Charged with Creativity

You may have noticed that there a many crafts activities at Rockbrook. One parent made that remark to me yesterday by saying, “There are so many photos of girls doing crafts!” That’s certainly true. It’s partly explained by how easy it is for the photographers to stop by all the craft areas in camp, but I’d also say it’s because the girls really enjoy working with the crafting materials, making intricate colorful things, and exploring their creative spirits. Being crafty like this is simply popular at camp. Just about every minute at camp is charged with creativity.

summer camp woodshop

One explanation for this lies in the enticing nature of the crafts themselves. With great instructors eager to share their expertise, and with example projects to model, it’s easy to get excited about digging into the various craft options available.

Take woodworking, for instance. All around in the wood shop the girls can see finished cutting boards, picture frames, secret boxes, carved pendants, and other carefully shaped and smoothed wooden creations. Marie Brown, of Handhouse Studio in North Hampton, MA (and Rockbrook Alumna and Camp Mom!), is currently our lead woodworking instructor. She’s back again this summer demonstrating techniques, helping campers articulate their project ideas, and keeping the wood shop fun and lively with encouragement. Just being in the wood shop is inspiring!

Tie-dying is another craft that holds an inherent magic. The simple twisting and folding of plain white t-shirts, and then the application of rich vibrant dyes, soaking in here and there, ends up blooming into a surprise colorful design. Weaving on the loom has a similar surprise as the different color fibers cross in patterns to reveal a textured design. Likewise for knitting and crocheting, it’s fun to see what interesting combination emerges. “That’s so cool” is the common refrain.

summer camp tie dye creativity

The craft activities are popular at Rockbrook also because the process of being creative here is so positive. We really encourage it in almost everything we do, from our love of costumes, to making up skits, to performing impromptu songs and dancing “flash mobs” in the dining hall. Around here, we’re not looking for perfection, but rather the exploration of what might be possible with some imagination. That same ethos permeates our craft activities too. At camp, there’s no failure in creativity, only a celebration of bold combination. The girls love this open and free approach and find it both rewarding and fun to jump into all the camp craft options.

Also, like everything we do at camp, the craft activities are popular because they offer a relaxed context to be with friends. Crafting together, surrounded by the sort of people who know you really well (your true self!) and who care about you so genuinely, enhances the joy of creating. Picture a group of girls knitting on the back porch of Curosty, laughing and chatting, making suggestions and encouraging each other with each stitch. This community spirit built into our daily experience at Rockbrook— “together it’s better” —is inspiring in this way as well.

Understood in these ways, the real rewards of the craft activities at camp arise not from the finished products— the cutting boards, weavings or pottery, for example —but from the process of making them. Yes, the girls are proud of their craft projects, and you might be lucky enough to receive one as a gift. But I think it’s worth remembering that the camp art you’re admiring represents a joyful process of creativity, the inherent rewards of creating itself, and the friendships formed along the way.

Rockbrook Camp craft girls

Hello from Needlecraft

There are two historic log cabins at Rockbrook that are older than the camp and were moved here when the camp was established. Each has a stone fireplace, rustic wooden floors, and a shaded porch on one side. The “Goodwill” cabin is named after the estate in South Carolina where Nancy Carrier, the camp’s founder, was born. The other is called “Curosty” and is the home of our fiber arts activities, both Weaving and Needlecraft.

summer camp cross stitch info

The Needlecraft activity meets on the back porch of the Curosty cabin, right next to Rockbrook creek and in the shade of a nearby hemlock, a beech tree and rhododendron bushes. With the creek sounds and summer breezes blowing through the shaded porch, the campers and needlecraft instructors sit around a red painted table sewing, stitching, cutting fabrics, knitting and crocheting yarns. For more than 100 years, this has been a place for creative expression using threads, yarns, and ribbons.

Sara Green, one of the Needlecraft specialists this summer, describes this porch as “a truly magical and inspiring place where creativity flourishes, friendships are formed, and campers have the freedom to explore their artistic passions.” She explains how they take an expressive art approach. “On the porch, we embrace an expressive approach to needlecraft. This allows each camper to discover her own artistic voice and create projects that are meaningful to them.”

