Courses

Scarves: Many of us don't leave home without them. They are imperative in the winter but they can also simply be fashionable.  In this class you will learn the modern wet felting technique called Nuno which creates a durable, elegant and warm material by combining wool with silk or other…

Trace the history of your morning toast back to Ancient Egypt and learn to bake bread as it was before commercial yeast and steam-injection convection ovens. Learn the basics of baking artisan breads with a strong emphasis on traditional methods, including ingredient selection, techniques for leavening and methods of baking.…

If you’ve ever picked up a rough stone and wondered what’s inside, it’s time to try your hand at the magic of stone cutting! Veteran goldsmith and stone cutter extraordinaire Michael Seiler will lead students through the process of cutting, finishing, and polishing a variety of agates ­- perfect for…

A sturdy, timbered outdoor bench will invite years of use and is perfect for long conversations, a short break from walking or simply watching the world go by. This unique bench design borrows joinery common to timber-frame construction and utilizes rough cut, sustainably harvested white pine timbers. It’s beautiful, comfortable…

Hearth loaves, live-fire cooking, flatbreads, and overnight baked bean pots – just a few of the many potential uses of the wood-fired masonry oven made popular by Alan Scott.  This workshop will explore the history and construction of masonry ovens and the mixing and baking of wood-fired bread. Over the…

Wood fired brick ovens have been used since the dawn of civilization. They have been found in excavations of virtually every ancient civilization with the brick oven reaching its modern form in ancient Rome. Designs vary widely based on materials and intended use. The round wood-fired oven is found widely…

Late June means lupines in many shades of purple will populate the ditches and roadsides of the North Shore, creating the perfect setting for discovering purple possibilities in natural dyes. We will discuss basic color theory as to how to create various purples and lavenders. In this class, we will…

Bring a garment that you love - or cannot live without. You will not have to take it apart! You will learn to make a pattern that duplicates the cut, and even adds features such as more pockets or design details. Three techniques for copying patterns from existing garments will…

Penny rugs use felted wool scraps to create a textile feast for the eye. Multicolored scraps are arranged in contrasting and complementary colors to create table runners, placemats and more, making a room come alive with color. Shapes of descending sizes are layered onto a wool background piece and stitched…

Learn basic woodworking skills and create a beautiful useful piece at the same time in this introductory course. Using a variety of types of wood, from birch to maple to walnut and more, students will complete three projects: a practice piece, a butcher block-style cutting board and a pizza peel…

Create a traditional coiled basket from locally harvested red pine needles. Starting with either a pliable birch bark base or an elegant agate base, you will work with a variation of the spiral stitch to form a basket with a distinct spiral pattern inside and out. Samples of pine needles…

In this two day course each student will build a post-and-rung stool as we explore aspects of traditional chair making. On day one, students learn about splitting logs for stool pieces and how to shape stool parts using a shaving horse, drawknife, and spokeshave. On the second day, students use…

Take this one-of-a-kind opportunity to build a custom-sized, traditionally built wooden lapstrake boat, originating in design and construction from the fjords and fishing villages of Norway and Sweden. Over 12 days, students will complete the Norse Pram, an inshore craft that makes an excellent tender or rowboat at the lake,…

Rug hooking traces its roots to the northern colonies and Canada, when immigrants utilized textiles on hand to create rugs for their homes. Hooked rugs are made by drawing narrow strips of wool fabric through a background fabric of cotton, linen or burlap with a curved hook much like a…

North House and the north woods are full of inspiring colors and patterns for the quilter. Laura Ricketts has designed a nine block wall-hanging with thematic blocks, as well as a North House central block. This North Woods quilt class will focus on triangles: dealing with bias in fabric and…