The past couple of Saturdays in February, the 2nd and 3rd grade Brownie Girl Scouts have been enjoying some creative time at Potwin Pottery. There they learned about making different kinds of pottery, painted them and learned about the firing process in the kiln. .
The next time they were at Potwin to paint the girls had a hard time finding their pots, the pots were no longer their original size! The shrunk to about half the size. All of the girls were surprised at the changes in size; when they made their original pinch pots they were told to make it large and as thick as an Oreo cookie The girls learned that during the heating/drying process their pottery will lose its orginial size, due to all the moisture being removed,.
On painting day, the girls were told that due to all of the moisture being taken out, they needed to layer their paint colors. If they didn't put enough paint on their pieces, when it was placed in the kiln again, their colors would be very light. This is one time that the leaders let the girls "glob" their paints on their pieces. The girls were able to view the kiln in Potwins backroom and learned that the whole process takes a full week.
With all of this hard work, not only did the girls walk away with a great looking pot made by themselves, they also earned their Pottery Badge! This is just one of 26 proficiency badges that Brownies can earn during their journey as a Girl Scout.