“We start with basic techniques like threading needles, sewing seams, and crocheting chains. By practicing the basic skills and learning new stitches, campers gain confidence in their abilities and become more comfortable with the crafts. We encourage the campers to slow down into the craft… to let go of what the finished project will look like and any time restraints. This patient and mindful approach creates a supportive environment where campers can take their time to hone their skills, relax, and get comfortable in their chosen craft.

“In their own time, each camper’s creativity and desire for self-expression naturally emerges. Whether it’s through a bit of gritty frustration or focused mindful practice, we witness a noticeable shift. This is a magical time on the porch! Campers begin to envision and design their own projects, guided by their creative hearts and empowered by the support of the specialists. Campers that were persevering through the basic crochet stitches are soon designing their own clothes. Campers that have never threaded a needle are soon creating personalized embroidered gifts designed for loved ones at home and here at camp.

The porch becomes a place of laughter, learning, and meaningful experiences as the campers stitch their way through big ideas and challenges. There’s something incredibly special about taking raw materials and transforming them into a completed masterpiece. By letting go of a strict focus on the final product and allowing the process to guide them, the campers can embrace the beauty of artistic expression and feel the joy of creating something truly their own. This pride in their work can build a strong sense of accomplishment, and the knowledge that they can create something beautiful with their own hands. We hope this is a gift that stays with them for life.”

— Sara Green

Hello from Woodworking

In the woodworking shop at Rockbrook Camp, at the woodworking activity, our goal is to get tools into the hands of campers and empower them to transform a block of wood into something beautiful and useful. At times we come up with a project for them to complete and at others they give us the ideas. One junior camper came up with an idea for a secret box that we ended up using as one of our project ideas. We had sections of branches from a tree that were cut in about 5 inch sections. I had no idea what I was going to use them for. A toothbrush holder, a pencil holder? These ideas will not take three hours to complete. So, I asked a junior camper. Immediately she says we need to cut off the top to make a lid and to hollow it out to make a secret box to put little things in. Perfect. I’m terrible at coming up with ideas, but decent on improving on existing ones. I thought if we attach the lid with a dowel so it swivels to the side to expose the hollowed out section that would prevent the lid from being lost. She approved and now we have Mallie’s Box! Campers learned to use both manual egg beater drills as well as electric drills and improved their sanding skills.

Cutting boards are a big favorite. I believe this was one of the first projects when woodworking began at Rockbrook Camp and the expectation has been set. “What are we doing?! Cutting boards?!” Most of the time we get to say yes. For this project students select either a piece of maple or cherry for their board. They get a pencil and are instructed to draw the shape they’d like their cutting board to take. We encourage them to be creative and to look at the wood to give them ideas. Does it have a knot in it that could be made into a focal point? Is the grain making an interesting pattern? We try to encourage campers to use what the wood gives them instead of imposing their will on the wood. It’s an organic material and every piece is unique. If you try to fight the wood, it almost always wins. The campers have truly embraced this. One board had a knot in a corner that one woodworker turned into an eye. Knots are surrounded by circular swirls of grain that created in the mind of this camper the body of a fish. She shaped her board in the shape of a fish around those swirls and the eye gave the board what is certainly the image of a fish. Beautiful. Students cut out their boards using an assortment of tools including hand planes, rasps, files and the bandsaw. The finishing touch is sanding before we apply a coat of oil that helps protect the board from cracking but also brings out the colors in the wood. A phenomenon began where campers would take their boards in between sessions with them so they could sand them wherever they are. I’ve been told they find it relaxing. I do not find sanding relaxing, but to each their own. Campers were spotted playing tetherball while sanding, waiting for the shower sanding. I even spotted one camper in line waiting for food while sanding away at her board.

These projects provide us with the opportunity to understand how to shape wood using different tools. They help us understand that wood, at times, has a mind of its own and sometimes you just have to go with what it gives you. Patience, creativity and understanding go a long way in the wood shop! We’ve been using a variety of hand tools to achieve our designs including Ryoba, coping and flush cut saws, hand planes and spokeshaves as well as rasps and files. Students also have the opportunity to use egg beater-style hand drills along with electric drills. The shop is equipped with a bandsaw and drill press that some older campers get the chance to try, as well. Campers’ skills have come a long way and they’ve made beautiful things. We hope they’re inspired and continue to explore the wonderful world of craft!

