Discovering life through colored glass

Racks are stacked neatly with sheet after sheet of brilliantly colored glass -- candy-apple red, amber, sea green, firelight white, clear satin and sky blue. On a nearby stand are the possibilities -- more than 80 pattern books, with steps on how to turn glass into bears and raccoons, angels and Nativity scenes.

It is a stained-glass artist's heaven, right in David Searles' yard.

Searles has what many craftsman only dream of -- a supply shop and work area attached to his own house. As the owner of Alaska's Spirit Crafts off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Searles spends his afternoons pursuing his craft and helping others do the same. When business is slow, he steps through a door and into his own living room.

"I can go watch ESPN or something," Searles said with a laugh. Just as likely, though, between customers he'll be helping one of his two daughters find information for a homework assignment or finishing up his own stained glass project.

Searles is relatively new to arts and crafts. He said he never had much interest in it as a teen-ager growing up in the Valley and Valdez.

The 42-year-old man got into crafts in the mid-90s when his father got him interested in woodcarving. Searles still makes and sells diamond-willow walking sticks and antique-looking wooden Santas his shop.

Later, again under the direction of his father, Searles expanded to stained glass and eventually took classes at Mat-Su College.

Three years ago, Searles took his hobby a step farther. If you ask him how he came to the decision to build the shop out of his own pocket, he'll say, "It's a funny story, actually."

As Searles tells it, his wife had been looking for a job and had diligently applied at Wal-Mart several times, all to no avail. She never got called for an interview. Searles jokes that he told his wife, "If you can't get a job, we'll make a job for you." So the couple decided to open the craft supply shop.

"The day we broke ground for the shop, she got the call for the job interview," Searles said, shaking his head. His wife interviewed, was offered the job and has been working at Wal-Mart ever since.

Despite the change in plans, Searles built and opened the supply shop. It makes for a busy schedule, however.

Days he works as a civil service technician for the National Guard. Afternoons and evenings, he mans the stained glass shop. Once a month, as long as he can procrastinate, he sits down and goes through the heap of paperwork that comes with owning a small business.

In his spare time, he helps his daughters with their homework and coaches basketball.

It might seem that having your own supply shop would create endless possibilities for pursuing your craft. In fact, Searles says he finds he completes fewer of his own projects now that he has his own business, but as fast as he can make them, he sells them.

When asked what subjects he prefers for his craft, Searles laughed and said, "The manly stuff."

Translated into stained glass, this means fish splashing in streams, loons floating on ponds and Native American images of ravens and salmon.

Several examples hang, glistening and bright, in a his shop window. A rainbow trout gliding through water consists of more than 100 separate pieces of glass.

Searles insists he isn't an artist. He works from patterns and knows how to skillfully cut and grind glass, foil its edges and piece it together with solder.

"That's the neat thing about stained glass -- you can be an artist or you can be a craftsman," Searles said. "I am a craftsman."

This is the common thread that seems to tie much of his life together -- his service with the Navy, his college degree in automotive technology, his work as a manager of a Chevron Station, his current career as a civil service technician. While he says creativity isn't his strength, he admits he is mechanically inclined.

His interest in stained glass has sparked a growing appreciation for art, however. Searles proudly displays one of his daughter's award-winning pastel scenics on a wall in his shop, and talks admiringly about some of the creative customers who come through his door.

This is an aspect of his business Searles says he especially enjoys.

"I really like it when people come and let me know what they're doing," Searles said, describing a church project one woman in Talkeetna completed.

While it is clear Searles doesn't expect to ever make big money in the stained glass business, it is equally evident that he enjoys his work. He said he and his wife have discussed moving to their beachfront property in the Philippines when they get older, but even this might not be enough of a temptation to leave his stained glass business behind.

"This is what I want to do after I retire," Searles said, looking around his shop.