Durham, NC - When Starr Loftis walks around Duke's campus, she often looks up, not at the Gothic spires, but at the windows where Duke suncatchers hang.

Loftis, an administrative assistant for the University Press, was among the Staff & Family Programs employees who first distributed store bought suncatchers to Duke employees in the early 1990s.

"People loved the gift," Loftis said. The next year, Staff & Family Programs, which is a unit in Human Resources, created something more customized—an ornament of Duke Chapel.

To make the gift more unique, members of Staff & Family Programs next developed the suncatcher with a promotions company. Over the past 14 years, the suncatchers' popularity has grown, from 5,000 to 27,000 for distribution by Duke.

The suncatchers highlight buildings on the university or health system campus or commemorate special events such as 75 years of Duke Medicine. This year, the suncatcher celebrates the opening of the Nasher Museum of Art and features an image of the museum's logo, an abstract drawing of its gallery layout.

"It's so appropriate that the museum is featured on the suncatcher," said Wendy Livingston, Nasher's marketing manager. "Sun will stream through the suncatcher like it streams through our windows."

Livingston said she hopes the suncatcher will raise awareness of the museum and encourage employees to visit.

Each suncatcher is handmade in an intricate process that starts in late spring when the design is sent to PinLine, a family owned manufacturing firm in Rhode Island. There, craftspeople fine-tune the design and create a steel die, or mold. Molten zinc is injected into the die. When it cools and hardens, it creates a frame for the suncatcher.

Using a needle, workers inject liquid epoxy into the frame's cavities. Only one color of epoxy is added at a time, and it must cool over night before the next color is added. After the frame is filled, it is cured in an oven room. The suncatchers are inspected and later packaged and shipped before December.

Loftis said the suncatchers are popular because they can be displayed year round, not just during the holidays, and because they are personalized to Duke. She and her sister-in-law share a joint collection of all 17 suncatchers and ornaments from Duke.