In case you think that all I do is cook, here’s my Easter flower arrangement (complete with eggs) and a couple of pewter tassels!
I wanted to explore the contrast between the softness of fabric and the silvery hardness of the metal. Finishing each delicate section took hours: filing and smoothing along the seam lines to recover both the softness and sparkle.
The flower arrangement was much quicker with just a pack of candy-coloured plastic shot glasses tied to a bunch of curly twigs – each glass is filled with tulips and 
narcissi from the garden and finished with a random sprinkling of eggs. It fills the room with all the fragrance of Spring.
Back to the pewter: Fleur (super pewter craftperson) showed me a tassel she had made for a presentation box. Once the mould frame had been formed with Lego, I pressed the tassel and a suspending cord in to the moulding rubbery material. Once hardened, a swish of releasing spray and the second layer of the compound. I gently teased apart the two halves to release the tassel before Fleur cut a funnel through which she poured the molten pewter. Then back to me for all the finishing.
Now I’m working on a couple of bowls that, with luck, will have dragon feet.
Penny Melville-Brown OBE
Disability Dynamics ltd www.disabilitydynamics.co.uk
Helping disabled people to work since 2000
