Craft & Design
Introduction to Tapestry Weaving
Tapestry has graced the surfaces of human dwellings for thousands of years. It was an important vehicle for illustrating legends, recording history, and decorating homes. Although the word is used in various contexts these days, this one-day introductory course will focus on the traditional basics of tapestry, including numerous weave structures and decorative techniques. You will design your own “cartoon”, and will weave a small image/design of your choosing using provided materials. This workshop requires no previous knowledge of tapestry or textile arts. Upon completion of the workshop, you will have a basic understanding of how to design and weave your own tapestries for decoration or utility.
Dates & Details
1. SAT July 18
2. SAT Aug 8
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Maximum Size: 8 (age 14+)
Fee: $185.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
Tapestry Weaving examples
Needle Felting Basics
Join us for this one-day introduction to needle felting with accomplished artist Sandi McNeil! Through this workshop you will learn all the basics necessary to create a charming, small scale 3-dimensional felted creature of your choice. Instruction will include working with wool, use of colour, practicing safe needle felting techniques, and creating/using a wire armature to give your creature form and personality.
Spend an inspiring day exploring this versatile fibre art practice – no previous experience required.
Dates & Details
SAT July 4
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Maximum Size: 10 participants (age 14+)
Fee: $185.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
NEEDLE FELTING EXAMPLES
Coiled Basket with Woodburned Insert
Many cultures and peoples around the world have used a variety of natural materials to create baskets that are both beautiful and utilitarian. Grasses, reeds, pine needles, and bark are just a few of the examples of items that can be dried and turned into baskets. While a variety of techniques exist to join these materials, the one we will focus on in this workshop is coiling. This ancient technique involves forming coils and stitching them together to make a basket. We will also be making our own wooden inserts using a drill, sander, and woodburning. Patterns will be provided for all skill levels, but if you have an image in mind, feel free to bring it along. At the end of this workshop, you will have made a small basket with natural materials and gained the fundamentals to create even more complex designs in the future.
This is a beginner/intermediate workshop (no experience required).
Dates & Details
1) SAT June 20
2) SAT Aug 29
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Maximum Size: 10 participants (age 14+)
Fee: $185.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
BASKET WEAVING EXAMPLES
The Kawartha Potters Guild at Rice Lake Arts
We are excited to announce our first clay workshop running 5 Wednesdays this summer! Enrollment will open through The Kawartha Potters Guild beginning Sunday February 1, 2026.
Garden Art: Handbuilding in Clay
Do you love your garden or have a friend or family member whose garden could use a whimsical ornament? Are you interested in learning how to work with clay? Then this 5-week workshop, a new collaboration between the Kawartha Potters Guild (Peterborough) and Rice Lake Arts, will be of interest to you. Workshop leader Sue Flannagan, an accomplished artist who loves colour and whimsy, will help you to create garden ornaments in clay inspired by plants, wildlife, insects, flowers or whatever you imagine! Sue will introduce you to a number of handbuilding techniques, and support you as you bring your ideas to life. This workshop is open to complete beginners, as well as those with experience.
To learn more and to register for this workshop, please visit The Kawartha Potters Guild. Registration for this workshop will open Sunday, Feb 1, 2026.
Dates & Details
WED July 29, Aug 5, 12, 19, 26
The final session, Aug. 26, will be held at the Kawartha Potters Guild for glazing.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Maximum Size: 10 participants (age 14+)
Fee: $385.00 + tax (clay, glazes & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
Bio
Sue Flanagan
Garden Art examples
Spin your own Yarn! Introduction to the Drop Spindle
Learn to spin your own yarn in an easy, accessible way with the drop spindle! This spinning technique dates back thousands of years, and was a staple part of domestic life in most cultures until the 19th century. Tune into this ancient, foundational textile practice in this introductory course. We will uncover the basics of spinning, as well as tips, tricks, and techniques to achieve the yarn you want. We will also have time to practice these techniques, and you will leave with your own sampling of handspun yarn. No prior textile experience is required.
Dates & Details
1. SUN July 5
2. SUN Aug 2
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Maximum Size: 8 (ages 14+)
Fee: $185.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
Spin your own Yarn examples
Beginner Basket Weaving
Come spend the day working outdoors with accomplished fibre artist Sandi McNeil. In this one-day workshop you will learn a variety of basic weaving techniques including plaiting, twining and rim lashing to create a Bark Box Basket. You will form your square or rectangular basket using natural materials harvested by Sandi near her home in Buckhorn, including cedar, basswood and birch bark from our region. No previous experience is required.
Dates & Details
1) SAT Jun 27
2) SAT July 18
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Maximum Size: 8 participants (age 14+)
Fee: $185.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
Bark Weaving examples
The Magic of Mosaics: An Exploration of Colour and Form
Inspired by the landscape and native species that flourish at Rice Lake Arts, in this workshop you will create a bold mosaic using coloured glass, that is glued and grouted onto wooden panels. We will explore the grounds at Rice Lake Arts, while you take a series of photos and do some sketching to help you create your unique mosaic design. If you love working with colour and you’d like to try out an ancient technique with modern materials, join us for this fun 2 day workshop.
Nikki welcomes all creative individuals over the age of 13 years to this exciting workshop. Come spend the weekend exploring the beauty of glass with a friend, a sibling, a family member or group.
