of pregnant women’s torsos.
(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)
G FORCE | JULIANN RUBIJONO
A bump in business
Juliann Rubijono of Lexington makes plaster casts of pregnant women’s torsos.
(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)
Flip through any celebrity magazine and you’ll see Hollywood types in flowy tops and dresses - and speculation as to whether this actress or that model is pregnant. Baby bump watching has become a national pastime. Juliann Rubijono, 39, is surrounded by pregnant bellies. No, she’s not a blogger or a paparazzo. The Lexington resident and mother (her son Ian is 17) makes plaster casts of women’s torsos when they’re eight months pregnant. The casts cost between $300 and $500, with some of the proceeds going to the charity of the client’s choice. We chatted with Rubijono about her Mama Casts and motherhood.
Q. You have a background in mask making and theater arts. How did you get into belly casting?
A. About five years ago, a lot of my friends started having kids and asked if I would do it for them. I used to make body casts in high school and I just fell in love. Working with the shape and form of a pregnant body gave me a whole new appreciation for motherhood.
Q. Are women excited to do this?
A. So far, everyone has been really into it. . . . There’s a different attitude toward motherhood than there was when I was pregnant almost 20 years ago. I felt awkward - we covered ourselves up a lot more in the early ’90s and late ’80s. Now, women are proud to be pregnant. . . . They embrace it.
Q. Describe the casting process.
A. I make house calls - I meet people in their element. . . . We have a conversation and I let her get to know me. I watch how she feels her belly and how she relates to the baby. I work very, very fast as the cast starts drying. . . . Then she wriggles to get out.
Q. Did you have a cast done when you were pregnant?
A. No, I wish I had. I don’t think I have any photos of me when I was pregnant. Maybe one, in the delivery room.
Q. What do people do with them?
A. I coat them with acrylic to give them an opal sheen. I don’t sand them. . . . I like to leave them white. No one has painted it yet. I think there is a classic look to keeping it white, like you might see it in a garden or ruins. It has a look of antiquity.
Q. Do people look at you funny when you tell them what you do for a living?
A. I find that older women look at me incredulously, as if to say, “Why would you want to do that?’’ It’s generational. . . . I’m actually getting more e-mails from men than women - they want to give the cast to their partners as a gift.
Q. What have you learned from motherhood?
A. The sanctity of every moment . . . there’s just awe in the weirdest, smallest, most mundane things. My son is the most honest person I know. What I didn’t learn from my parents, I’m learning from my son.
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