Venice Mask Painting : join our creative Workshops!

Carnival Venice masks are truly a symbol of Venice, linked to its origins and to the origins of Carnival celebrations. 

A Venice Mask will certainly represent a gorgeous souvenir of your trip, but what if you actually learn how to make an original Venetian mask with your own hands? Join our mask making workshop in the very heart of Venice. Enter our historic venetian costumes and masks atelier, only a few minutes away from Rialto Bridge, and learn how to make a mask starting from scratch.

In our mask shop, Venetian artisans will teach you the secrets of their art and you will obtain a gorgeous and unique mask, an original from Venice!  By joining our mask workshops you will also learn about the history of Venice carnival!

Venetian Mask making and painting: several wokshops

You will be guided through an artistic workshop of creation and decoration of venice carmival masks. You can create face masks from scratch by learning to use papier-mâché and different decorative materials, or, you can skip the creation part and focus on a decoration-only workshop by choosing a pre-made artesanal mask to work on.

The result will be a truly unique mask to show off during Carnival period or keep as a souvenir of your trip to Venice!

You have 3 options for your workshop:

Mask making course: duration 1,5 hours

• You will be able to choose from 12 models of plaster molds to make your mask with papier-mâché.
• The mask needs time to dry: you can pick it up the next day!
• We suggest you to combine this activity with the decoration workshop the following day!

Mask decoration course: duration 1 hour.

• You will be able to choose the mask model you prefer among 60 models available
• We offer you a great choice of materials to decorate your mask like feathers!
• There will be an explanation of the origin of the mask and its history woven in Venice…

Mask creation and decoration: duration 2,5 hours.

This combo offer allows you to combine the 2 workshops and must be done over 2 consecutive days to give the mask time to dry after the first step.
You will create your paper mache mask model and come back the next day for decoration.

Our Mask Workshops are suitable for all ages!

As a couple, as a family, as a group, or one-to-one with the teacher: you will love taking this workshop and enter our magical world. From the masks of the Commedia dell arte to the most visionary fantasy masks, you will find inspiration on every wall of our atelier!

The activity is suitable for everyone, since it is possible to reach different degrees of complexity in the creation or decoration of masks with the help of craftsmen. Explanations and assistance will be adapted to the age of the participants.

For kids participants the minimum recommended age to take the workshop is 7 y.o.  and an adult should be present with any minors.

Venice Mask Painting: discover a millennia-long story having a lot of fun!

Among the most famous masks are the Plague Doctor and the Bauta, but whoever enters an atelier of Venetian masks will be stunned by the kaleidoscope of shapes, styles and colors of the beautiful masks available. Venetian artisans still use ancient techniques and keep developing these masks made of paper mache, to cater for masked shows, theatre companies, and of course, Carnival Masquerade Balls.

For a certain period of time during Venice history, people would wear a mask as a daily habit  to do their things in town without taking the risk of being recognized. Even nowadays, if you walk along a Venice street, you will notice it’s almost impossible not to look at people in the eyes while you pass each other. In the past it was the same and often people needed not to be recognized for many reasons (not all of them legally or morally accepted). So the need for privacy in Venice brought to the masks solution for a while. However the doge, ruler of Venice, realized things were going out of control and banished this custom, by limiting the use of the mask only to the Carnival period. This then became a symbol of unbridled freedoms and the levelling of social classes.

Although the use of the mask has changed over time, its crafting remains faithful to the original technique. The papier-mâché structure results from careful workmanship and is hand-decorated by the craftsman according to their creative fantasy with designs, embroidery, beads or feathers!

You can follow your inspiration on the colourful Burano island too, where similar workshop takes place: check our page Mask Making Venice .