—Laura Shay, Woodworking Instructor

summer camp wood shop

Eggs-traordinary Fun in Curosty!

Greetings from the Curosty cabin! I’m Naomi, this summer’s weaving specialist. Curosty, a regional term for “know-how”, is home to our fiber arts activities with weaving and basketry taught inside, and knitting, cross stitch, embroidery, crochet, and sewing outside on the porch in another activity, Needlecraft, taught by specialist Cindy.

Curosty Weaving Cabin
Curosty Weaving Cabin Interior

Stepping inside Curosty is like stepping back in time. Passing the thin, weathered log benches against each side of the door and beneath the crocheted cardinal and community frame loom, you push hard on the heavy wooden door, stiff from years of warm summers and afternoon showers. Dappled light greets you through cheerful red and white gingham curtains above the paned cottage windows, falling on the large floor looms and smaller tabletop ones waiting to be put to work by campers’ hands. Later in the day, when the sun through the branches is just right, a prism scatters the warm light into streaks of rainbows across the looms, the tables, and the campers as they work.

Years of handmade baskets, weavings, woven purses and belts decorate the ancient rough hewn walls (some still with faint markings from when the cabin was disassembled) and the perennial favorite potholders hang like festive garlands above the windows. Baskets and woven work adorn the mantlepiece of the thick stone fireplace, a spinning wheel at the ready on the hearthstone, the smoky evidence of the warmth of many years painting its interior black. You follow your ears and walk through to the back door, swinging it open to reveal the calming rush of the creek, the gurgling of cool water off the porch as sunlight casts rhododendron leaf shadows on the mossy gray rocks. Taking a seat at the glossy red benches, it’s the perfect place to sew, embroider, or crochet your way to peace.

curosty weaving cabin

I asked my class of Middlers the other day how they would describe Curosty. “Homey.” “Rustic.” “A fairytale cottage like the one in Little Red Riding Hood.” Smelling of “wood” and “wood shavings.” “Dust.” And “New string but dusty.” More than 200 years old, this 19th century log cabin has seen many lives. Found abandoned by Williamson Creek in Brevard, Curosty was added to Rockbrook during its fourth year in 1924. Then it was the Camp Headquarters, aka “The Q.” The August 1924 edition of the Carrier Pigeon describes the cabin:

“For more than a hundred years it withstood the forces of nature on Williamson’s Creek, just before the opening this year it was taken down, each log numbered and reassembled […] Here we hope it will stand another century, a model of the artistry with which our fathers built their pioneer homes.”

The Chicken Club

But not all is ancient and unchanged inside these well-loved walls. With such a variety of fiber crafts to make, one can never predict what new project campers invent or what is going to trend. Remember those potholders I mentioned hanging from the walls and windows? The ones that maybe you made yourself as a child? They have risen in great popularity due to the hatching of: The Chicken Club! Wanting an opportunity for the craft-loving campers to be announced for an accomplishment like those who get bullseyes in archery and riflery or bounces in tennis, we combined the skills of Curosty and Needlecraft (with a nod to our beloved feathered friends in Garden Art) to challenge campers with the task of turning potholders into chickens. A project idea found in a Klutz “Potholders & Other Loops Projects” book, campers must first weave a potholder, grab a skein of yarn to crochet a border of looped chains to keep the potholder loops from unweaving, fold their potholder in half into a triangle, and then crochet the sides closed for stuffing by “jumping” the loops of each layer through one another. Then campers are free to put their unique spin on their creations, bringing their chickens to life with tails, feet, wings, combs, and the fan favorite, googly eyes!

henry carrier chickens
H.P. Clarke

After one chicken, made all on their own, campers officially become part of “The Coop.” But campers are not stopping at one chicken, oh no. Five chickens and they earn the title of “Farmer” in honor of founder Nancy Carrier’s father, Henry P. Clarke, known in his time as a “gentleman farmer.” Ten chickens and they’ll be dubbed “Poultry Prince,” “Princess,” or “Regent,” earning a tiny chicken charm. So far this session we have two Farmers in our midst — senior camper Toby and Hi-Up Ty — pecking their way to poultry royalty.

