AUSTIN, Texas — Jim Berry is a teacher at heart.

“I enjoy introducing people to stained glass the same way I got into it,” he said.

Berry is the owner of Blue Moon Glassworks. He's been in the business for 20 years.

“I took a stained glass class about 25 years ago from a local studio, a mom-and-pop shop like us, and learned how to do it and really fell in love with it, and so that’s what I’m carrying on, teaching other people how to do [it too],” said Berry.

Berry was working in the industrial supply business when he was first introduced to stained glass. Then for a while he worked at a different glass shop. Eventually after retiring, he decided to open his own.

“My wife and I took out a home equity loan, rented a building and the rest is history,” he said.

Now, Blue Moon Glassworks is a booming business. In addition to classes, the company offers stained glass repairs and has a little retail shop.

Berry says it's usually busy during the holidays because of the ornament-making classes. This year has been especially popular.

“There was a period of time for three months where my employees were laid off,” Berry said. “I was still up here working every day, but very minimal amount of work. Once things kind of started opening up, people were just clamoring to get out of the house and do something. I think that’s the big reason that right now we’re so busy with our classes. People are just trying to get back to a sense of normalcy.” 

On Wednesday night, a group from Yeti took a class together to celebrate the holidays. Elizabeth Cullinan was nervous at first and admitted she was afraid of fire. But after Berry helped her through it, she was a star student.

“I’m not even afraid of fire anymore,” she said with a laugh.

Berry says teaching is a very rewarding experience for him, especially watching students overcome their fears and struggles.

“To see a group of six or seven people that have never been on the torch before, to immediately be successful— there’s lots of satisfaction in that," he said.

One of the reasons Berry is such a great teacher is that he gets to share his passion with others every day.

“I fell in love with doing stained glass 25 years ago, and now I get to do it for a living," he said.

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