Contributed by Charice Chambers
Gale Glenn admits to being a bit of a sewer, embroiderer, and home crafter. After creating a “really cool” Christmas stocking for her soccer-obsessed daughter, Glenn wanted to copy it. Unable to recut the precise patterns necessary using traditional means, Glenn decided to try a laser cutter. Not only did it work for her soccer patterns, but it did so much more. Seeing the price of Gale’s new toy, her husband jokingly suggested that she needed to do something a bit more lucrative with it to recoup some of it’s cost. The seed was planted.
Soon she was turning out etched and cut products in paper, wood, metal and lucite. After a lot of practice and much trial and error learning, Glenn settled on products made of birch and alder. The couple had lots of logs on their property, so she began to create artistic sliced posts leaving a bit of bark attached. On the smooth side, she used the laser cutter to etch biblical and life affirming quotations. The live edged posts were a hit at craft shows, and Latitude 67 Laser Design was born. The company name was her piloting husband’s brainchild; it is the latitudinal address of the Arctic Circle.
Soon Gale began to expand her product lines. She launched a series of Alaskan animal ornaments, making them three dimensional to give more depth to the backgrounds and the animals. These continue today to be her best sellers.
Wanting to create a Northern Lights background for several of her ornaments, Glenn incorporated the use of fabric in her designs. She expanded it to use in other ornament designs, including the view from a window, and backgrounds for inspirational wall hangings. This year Glenn took her ornament collection to new heights with a series of fanciful Christmas ornaments. They included a collection of Santa’s reindeer complete with individual naming and a hilarious set of quotation dog bones, among others.
Glenn looks for inspiration from magazines, the Internet and even tattoo design. She has worked with local artists to render their designs in wood as well. Her business has been quite successful. Latitude 67 was originally housed in an 8 foot by 10-foot cabin, using a small laser cutter; it now claims space in a 10 foot by 20-foot hanger. The old laser cutter has been replaced with one twice its size that works at double the speed of its predecessor.
Today Latitude 67 produces numerous products such as coaster sets, Alaskan wall hangings, signs, wooden boxes and ornaments in birch, alder, and acrylic. Glenn also does custom pieces upon request. She is very proud that her work is not only in several gift shops throughout the state including Matsu Senior Services Gift Shop, but her etched boxes are also to be found in several galleries as well.
Glenn fell into her business and is gratified by its success. As she looks to the future, she sees herself needing to expand once again to meet demand. That means employees. She muses that as a retirement business, she would like to maintain, rather than increase, her size. She would like to give her creative self time to explore new materials such as glass, stone and jade.
Whatever she decided to do, her products are “must-sees.” Find them at Matsu Senior Services Gift Shop. Located at 1132 South Chugach Street in Palmer across from Palmer Junior Middle School, the shop is open to both seniors and the public Monday through Friday from 10 am to 2 pm.
