Pottery
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
| Pottery merit badge | ||
| ||
| Status: | Elective | |
| Created: | 1927 | |
| Discontinued: | no | |
| BSA Advancement ID: | ||
| Requirements revision: | 2003 | |
| Latest pamphlet revision: | 2002 | |
Contents |
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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
| | A FREE workbook for Pottery is available here! with the maps, charts, links, diagrams, and checklists you need! Or click here to print just the Pottery requirements. | meritbadge.org has PDF and DOC versions of Boy Scout merit badge workbooks, Webelos workbooks, and Cub Scout workbooks. |
Per the BSA: You should read the merit badge pamphlet on the subject. Merit badge pamplets are available at your local Scout Shop or online at ScoutStuff.org.
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.

