HOW ABOUT SPENDING SOME TIME in one of Venice’s dazzling workshops?

Two suggestions:

Mask Making at Tragicomica

Tragicomica is the finest spot in Venice to pick up traditional masks, and rent hats, ball gowns, and capes for Carnevale. The store is packed with these fantasy-inspiring goodies, and a wonderful place to browse. It’s even more fun to get a hands-on experience in the Tragicomica workshop.

The shop’s master maskmaker is Gualtiero Dall’Osto, who follows in the footsteps of artists who began dressing up Venetian partiers in the thirteenth century. His creations have been exhibited internationally, and he’s designed costumes and set pieces for theaters all over Italy, including La Scala in Milan.

In the 1970s, Dall’Osto was one of a group who fought successfully to bring back the Venice Carnevale, which Mussolini had put an end to in the 1930s. The traditional pre-Lent party began in Venice in the twelfth century. It was named Carnevale from the Latin for “Farewell meat!” because the forty days before Easter were days of abstinence.

The three-hour Tragicomica workshop begins with an entertaining demonstration by Dall’Osto’s assistant, Alessandra. Putting on masks, she demonstrates how each one has a story behind it, corresponding to a Commedia dell’Arte character or a bit of Venetian history—from the miserly merchant to the witty servant.

Sandy Osceola and her two daughters remember their time in the workshop as the highlight of their vacation. They picked out blank masks to decorate and got to work in the back room, right where expert artisans turn out the pretty things that fill the Tragicomica shop. Sandy chose a Medico della Peste, the Plague Doctor mold. That’s the one you’ve seen in so many photos, with the long beak-shaped nose and tiny eyeholes. It originated in the sixteenth century when doctors would stuff the nose with a sponge soaked in vinegar, so they could move plague victims around and be protected from the disease. Sandy’s daughters, Jessica (21) and Marissa (12), went for styles that they decorated with paints and sequins to look as though they were eighteenth-century ladies on their way to a Carnevale ball.

By lunchtime they had three one-of-a-kind souvenirs. Now back at home, those masks bring back great memories of the trip the Osceolas took to celebrate Jessica’s graduation from college. Moreover, the masks will always remind them of the entertaining spirit that pervades the unique city of Venice.

Tragicomica: Calle dei Nomboli, off Campo San Toma in San Polo, 041 721102 (www.tragicomica.it)

Mosaic Workshop at Orsoni Studio

You may be so taken by the mosaics that cover the Basilica San Marco that you’ll want to find out more about this amazing art. At Orsoni studio you can get a backstage look at the whole process.

Orsoni is hidden behind high walls in the Cannaregio district, off a fondamenta that wasn’t even on my Streetwise Venice map. Since 1888, when the foundry was taken over by Angelo Orsoni, the smalti (colored opaque glass) and gold-leaf mosaics that it produces have been used to restore churches, such as the Basilica di San Marco, and shipped off to provide materials for some of the world’s most beautiful buildings—from Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, to the Golden Room in Stockholm where Nobel Prizes are awarded, to buddhas in Bangkok.

Even though what’s made here is such a major deal, the place has a low-key, family business vibe. Everybody from the workers to the staff and students seems especially upbeat, I’m guessing because they’re surrounded by all this pretty sparkly stuff all day.

I had a chance to see the production facility, where men gathered around a blazing furnace and moved with a riveting choreography, scooping out glowing liquid glass to a rotating metal belt where it solidified in seconds and then cooled, like iridescent pancakes. Next door, women cut these pancakes (called smalti) into tesserae (small pieces used in mosaic art) that formed what looked like piles of glittering hard candy. Finally, there’s the color library: a huge warehouse of rickety wooden shelves stacked floor to ceiling with over two thousand hues of smalti to choose from.

The Orsoni Workshop was opened in 2003 by Maestro Lucio Orsoni, the great-grandson of the company’s founder and a world-famous mosaic artist. Classes here are small (six students max), so there’s lots of individual attention given by instructor/artist Antonella Gallenda, who’s been working by Lucio’s side for over thirty years. The school attracts a range of international students, from beginners to those with years of experience. Some simply sign up for three days to add a little cultural zing to their Venetian vacation and make a small mosaic. Others opt for the one- or two-week sessions to learn basics, micro-mosaics, or portraiture.

Many of them, like Connie Giocobbe from Kansas City, who I met while visiting, are return students. “I came here as a beginner three years ago, and now I’m back for my third time,” she said. Connie’s technique has advanced so much she’s gotten commercial commissions for her creations. The class I observed had a fun, focused, creative spirit in the air, with instructor Antonella strolling from student to student offering encouragement and suggestions.

“I’ve made friends from all over the world here,” Connie tells me. “A lot of nights after dinner, we’ll go back into the workshop with a bottle of wine and cheese, blast a Pavarotti CD, and get to work. Sometimes we’re up until three in the morning. It’s completely relaxing.”

I slept over in Domus Orsini, a bed and breakfast in the same building as the workshop, designed by mosaic artisans, where students can stay during the course. In the morning, I had a surprise wake-up call: the foundry workers singing as they started their work day. Happy sounds, pretty colors, beautiful tradition.

Orsoni Studio and Domus Orsoni: For workshop information, to make an appointment to tour the foundry and gallery, or to book a stay at Domus Orsoni (www.orsoni.com)