Wheel-Thrown Ceramics at Camp
“Can you learn how to use the potter’s wheel?”
Yes, you can! The Rockbrook ceramics camp activities lets campers improve their pottery skills so they can learn to throw pots on the wheel. After practicing other ceramics techniques, specifically hand-building methods like pinch, coil and slab pottery, it’s exciting to learn about the potter’s wheel. You’ll work on 4 steps:
- Centering the clay on the wheel.
- Opening up the center of the clay.
- Pulling up the walls and shaping the piece.
- Trimming the base of the piece.
Of course there’s lots of detail to each of these steps, but this brief outline gives you a sense of what’s involved in learning to throw ceramics on the potter’s wheel. Over a few weeks at camp, you’ll be surprised how good you can get and be amazed at the cool things you can make. Maybe next summer, you can finish a whole set of matching mugs!
P.S. If you want to read more about it, check out the book Wheel-Thrown Ceramics, by our friend Don Davis. It’s the best one around.
Pottery — A craft tradition for girls at Rockbrook
One of the many folk crafts of the Appalachian region, including the area around Rockbrook Camp, is pottery. Following a long tradition of people making household pots from clay, there are now, according to the Southern Highland Craft Guild, more than 125 ceramic artists and potters working in western North Carolina. Using traditional and modern techniques, the most amazing sculpture, tiles, pots and other vessels still spring from these hills.
At Rockbrook, girls and crafts definitely go together, and making pottery is something just about everyone does. It’s probably one of the most popular activities, in fact (not counting horseback riding 
). Working with clay, pinching, rolling, flattening, shaping, texturizing, and spinning on the wheel, the girls make some amazing things. It’s particularly exciting to see how the glazes come out after firing their work. Who would think continuing an Appalachian crafts tradition would be so fun!
Pottery Camp for Girls
What’s the pottery program like at Rockbrook Camp?
It’s fantastic! There are two different pottery studios at camp, each with work tables for hand building (using coils, slabs, and pinch techniques) and potter’s wheels for learning how to make wheel-thrown pots. No matter what their level of experience, campers can make all sorts of bowls, plates, cups, and sculptures. One popular thing to make is a whistle that you shape into some kind of animal, like a turtle for example. It’s neat to actually make your own pottery at camp instead of just glazing pre-made pots. After your creations are “bisque fired” (the first kiln firing that completely dries and stabilizes the pottery), you then paint on different color glazes, and after the final firing, you’ve got the coolest, shiny colored ceramics. Of course, in addition to learning all about this, it’s great to bring home all the pottery you’ve made.
Good News On The Home Front
Rockbrook has been anticipating the health inspector, and she finally came today! We are happy to report that we earned a 98.5%! We have been keeping the camp extra clean, and all our hard work has paid off.
On another subject, today in pottery one of the classes went on a pottery hike. We took a break from making things from clay, and discovered all the places around camp where pottery had been placed. In front of upper pottery there are 3 boards with pottery collages glued on them from various camp years. We then ventured off to the front of the offices and saw the pottery mobiles. The kids make small ornaments such as smiley faces, hearts and stars to go on the mobiles. Down at lower pottery we then took the kids to see the totem poles, these are the oldest camp pieces that have been made. On the front of lower pottery there is a huge mosaic-like collage that was done in ’92 by the campers. One of the kids also noticed that one her counselors names was on the collage, she is currently the Junior line head, Elizabeth. All of the pottery pieces have been done by kids in past camp years, and the most recent pieces have been the mobiles in front of the offices. The kids are also quite excited for Thursday, which is when pottery pick up is! They have all been busy glazing their pots in the past few days and are eagerly waiting on their creations.
Summer Camp Girls Wilmington NC
March 2, 2007 by rbc
Filed under North Carolina
What a crowd! Here’s a quick snap we took at the camp party we had in Wilmington, NC recently. It was wonderful to see everyone and to meet so many girls interested in attending Rockbrook this summer. A big thanks to Colleen and Helena, and families, for hosting the party. It was fantastic! Hey look! There’s Lily!
