We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lucy Milne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lucy, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

Our expertise is creating sculptures for people who have lost someone they love. We visit funeral homes with the upmost care and respect and usually cast the hand of someone who has passed. Sometimes family members choose to hold their loved ones hand in the cast, but we have also came up with a unique way to do this in two stages for those who can’t physically be there. We are even trusted with babies and children who have passed which is a complete privilege and we have grown close to the families who we help. Two of our families wanted to help others after receiving casts of their newborn babies, and have set up a fund to help local families towards the costs of casting in memorial circumstances. They understand directly how much the casts help them to feel close to their babies while they live day to day with their grief, and they want to help others who are suffering too. I am immensely proud of this fund, and of all the memorial work that I do. To be able to work in a creative industry that I’ve always dreamed of, never feels like work. But to have found a way to combine art with the emotion of memorial castings is just incredibly special, and I know that our work is changing for the better the way that people live with their loss. Our memorial work has been shared on social media worldwide, and with our training courses too, I hope that our legacy will be creating awareness of memorial casting services.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

When we were new to the business, life casting wasn’t something that many people were aware of. We read a story in the local newspaper about a young girl who had terminal cancer and our first thought was to reach out to the family and offer a cast. There was no way they would get in touch otherwise because this was so unheard of. The family trusted us and we cast the young girl, holding her Mum’s hand. We were able to finish the cast a few days before she passed away, so she was able to see the cast. We took some photos of the cast and asked if we can share them on social media. As I was posting the picture I just couldn’t bring myself to only write their names under the photos. The cast had so much more meaning than that. The cast was a symbol of the unconditional bond between a mother and daughter and the heartbreak of the ultimate loss. I took a risk and asked the family if could write a little story about the time I spent with them. They agreed, and it took me a while to write the post. Through tears and nerves, I posted it. There was something incredible special about that post, and it changed everything for our business. The emotional impact that it left on people was something that we didn’t do intentionally, but now, it’s became a normal part of social media for us. We write a little story to go with our most emotional work, and that’s what our followers expect now. These posts can connect in such a personal way and it really hits home with our followers.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

We strive on our attention to detail at every stage of the casting process and we have worked really hard to perfect our skills over the years – and we still do! We attend training courses regularly with other artists and believe that you can never stop learning – especially in a creative industry with so many talented people. Having your own style really helps you stand out, and that’s some of the feedback we hear regularly. We were one of the first life casters to have an Instagram presence using airbrushing as a finishing technique. This method of painting the casts involves 30-50 layers of paint per cast, yet the super fine details, such as skin texture remain entirely visible. After we airbrush the casts, we use another material to ‘pop’ all the details and add the antique effect to the sculpture. Our level of finish and attention to detail has helped our images and reels stand out on social media and gain a highly respected reputation in the casting community which we are very grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lumilocastingstudio.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/lumilocastingstudio
• Facebook: Facebook.com/lumilocastingstudio

Image Credits
Dawn Brankin