Pottery

From MeritBadgeDotOrg

Merit badge requirements

1. Explain to your counselor the precautions that must be followed for the safe use and operation of a potter’s tools, equipment, and other materials.

2. Explain the properties and ingredients of a good clay body for the following:

a. Making sculpture

b. Throwing on the wheel

3. Make two drawings of pottery forms, each on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper. One must be a historical pottery type. The other must be of your own design.

4. Explain the meaning of the following pottery terms: bat, wedging, throwing, leather hard, bone dry, greenware, bisque, terra-cotta, grog, slip, score, earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, pyrometric cone, and glaze.

5. Do the following. Each piece is to be painted, glazed, or otherwise decorated by you:

a. Make a slab pot, a coil pot, and a pinch pot.

b. Make a human or animal figurine or decorative sculpture.

c. Throw a functional form on a potter's wheel.

d. Help to fire a kiln.

6. Tell how three different kinds of potter’s wheels work.

7. Visit the kiln yard at a local college or other crafts school. Learn how the different kinds of kilns work, including the low-fire electric, high-fire gas or propane, wood or salt/soda, and raku.

8. Explain the scope of the ceramic industry in the United States. Tell some things made other than craft pottery.

Source: 2007 Boy Scout Requirements (33215)

Notes

Help with these requirements

External links

Pottery -- An easy approach to the basics of pottery, including several links that may help you find additional information.

How to make Pottery.com -- Just what it sounds like: an online guide to making pottery.

Ceramics.Org -- The American Ceramic Society's home page.

Potters Council -- The Potters Council of the American Ceramic Society's home page.

Category:Ceramic materials -- Wikipedia's Ceramic Materials category. Topics included take a much more specific and detailed approach.