The visitor to Alison Trigg's west Waterford home would be well advised to pause before sampling one of the tempting apples or pears lying in profusion around her kitchen.
The penalty for haste could be a broken tooth, for this artistcraftswoman explores the boundaries of reality as interpreted by the eye.
Some of the luscious fruit in her kitchen at Tourtane House, Glencairn, may be the real thing: more of it consists of convincing representations made from dental plaster and delicately painted.
Perhaps part of the intention is to show how appearances can deceive, but great skill is needed edf to demonstrate this.
The deception is carried to extremely fine lengths. The apples may have highly realistic brown blemishes and other natural markings on their surface.
The tomatoes come with real stalks.
For 10 years she has been moulding objects in plaster and completing them with brush and oils.
The range is extraordinary, from decorative wall hangings representing bunches of grapes and flowers, to many animal species, winged angel figures, Victorian book-ends of pseudo flowers, plates masquerading as cabbage leaves, and all types of vegetables.
The tiny forms of animals may be tigers, elephants, frogs, hedgehogs, tortoises or pigs. "The pigs sell well into America," she says. Tourists seem to like greencoloured objects, and the angels are popular in white porcelain.
But gradually her interest has been focusing more on fruit and flowers. "I'm beginning to look at flowers with a different eye," she says.
She seems absorbed by the challenge of the natural colours and forms of organic products. "I'm an absolute pain in the neck if I go into a vegetable shop. I can spend hours looking at the shapes and forms."
She has been down many roads in those 10 years and previously. She is a cordon bleu cook and has been a riding instructor. "Horses have been my life."
Her "objects" have been on sale in art galleries and London stores. They involve painstaking work, much patience and attention to detail. After initial moulding, the basic plaster form is dried over the domestic Aga cooker for a week or 10 days, then sealed with varnish.
It is then given from one to three undercoats ("depending on the degree of colour I want") followed by several coats of oil paints, and finished with three coats of lacquer. The fascination of the pieces lies in the realistic effect achieved. While they are described as "hand-painted plaster ornaments" they seem in many cases to challenge the arbitrary line between craftwork and art.
The full range is on display at her home off the road between Lismore and Tallow, but it's worth looking out for her work in craft shops and galleries almost anywhere. Once seen and identified (the difficult part) you may never again bite impulsively into an apple or a slice of tomato without a cautious pause.