Close up: Boulder’s Casttoo makes a canvas out of plaste
October 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Close Up, Inspiration U
Casttoo started with a bone-crushing bike wreck. Jessica Smith, a University of Colorado art student at the time, broke her wrist when she flew over her bicycle handlebars in 2006. Desperately wanting an artsy cast, she sought out a company to help decorate the dull black plaster that would be on her arm for eight weeks.
Finding none, she succumbed to glitter and “puffy” paint, then resolved to start her own business. Now Smith, along with art and business partner Jessica Prince, designs and ships removable art decals to the broken-boned, worldwide. Boulder-based Casttoo (think cast-tattoo) also designs decals for prosthetic limbs and knee braces. The idea is that a personalized cast, decorated with colorful images, aids the healing process by encouraging happy thoughts.
“Happy healing,” Smith calls it. “Now people don’t look at your new cast and say, ‘Oh, what happened?’” Smith says. “They say, “Oh that looks cool.’”
Smith receives about 70 Casttoo requests per month, either from one of the 60 domestic and international clinics partnered with her service, or from individuals online. Prices vary depending on the size of the cast. A $20 package fits a child’s arm cast, while the $40 extra-large package fits an adult-sized full-leg cast.
Cornerstone Orthopedics & Sport Medicine in Louisville carried Casttoos. Kathy Perez, an orthopedic technician there, says everyone who gets one loves it.
“They are so simple for the patient to put on, it’s like a no-brainer,” Perez says. “(Patients) come back and say everyone loved them.“ About 10 percent of the clinic’s patients with casts choose to apply the Casttoos, she says. Half of those are adults. In effect, Smith has brought art to yet another medium.
“Photographers use cameras, painters use canvases, and we use broken bones,” Smith says. The waterproof decals, which range from fairies and seascapes to flames and “tribal designs,” work like a heat-activated sticker and are applied with a hairdryer.
Customers can also customize their decals by scanning in images online, Smith says. Although Smith is dedicated to keeping production local, she says she’s eager to see the business expand further internationally. Clinics in Great Britain, Lebanon, Peru and Korea have expressed interested in the decals, she says.
“I love what I do,” she says. “I make people with broken bones feel better.“ On the Web Check out www.casttoo.com.
— By Staff
