Down a narrow alley off Main Street, you’ll find the workshop of Bernard Rutko, a rare breed, full of quiet enthusiasm, knowledge, skill, and – perhaps most importantly – a true affection for his craft.

Leaning against the walls is those familiar half-round, segmented windows of the turn-of-the-century churches that dot the prairies; symbols of faith and the establishment of roots in a harsh land.

Time and the elements have taken their toll on the windows and though the glass is still perfect, the frames are weathered and cracked. Nearby, a new and perfect frame is emerging - a complete tapestry of the window, handmade in solid oak.

The carefully crafted pieces, formed from a pattern of the old window, are mortise and tendon joined. The glass is laid between two identical frames and secured so tightly that no caulking is required. With two panes of clear glass, the stained glass is protected from the elements.

Two layers of oak laminate cover the joints. Rutko will sand a window for half a day, pursuing perfection. Finally he will oil the silken oak. To protect the new window and ancient glass from the elements and possible vandalism, he makes a second quarter-inch air sealed unit.

He is currently working on the windows of Lepine St. Michael’s, an historical site, circa 1917. The glass is brittle and his wife, MaryAnn works painstakingly with solvent and an exacto knife, removing it from the old frame. "You don’t party the night before you do this," she jokes.

The glass is that ancient light forest green. Florentine it’s called. You can get close to the same color, but the design is irreplaceable, she says. Once removed she will "wash away all the old junk of the decades."

Rutko has been commissioned to work on several churches - Whitewood Presbyterian and Knox, Blaine Lake Prayer Home, St. Peter and Paul Orthodox in Foam Lake, St. Vladimir in Invermay, St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church in Kuroki and the Visitation of Our Lady Roman Catholic in Wynyard.

Every window is different, original and hand-built. There’s a lot of history there, says Rutko. "I feel as though I’m restoring that original art form to preserve history as the original did."

There is in fact a wealth of information in church windows, he says. The half rounds represent the country the people who built the church came from. Amber and two browns, for example, represent the United Kingdom. Then there are other symbols. Green denotes the earth; blue, sky and water; white, meditation, purple, royalty. When you see a church with an all-white window with a cross, that represents the resurrection. "Windows actually speak to us," says Rutko.

"It’s my heart and soul that is in this work," he says. If he was in it for the money, he’d be in trouble. He’ll never get rich on it. "But my reward is when I look up and see the sun flow in and I feel good.