Amazing MAKERS!

Three readers reveal their very unusual creative hobbies

- KATE CHAPMAN

Tina Payne, 55, is a crime writer and lives in The Wirral, Merseyside, with her partner Susie, 55. She makes fun fruit and vegetable sculptures.

I make funny sculptures from fruit and vegetables to cheer people up. It started while I was chatting on Twitter, after we'd gone into the first lockdown. Someone suggested we all make a funny creation using fruit and veg, and post a picture.

'If it makes just one person smile, then it'll be worth it,' I said to my partner Susie, then 53, as I pinned carrots and parsnips together with cocktail sticks to make a giraffe.

When I shared the photo everyone found it really funny. People responded with wonderful comments and loads of smiles, so I carried on making more and sharing them. I've made a cauliflower and Brussels sprout sheep, Betty the Lettuce - who was a big hit - and a fruit cockatiel, instead of a fruit cocktail!

My creations seem to have struck a chord with lots of people. Before, I had about 170 Twitter followers, now I have over 2,000. It's not about getting a big following - for me, the more people who follow me, the more people I can make laugh.

I'm conscious about what I share, and I make it clear no vegetables are harmed in the making of these sculptures. Rather than draw on the veg, I add the smiles and faces digitally after I've taken a picture. Everything is used afterwards, nothing is wasted - we have eaten a lot of soup over the past two years!

I'm a crime fiction author, which can be quite gruesome, especially when you're researching about murders and decomposing bodies. This is a bit of fun and helps to balance things out. Some of my creations only take minutes, while more elaborate ones can take up to an hour, but when you've been writing for eight hours, it's good to have a silly, creative outlet.

It's all a bit of good clean fun and, if it makes folk smile, then that makes me smile.