Courses

Lace up your baking shoes and get ready for an artisan breads baking marathon. Combining the skills of our popular Artisan Breads I and II courses, this two-and-a-half-day intensive course allows students to dig deep into hand-crafted, long-fermented, and hot-hearth baked breads. We’ll explore pre-ferments and a long cool rise…

Cranks wind, gears turn, dragons chomp, and birds fly. Welcome to the whimsical world of automata: simple wooden machines that delight and amaze. Join Cecilia Schiller for a five-day exploration of the art of making wooden machines and the mechanisms that make things move. Starting with the design process in…

Learn the planning, layout, and joinery necessary to construct a traditional timber frame (post and beam) structure, such as North House's blacksmith shop, bread oven shelter, fish house classroom, and other structures around campus. The course begins with the basic mortise and tenon joint, and then expands on these techniques…

Carry around your studies, tools, or groceries in this beautiful and functional large birch bark tote basket. Students will learn about sustainable techniques for legal harvest and then use hand tools to prepare their 1 inch wide bark strips, and weave them into a tote base. The bag will be…

Discover the sturdiness and the beauty of birch bark by weaving a medium table top basket; perfect for organizing or displaying with its large base, shallow walls, and sturdy rim structure. This rim design will elevate your weaving skills by adding a three-dimensional pattern that mimics the zigzags of the…

Make the wood chips fly!  This course is for students ready to stand at the chopping block and to learn to use classic wooden bowl-carving hand tools—the adze, axe, gouge and push knife. Topics to be explored include selection of wood stock, elements of bowl design, strategies for hand-hewing, use…

Pick up your hammer! This course is designed for students with little or no building experience who want to build a tiny home, small cabin, or workshop. The techniques for building a small frame building are not only for the skilled carpenter; nearly anyone can come away from this course…

Create yourself a comfortable living space: a spare bedroom, office, studio, sauna, or whatever else you can dream up. The 18-foot yurt is an excellent shelter option that provides comfortable living arrangements for all four seasons. Working with skilled yurt builders, you’ll construct a simple yurt, complete with a door…

Carve a wooden figure for the upcoming holiday season—either as a gift for someone special, or for yourself (since you are special, too, right?). Harley, who says, "If you can peel a potato, you can carve a figure," will lead new as well as experienced carvers through the process of…

Celestial navigation is one of the oldest forms of navigation. For thousands of years, an understanding of the sky has guided mariners safely across the trackless oceans of the world. It is a traditional craft that is rich in both history and romance. With the advent of modern electronics, one…

Autumn brings a riot of color to the landscape of the North Shore. This workshop is your opportunity to capture a bit of the season with beads. Each participant will bring an autumn image to inspire their design. From your image you will create a unique “bead painting” embroidered on…

Discover the secrets of the old Sámi school of ski construction by crafting a custom pair of birch skis to meet your needs. In this course you’ll learn about the origin of ski design, function, and construction. We’ll also cover topics such as wood grain, bending wood, types of bindings,…

Spend a day aboard the Hjørdis and learn the basics of sailing a 50’ gaff-rigged schooner on Lake Superior. This course offers a mix of in-class preparation and on-the-water experience: topics include points of sail, seamanship, rope-work, sailing terminology, and boat handling technique. Wind, weather, and waves vary greatly on…

Cruck building is a Medieval English method of timber framing using pairs of large, curved timbers (cruck blades) that are joined at their apex to function as both post and principal rafter. The resulting Gothic arch creates a dramatic open hall space that is both structurally stable and visually appealing.…

Up north, there's a saying that there's no bad weather, just the wrong clothes. In this course, you'll outfit your hands to protect them from the elements by designing a comfortable and warm pair of deerskin mittens to wear during the winter months. The mittens are ideal for daily wear,…