When I was in Southern California going to college, when I was 18 years old, I was just looking for a part time job.

And I looked all around and the only thing that was open was this job at a stained glass shop, which I knew nothing about.

I thought stained glass was something that you painted.

I decided to take the job because I really needed work to get me through college, and I learned a lot.

You know, AI can't do this.

I'm Erin Barker, and this is The Work of Art.

Today, I am going to be making this stained glass orchid.

Let's see if this goes like that.

My instructor had learned from his father, so he'd done it his entire life.

Within a couple of years, I started teaching classes.

I was working on large windows.

We did work that has been sent all over the world.

Anything you can think of, I've done in stained glass.

The soldering iron does not get the lead hot enough to vaporize it just to melt it.

So I'm not breathing any lead vapors, and I'm not absorbing any lead through my skin.

But I need to make sure that After I handle the lead, I wash my hands before I eat or drink because that's where I could ingest lead and that could cause lead poisoning.

Once again I want to see where the leaves are going to sit.

Okay now that I have it washed and dried really well I am going to add patina.

This is, a it's a nitric acid compound, so it's actually what I consider the most dangerous step in the process.

One of the most important things for me when I'm creating a piece is making sure that it is durable.

So I want to make sure that the pieces that I sell get passed down to, you know, through generations and last forever.

And we're done.