Artist offers unique 3D memento of childhood days

To capture those precious moments when children are small most parents like to take photographs or home videos – but one Galway-based mother decided to follow her passion and do something a bit different.

Petra Majzlikova always had a keen interest in arts and crafts and because of that interest she enrolled in a course just a few years ago geared to teach people all about mouldings and lifecasting.

Now, she creates mouldings of her children so as they get older she can continue to hold on to sentimental moments and have something forever to remember her children’s days growing up.

“I have two young children and everybody knows how fast time flies by and before you know it your children have moved on to the next stage so I wanted to capture these moments in my children’s life,” Petra said.

She left her hometown in Slovakia and moved to Ireland 16 years ago, but at that time she was only intending to stay for one year. Like many others, she fell in love with the country, its people and ultimately settled down.

Because of her love of moulding, the Slovakian native opened her own business last year called 3D Precious Memories in Gort. Even though she is based in Galway, she travels all around the country to create a forever memory for families in the comfort of people’s homes.

Since starting up 3D Precious Memories, Petra has created many different types of lifecastings, including ones of families, newborn babies, children, adults, wedding hands, and even pet paw mouldings.

She explained that mouldings are something to treasure for a long time, they’re a perfect gift for grandparents, a memory for parents and can be a great asset to a nursery wall. 

Petra believes this type of art stands out against other forms because it offers something special in which a painting or a picture cannot do.

“Photos, videos and paintings all hold amazing details, but they don’t show the real size, shape and the fine lines of the skin, lifecasting captures all those,” she added

Petra said that all of their crafts are unique, but one piece, that she recently completed, really jumps out to her. She was able to create a freestanding handcast of a Kieran Molloy, a young gold medalist boxer, who won a world championship in Russia just a few months ago.

Her favorite type of mouldings to complete are the ones when she has the opportunity to casts three or even four generations of a family in one frame.

The pieces are created using impression powder, a seaweed based material which is hypo-allergenic and safe to use on even the most delicate of skin.

Prices for her work start at €99 and the mouldings come in handmade box frame that varies in sizes and finishes or a freestanding cast on a plinth with a name plaque.

■ For more information, you can find out more details on her website.