Fair weather or fowl, campers are flocking to Curosty to see what everyone’s clucking about!

By Naomi Penner and Melody Parish

kids holding woven chickens

A Monoprint Making Workshop

Today a group of eight girls had the opportunity to take a short trip down the road to visit the working studio of Ann Dergara, a painter and print maker living here in Brevard. Ann is a professional artist with more than 50 years of experience showing her work, writing and teaching, and she’s a great friend of Rockbrook.

monoprint roller.
monoprint painting
monoprint making
monoprint result

When we arrived, we were greeted by Ann and her small dog, Alice Cooper. The girls enjoyed Alice’s greeting and were very eager to pet her furry back. Ann and Alice then led us into their cozy basement studio where Ann stores and creates some of her work. The girls immediately began taking in the different paintings and prints displayed around the room. Ann wasted no time as she described the unique art of print making. She informed the group we would be working on monoprints. The magic in monoprints is they are original and are only printed once. Ann flipped through several of the prints she has created telling us she has made around forty thousand in her career.

Ann then lead us through a doorway into the room where the fun happens. She had a table set up with a bright assortment of colored inks, a variety of fresh brayers (used to roll out the ink), and some clean plexiglass plates. As Ann spoke, she used a plate to demonstrate how monoprints can be made. She took a brayer and began rolling thick black ink onto her plate. She then grabbed a paint brush to add a layer of grey ink filling in the rest of the white space. Ann wrapped up her demonstration by adding textures onto her plate with different types of fabric. The girls were “ooo-ing” and “ahh-ing” every step of the way.

After aprons were on, each girl found an open spot around the table. Some immediately grabbed a paint brush or a brayer while others planned in their heads what colors they would use and what they would create. Similar to all aspects of camp, each girl had their own beautiful way of approaching their print. Voices chattered ideas back and forth while also applauding and encouraging one another. Those girls who hesitated at first quickly began to feel more empowered and confident in their decisions! In no time, each girl was happily creating their print with confidence and joy.

As the girls began completing their prints, Ann had them step up to her printing press. The printing press is where the magic happens. It is the machine that finishes up the printing process. Ann would place a decorated plate on the press before covering it with a damp piece of paper. The press was then slowly rolled over the plate and the final result of the one-of-a-kind monoprint is revealed. Once again, everyone applauded each other over the work being produced. After all of the prints were complete, the girls were then ready to begin the process again by creating a second print. This time they had some experience and felt more confident stepping up to their plates.

Like monoprints, Rockbrook girls are one-of-a-kind. We travel from different corners of the world to spend a few weeks of our summer at camp. Once here, we bring our diversity together to teach, encourage, empower, and support one another. At the end of our print making session we were able to go home with beautiful prints. Similarly, all of us at Rockbrook will be able to return to our homes with bits and pieces of our summer. Girls may come home with friendship bracelets, cabin-made t-shirts, other art projects, or bend-a-back beads. They bring home all of these gifts, along with their sweet memories, which they will cherish until they can once again return to the Heart of the Wooded Mountain.

mono print workshop

Creative Mistakes

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams

creative weaving kids

We are so fortunate here at camp to have the extra time to slow down and be creative. As head of Curosty, the weaving activity here at Rockbrook, I see firsthand everyday the results of this extra time. From circle weavings to baskets to woven headbands, the girls have made many a woven ware that they may not have had the chance to at home. Along with this opportunity to nourish their creative selves, the girls are also afforded the freedom to make what I like to call “creative mistakes.”

A creative mistake isn’t your conventional mistake. It isn’t a roadblock. It’s not a signal to rip up your project, throw it in the trash, and start all over again. It is a mistake that can lead to a new way of doing something and, as a result, lead to a more interesting finished project. It may feel disruptive in the moment, but when embraced, it is a thing of creative beauty.

