Until last summer, Rita and John Riccardi thought their business was recession proof. But in August they were proven wrong.

After 22 years of unbroken profits, the married couple saw the income from their small glass manufacturing company in Greenpoint, Brooklyn wither — forcing them to cut job prices, go without a paycheck and feel the fun ebb from their work-a-day exploits.

“The worst thing that can happen is when you start coming into work just to save the business," Rita Riccardi, 50, said, shaking her head wearily in her office. "That's what happened to us this summer."

At first their company, Glass Impressions, seemed to be riding out the recession. Business slowed in the winter months of 2008, but that was to be expected as 70 percent of their clients are contractors and the construction industry is dormant in winter.

But the Riccardis began to worry when business did not pick back up in the spring. The summer was excruciatingly slow. In August, they had no jobs. Recently business has started to pick back up, albeit slowly.

In mid-October, the company landed a large job refurbishing hundreds of antique stained glass panels, a project that will at least keep the workshop operating until Christmas. But to get the job, Rita Riccardi had to slash the price by $40,000, almost halving her original quote.

Her revenues have gone down at least 21 percent since 2005, when the company grossed $700,000, its best year ever. And while revenue has declined to $550,000 in 2008, overhead costs have steadily increased. They also developed a cash flow problem when banks froze loans to small businesses and many of their clients became insolvent. Riccardi described the effects on her business with one word: "brutal."

Just to break even, Glass Impressions needs to bring in at least $30,000 a month. Riccardi has sometimes driven 30 miles to pick up a check herself, out of fear that the check would not arrive in time to pay their bills. The Riccardis had even stopped paying themselves in September in order to keep their two full- time workers on the payroll.

Riccardi also wonders if she spent more than she should have in the years preceding the recession, with two girls in college and $30,000 in combined tuition fees.

"If I had anticipated it was going to get this bad," she said, "I may not have bought new cars for my girls." But Riccardi said the hardest part has been losing her love for the work. She used to love how busy things were. The staff played music loud and ate meals together. The couple never worried about money.

"It was busy and fun," she said. "Now money and stress over paying bills takes the fun out of it."

A Queen's native, Riccardi started her business in April of 1987. Previously, she worked in a glass shop in Brooklyn sandblasting glass, and with some prodding from her husband decided to open her own business. For Riccardi, who had loved carving glass as a child, it was a dream come true.

John Riccardi, 48, left his banking job at Banker's Trust and joined his wife at Glass Impressions in 1996. They leased fabrication equipment and started to produce glass in-house, rather than ordering it from others. They also expanded into residential and mirror work. This led to some high-end commissions, like one for the New York Rangers to make an MVP trophy for Wayne Gretsky.

"She’s a very talented lady," said long-time employee and friend Fred Barnewold, 49. "A very good artist, she really knows what she's doing."

Barnewold turned down a job installing glass for the New York Police Department two years ago in order to continue working with the Riccardis, despite the pension the city job offered.

"After nine years of working with someone," he said, "it sort of becomes like family."

John Riccardi credits being able to withstand the recession to their lean work force. He pointed to a friend's glass business that is struggling to pay its office staff and four drivers. Glass Impressions does not have workers in these positions. Barnewold said he and Riccardi do the work of five men.

"We weathered the storm better than others because we were never top heavy," John Riccardi said. "I'm a hands-on person. We don't have a lot of administrative costs so a lot of money we make goes to paying bills, not paying salaries."

Despite the slow times, Riccardi remains determined to weather the recession: "I was brought up in a way that if you hit a bump in the road, you gotta keep on going.”

His wife is also hopeful about the future. “We finally have blueprints on the desk again,” she said. “So long as we have those, we’re doing okay.”