Dates & Details
1. SAT/SUN Aug 8-9
2. SAT/SUN Aug 22-23
Time: Saturday: 10 am – 4 pm; Sunday: 10 am – 1 pm
Maximum Size: 8 participants (age 14+)
Fee: $240.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
Bio
Mosaic examples
Woven Natural Fibre Bag
Nature has so many wonderful materials to offer in our local environment that can be harvested, dried, and woven into beautiful and useful items to enjoy for years to come. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to use grasses, bark, cattails, lily leaves, wood, and more to create a woven and twined bag or purse. These can be created freeform or using a mold. If you have a shape in mind, we encourage you to bring along a mold (a wooden block, old container, etc.).
While this is a beginner class, any experience with basketry, sewing or weaving will be an asset.
Dates & Details
1) SAT July 11
2) SAT Aug 22
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Maximum Size: 10 participants (age 14+)
Fee: $185.00 (materials & tools included)
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
BASKET WEAVING EXAMPLES
Knitting with Bernadette
In this workshop, Bernadette will guide you through the creation of a triangle shawl. You will learn how to increase and decrease stitches, create yarn overs, use circular needles, as well as master other techniques to knit a wearable work of art that you are sure to cherish. Join Bernadette in the cosy Red House at Rice Lake for an informative and joyful knitting experience.
This workshop requires basic knitting skills, including casting on and off and experience with knit and purl stitches. To personalize your shawl, you will purchase your own yarn (wool or acrylic) in any colour that you love (details to follow after registration).
Dates & Details
Coming soon
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
Bio
Workshop Project "LaLa Shawl"
Learn to Quilt! An Introduction to English Paper Piecing (EPP)
Have you ever wondered how historic sewers created richly coloured, geometric quilts with sharp points and accurate piecing without a sewing machine? English Paper Piecing (EPP) is the answer and whether you are an experienced quilter or a complete beginner, this workshop will introduce you to a highly accessible approach to design and piece your own patchwork quilt projects.
EPP is a quilting technique using geometrically shaped paper templates and fabric, assembled with a simple hand sewing. The process is mindful and calming and doesn’t rely on a sewing machine, so it is portable, easy to take to the park, the cottage or on a road trip.
In this one day workshop Miriam will guide you through the EPP process, and even if you are a novice sewer you will find this ingenious technique easy to learn. You will leave the workshop with a clear understanding of all the steps involved in English Paper Piecing, along with a simple first project, instructional handouts, and the skills you will need to create EPP projects at home.
Dates & Details
Coming soon
For more information email info@ricelakearts.ca or connect with us at 647-985-4352.
Your Instructor
BIO
EPP Examples
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Woven Natural Fibre Bag
1) SAT July 11
2) SAT Aug 22
10 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Coiled Basket with Woodburned Insert
1) SAT June 20
2) SAT Aug 29
10 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Spin your own Yarn! Introduction to the Drop Spindle
1. SUN July 5
2. SUN Aug 2
10 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Introduction to Tapestry Weaving
1. SAT July 18
2. SAT Aug 8
10 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Knitting with Bernadette
SAT April 12, 19, 26, May 3 & 10
1 pm – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Needle Felting Basics
SAT July 4
10 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
Sue Flanagan lloves to create whimsical outdoor art, a visit to her garden will attest to her vivid imagination and skills. A lover of colour, form and whimsy, her garden ornaments are inspired by nature and her sense of humour. Sue loves to work with underglazes, decorating the surface of her clay work with complex and ornate designs, marrying her passion for working in clay with her love of colour and painting. She also enjoys experimenting with painting in watercolour, oil, acrylic, inks and encaustic, often illustrating animals and birds. Sue teaches at the Kawartha Potters Guild and last season at Rice Lake Arts she volunteered at our Big Brothers and Big Sisters Art Camp, helping the kids to create amazing 3D fish in clay. You can follow her on Facebook or Instagram @sues_flanagan_creates
Garden Art examples
Spin your own Yarn EXAMPLES
Tapestry WEAVING EXAMPLES
BASKET WEAVING EXAMPLES
BASKET WEAVING EXAMPLES
Needle Felting Examples
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
The Magic of Mosaics: An Exploration of Colour and Form
1. SAT/SUN Aug 8-9
2. SAT/SUN Aug 22-23
Saturday: 10 am – 4 pm; Sunday: 10 am – 1 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
Mosaic Examples
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Introduction to Machine Sewing Workshop
SAT May 24
11 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Learn to Quilt! An Introduction to English Paper Piecing (EPP) Workshop
SUN April 27
SAT June 7
11 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Beginner Basket Weaving Workshop
1) SAT Jun 27
2) SAT July 18
10 am – 4 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Introduction to Natural Dyeing with Local Plants Workshop
SAT July 20
SAT Aug 17
10 am – 4:30 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
You are registering for Rice Lake Art’s
Shadow & Stitch: An Introduction to Cyanotype Printing on Fabric Workshop
SAT August 9
10 am – 4:00 pm
Please fill out the form below – if you have any questions, let us know in the message section.
Cyanotype Examples
Machine sewing Examples
EPP Examples
Workshop Project “LaLa Shawl”