Weaving Child

A day doesn’t go by that I don’t hear campers nervously proclaiming, “I made a mistake!” as they drop their project onto the table in defeat. I very quickly tell them there is no such thing as a mistake in Curosty, and encourage them to keep going with their project. Bumps of yarn sticking up from a woven bookmark makes for a cool texture. Running out of time to weave a rug turns into a little mat for your cat. Just recently, I had a camper who was working on a circle weaving make the decision to veer from weaving in the circle shape because she wanted to cover up the blue yarn she no longer liked. Her finished weaving had dashes of yarn across the center making for a really neat design with unexpected pops of color.

At school or at work we are not always given the space to make mistakes, but here at camp it is welcomed as a tool for learning and discovery. There is value in making mistakes in a creative endeavor because it can turn into something uniquely you.

As a camper once told her Curosty classmates: “The quirks are how you know it’s not from a store.”

fiber arts children

A Part of Something Bigger

The Pottery Workshop


Hello there friends, Emily the assistant director of pottery here at Rockbrook!  As camp draws to an end, we are busy loading and unloading kilns.  During this last activity rotation, there isn’t enough turnaround time for the girls to take home the pieces that they make.  Instead, we are making group projects (like a collection of mini animals that will decorate upper pottery and large coil pot planters that will be filled with beautiful floral creations).  The girls really enjoy leaving a piece of themselves behind at Rockbrook – they feel like they are part of something bigger.

A Little Creation

In fact, everyone at Rockbrook is part of something bigger – all together, every smile, counselor, dip in the chilly lake, skinned knee, hug, squeal, and camper join together to form the spirit of Rockbrook.

One striking part of this spirit is the drive that the girls put into their activities.  Since the girls get to choose their activities, they are very eager to learn and participate.  I get such joy when girls sign up for pottery for more than one activity rotation.  Soon, girls that have been pottery regulars can pipe in during class to remind their friends to slip and score the handle onto their mug so that it stays.  We do a lot of handbuilding, but the activity that the girls love the most is going on the wheel.  I have had a handful of girls that have become so invested in throwing on the wheel that they have signed up every rotation period.  Now, throwing is much more difficult than it looks, and I always tell the girls that throwing is still fun whether you get a beautiful bowl, or a silly looking pile of flopped clay.  We want the girls to feel accomplished with their pot that they make on the wheel, so they do (almost) every step on their own.  After we center their clay for them (just because it is too difficult for beginners to learn!) they do everything else on their own, the opening, widening, pulling up of walls, and shaping of the pot.

Getting it Just Right

My dedicated wheel throwing girls have progressed so much this session.  They started with half pound balls of clay.  Each time they came back, they requested heavier balls of clay.  They finished out the session throwing almost three pounds of clay with minimal help!  At camp, the girls are able to come into an activity with no knowledge, and if they have the desire and dedication to keep signing up for the activity, they walk away with a new artistic skill.  So parents, when your campers return home so soon (too soon!) be prepared to hear stories of crazy camp antics, their favorite muffin flavors, and facts about their new friends, but also get them to tell you what they made and what they learned.  Encourage them to keep working on their new skills, and to hold onto their drive and Rockbrook spirit.

Emily Williams

Assistant Head of Pottery

Kids Sculpting with Clay

Camp Clay Sculpture Project

In addition to all of the clay vessels we make at camp, the cups, bowls, trays, dishes, pitchers and so forth, another fun part of the Rockbrook ceramics program is making sculpture. This means using the same hand building techniques, and even wheel-thrown pottery techniques, and combining pieces to build three-dimensional objects.

One important technique to learn for clay sculpting is using something called “slip.” Slip is a form of liquid clay, or a runny mixture of clay and water. It can be used a number of ways, but when building a clay sculpture, slip is applied to join two pieces of wet clay together. For example, you might want to connect a coil to a slab, or a dome shape to something turned on the potter’s wheel. The slip acts as a sort of glue helping the pieces stick together.

