AT 60 years of age sculptor Heather Sweet says she is now living her dream. From the tender age of five her idea of heaven was being alone in a room sculpting. It is her ultimate happiness.

But while she says: “I am blissfully happy at the moment.” There is a tinge of regret that she didn’t start her career in sculpting earlier and see exactly how far she could go in the art world.

She has, however, built up an enviable reputation nationally and internationally for her colourful, unique and often quirky bespoke icing/sugar sculptures over the past 20 years and will be demonstrating her talents at the Worcester Show on Sunday August 16.

The Worcester-based artist grew up in Shropshire and started sculpting with clay when she was 16 but she did not go to art college.

It was while working in hairdressing that the lure of the art world began to beckon. “My manageress was complaining that all she ever got for a birthday cake was a snow scene with rough white icing. I thought if I can do a sculpture in clay, I can do it in icing.

“I made a cake with a model of her with her hairdryer and brushes. She showed the customers at the salon and they started ordering cakes with different icing decorations and it just snowballed.”

Her son Tom designed a cake decorating website for her and she started doing unique wedding cakes to order. Her cake designs have won numerous sugarcraft and cake decorating competitions both nationally and internationally.

She has even made and decorated cakes for celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott, which she presented to him when appearing on the BBC TV programme Ready Steady Cook, and for the wedding of singer Gareth Gates to Suzanne Mole in 2008.

“A big thrill for me was making sculptures for the front cover of Vogue Italia. I was chuffed because it was the magazine I loved when I was young,” she said.

And while cake decorations satisfied Heather’s creative flow to a degree, her prolific imagination and thirst for more and more unusual designs led her to start making icing sculptures.

“I was doing wedding cakes for people who did not want anything too different and the sculptures for people who wanted something very different.”

She currently has sculptures on display at the Bowes Museum in Co Durham, the Guildford House Gallery, Surrey and the Bilston Art Gallery, Bilston, West Midlands. “Sugar sculptures are surprisingly tough as old boots and can last a lifetime,” said Heather, who has one of her earliest pieces in a glass case in her studio.

Heather’s sculptures are often funky, punky, increasingly using recycled materials and often have a message or try to provoke a reaction – like the female figure that has squeezed herself into such a tight-waisted garment that other parts of her anatomy, including her eyeballs, are bursting out all over!

While she admits she is influenced by puppet designers, gothic art, certain other sculptors, modern music videos and many other stimulus, she does not illustrate from life.

Her main driving force is her imagination, which means there are no rules. She doesn’t like rules. She does like humour and tries to inject at least a little comedy into her pieces.

“I always get a rush of ideas and then I cannot decide which ones to use. I have always had a good imagination,” she said.

“I would love to do a whole new collection of sculptures and challenge myself a bit more,” said Heather, who has started using different materials including metals and is even considering learning to weld.

Apart from creating, Heather also loves teaching and is a City and Guilds qualified tutor. She has taught at colleges in Worcester, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. “Teaching is very rewarding. I love teaching. I love being able to help people do it for themselves.”

These days she takes a few classes in the studio of her home at St Peter’s, Worcester, or in schools or club venues, at St Peter’s Garden Centre, does one-to-one tuition and also workshops.

She moved, with her then partner Graham who comes from Cornwall, to Worcester about three years ago from a small flat in Bromyard. The couple recently married.

“I like to be near where there is lots going on because I get bored easily. This is perfect because the garage was already converted to a studio. I love Worcester,” she said.

“This is the second time I will be doing the Worcester Show and I can’t wait. I’m really looking forward to demonstrating how anyone can learn to make sugar models and discover what a fun and rewarding hobby or career it can be,” said Heather, who will be demonstrating from 1.30pm to 2.30pm in the cookery theatre at the show.

At the end of August Heather is taking part in a project called Worcestershire Open Studios. Over three days from August 29 to 31, the work of 70 artists will be on display across the county in 27 locations.

Visitors can meet local artists, see their work and in some cases actually see them at work. Entry is free and more information is available by visiting www.worcestershireopenstudio.org.uk

“My aim this year is to get better known in the Worcester area and I would like to connect with other artists. I am taking part in the open studios event and people can come into my studio here and I should be working so they can see what I do.”