Fort Simpson (Dec 24/04) - St. David's Anglican church has taken on some new brilliant hues. As daylight pores through the windows, five stained glass images overlooking the pews shine brightly.

Frank Letcher, who has made some intricate stained-glass windows for St. David's Anglican church, installed the fifth and final piece of colourful art on Saturday. Above is an example of his handiwork.

Frank Letcher created and mounted the artwork. He donated the vibrant windows to the parish, completing the fifth and final piece last week. He spent an estimated 300-400 hours on the entire project -- and a portion of that was done with a broken foot.

His efforts have not gone without appreciation.

Rev. Robin Trevors told Letcher people admired the latest stained glass addition at Sunday mass.

"They just love them. They're so beautiful," Trevors said.

John Herring, a long-time member of the congregation, concurred.

"As the light shines through they just sparkle," he said. "They're beautiful. They add to the worship."

The kaleidoscopic images include a pair of crosses, a church, Saint Francis and some doves.

Each window started as a sketch. That was followed by a full-size pattern. Letcher carefully cut each piece of coloured glass, sometimes in very challenging shapes.

The edges of each section must be covered in foil (which is a copper-like tape), inserted and soldered. Actually it takes a whole lot of solder -- he figured that each pane of stained glass contains up to three pounds of the stuff.

Among the windows for the church, the fifth pane consisted of the most pieces: 147.

Letcher, a retired teacher, once made a window for his son Loyal to display at North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge. It was comprised of 307 pieces. He has also crafted a seven-foot door light for his sister and a four-foot-by-four-foot piece of stained glass for the school in Edzo.

He picked up the craft from Wally Murphy, a former colleague in Edzo. It didn't come naturally at first, he admitted.

"I was like most people, I couldn't cut a window for the house," Letcher said.

He added he doesn't mind giving freely of his time, and he joked that he may even have an ulterior motive.

"Well, I love doing the glass," he said, "and sooner or later that door is going to open at the end of the tunnel and I need all the points I can get."