So what kinds of things can you sculpt out of clay? Anything your imagination might dream up! Recently at camp we’ve seen some great representational figures— fish, horses (of course!), turtles, snakes, and other animals. The campers have also made amazing human forms like faces and hands. Natural objects like leaves, ferns and branches make great textures to be incorporated as well.

Seeing what the Rockbrook girls are sculpting in our pottery classes, it’s easy to be amazed, and to understand why this arts and crafts activity is so popular at camp.

Dude, Do you Extrude?

extruded pottery and glazed ceramics

One of the ceramics hand-building techniques we teach in Rockbrook pottery classes is extruding. This involves creating clay forms, or consistent shapes, by pressing clay through an extruder, a simple hand-powered machine. An extruder is really a piston of sorts operated by a lever. On one end of the piston’s cylinder is a wooden or metal plate called a die. Different dies have different shapes cut out of them. The whole thing works by filling the cylinder with clay, and pulling the lever of the extruder, thereby forcing the piston to push the clay through the die, and out in the shape of the cutout. It takes muscles to pull that lever, but it’s so cool to see the extruded clay come out!

Some dies extrude circular tubes, but there are also square, hexagonal and octagonal tubes as well. You can extrude slabs, coils and even half-spherical shapes. Extruders are great at making long, even forms of clay.

Of course, these shapes then can become the building blocks for more complex hand-building projects. Extruded clay can be combined to make really complex sculptures, for example when extruded tubes are cut at different angles and joined to make multi-sided vessels.

And don’t forget glazing and firing these pieces. Like all the pottery and ceramics projects at camp, the artistic results are beautiful! Yep, at Rockbrook, we do extrude.

Camp Life is Handmade

harry potter costume pottery camper

There was a little bit of Potter Mania at Rockbrook today. Marking the release in theaters of the final Harry Potter film, we decided to decorate RBC in all things HP. We of course had plenty of campers and counselors dressing up as characters from the series— lots of maroon and gold, green and black stripes, Harry Potter shaped eye glasses, and lightning bolt shaped scars (drawn with dark eye liner or paint) on dozens of foreheads. Some of the campers clearly planned for this day because their costumes included more elaborate hats, capes, wigs and make up. Girls were decorating magic wands, and carrying them around, would shout out spells now and then with a sly giggle and in their best English accent. Several of the counselors and the Hi-Ups really pulled out the stops by decorating the dining hall like the Great Hall of the Hogwarts Castle: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw, all represented. The equestrian staff even put together a game of Quiddich for the girls, keeping the theme going. This involved riding around a series of cones and, from atop their horse, trying to toss a small ball through a hula hoop at one end of the ring. The whole day was very imaginative and fun.

Girls making ceramics at summer camp

You may have noticed this from checking the online photo gallery, but one of the neat things about life at Rockbrook is how much time the campers here spend doing things with their hands. Everywhere the girls are making things, building things, and decorating things. All of the arts and crafts activities are examples of this (weaving, painting, sewing, ceramics, etc.), but so are the adventure activities (climbing and paddling, e.g.), the sports (archery and riflery, e.g.) and even the horseback riding. These girls are working with all kinds of physical materials, manipulating, shaping and arranging real, not virtual, things. They are, in this way, connecting to the physical world, often to nature, and to their own sensations and feelings.

Girls playing hand game with summer camp friends

What’s important about this “hands on” experience central to camp life is how much the girls really love it. This may be because the rest of the year lacks the same opportunity for kids to do much with their hands, and it’s simply novel and fun, but it could also be because camp is feeding a hunger. Perhaps kids need chances to work with their hands, to make things, to forge real connections with the physical world, and modern life, with its pre-processing of almost everything, is making “hand work” (working “by hand”) less common. The manual character of camp is satisfying an important need kids don’t even know they have. Instead, they simply know it’s really fun, really satisfying, to make stuff, whether it be a clay pot, a tie dye t-shirt, or even a magic wand. Maybe, we as human beings need this kind of manual experience, and we’ve forgotten it. Thankfully, there is camp to remind our children! As they grow older, we can hope they’ll remember the satisfaction they gained from working with their hands at camp. If so, I suspect they’ll be happier.