Wanda Trinci is on a difficult mission. “I’m very, very choosy,” she chuckles.
What she’s looking for is that needle in a haystack. She scours Mount Holly for flawless maple leaves, tossing anything with a brown spot or hole. The leaves she chooses will stay fresh forever. “They've got character,” Trinci says, smiling.
The leaf lady, as some friends call her, uses these colorful treasures from autumn in Vermont in her 3 year-old home craft company called Leaf it in Vermont. “I love working with color,” she beams.
Trinci glues her preserved maple leaves into candy dishes, coasters, platters and more, then coats them with a clear resin. “They are one of kind,” the crafter explains. Those dishes cannot be used in the oven.
It's a part-time job, now, selling at craft shows and online. She hopes this will eventually become her full-time work, saying her goal is simple: to celebrate the beauty of nature and one bright symbol of her home state. Trinci says, “I love Vermont!”
In the woods is where you’ll find Wanda Trinci as foliage season winds down, as her search continues for that special maple leaf for her “Made in Vermont” crafts.
Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont
Mount Holly, Vermont - October 9, 2009
Photos Courtesy of WCAX3
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