3D Casting
Our 3D memorial casting programme combines the knowledge and expertise of clinical staff with the artistry of professional life casters. We train midwives, nicu nurses and other healthcare professionals to take moulds from babies before shipping them to our HQ where they are filled and finished to a high standard.
The casts are then returned to the hospital after 3-4 months where they can be collected. This process ensures the safest service for everyone involved and provides a continuity of care when it is needed most.
We train midwives, nicu nurses and other healthcare professionals to take moulds from babies. These baby’s deaths could be classified as late miscarriage, stillbirth, compassionate induction, neonatal death etc.
We don’t discriminate and as long as you work with bereaved families who have lost babies, we’d love to hear from you about partnering to offer your families this service.
If you would like to find out more about starting 3D casting at your hospital or hospice, or to join our waiting list, please contact us.
3D Casting FAQs
At this time we are not offering training to any individuals who do not work in a clinical role with bereaved families. 3D memorial casting, whilst primarily safe, is a process that requires experience working with deceased babies and knowledge of assessing skin integrity. We will not train parent-led services or charities and similarly can not offer advice or support to individuals for legal reasons.
If you are a professional life caster, with formal life casting training or significant professional experience, we can offer guidance, training and support to help you begin to offer a memorial and/or deceased casting service to your clients. For more information, please email hello@littlecloud.co.uk.
When we partner with a hospital or hospice we’ll arrange a face to face training date or send you video files to arrange dates with smaller groups of staff. We then send all the equipment and materials you need. You’ll be trained to take moulds of baby’s feet, and provided with all the instructions to send those to Little Cloud HQ to be filled and finished before being returned to you. Please email amy@littlecloud.co.uk to join our waiting list or discuss casting in your hospital or hospice
Our 3D casting technique and materials are widely regarded as safe and used across the world by casting companies, artists and dentists. We create moulds of baby’s hands and feet by submerging them in an alginate solution. Alginate is not only skin safe but also biodegradable so is safe for the planet too!
The delicate skin of babies who are premature or have passed away, however, can be difficult to work with. For this reason, we only allow healthcare professionals with prior experience of skin integrity to take moulds and make decisions on whether babies are appropriate for casting. We also use a variety of casting techniques and a release agent to create the safest process possible. We encourage staff to openly discuss the possible, but rare, risks of casting and all parents are asked to sign a consent form which outlines these risks also.
We aim to deliver all casts within 3-4 months of them being taken, which is an average amount of time for casting companies too. We do have some occasions where casts can take a little longer due to a higher than normal number of casts being completed or where volunteer numbers are limited (e.g. due to the covid pandemic or national holidays).
We always hand-deliver casts and will not post or courier casts unless prearranged with parents and at their request. The casts we create are delicate and irreplaceable; parcels go missing or are damaged all the time and this is something we’d never want to happen.
All of our casts are delivered back to the hospital or hospice at which they were taken. If you would like to make alternative arrangements to collect your casts from our HQ in Altrincham, Cheshire please email casting@littlecloud.co.uk.
We do not frame or paint casts metallic colours; all our casts are white and in a box. Framing 3D casts requires us to shave the back of the casts which is irreversible. We also know many families like to hold their casts and you may not fully know what you want until you hold them in your hands. However, we do have links to casting companies across the country who can frame your casts for a discounted fee. If you would like more information, please contact us. Little Cloud takes no responsibility for any work done to the casts after parents receive them and does not profit from these services.
Unfortunately, the mould we take is destroyed in the casting process so only one cast can come out of each mould. However, we have connections with casting companies who can copy casts for a fee. If you’d like more information about this please contact us. Little Cloud takes no responsibility for any work done to the casts after parents receive them and does not profit from these services.