“Folklore” is the name of the arts and crafts activity at Rockbrook that reproduces traditional crafts popular in this mountain area. Campers learn about some of the craft traditions preserved by the Appalachian culture of this area in North Carolina while at the same time exploring their creativity. Working with simple materials like leather, paints, corn husks, fabrics, thread, soap and wax, the girls follow instructors presentation of different craft projects, each girl making her own example.
Make a candle !!
Melting wax to make candles has long been a popular traditional craft at camp. It’s fun to add colors to the wax and hand dip unique multi-colored candles.
Candles can also be scented. Select an essential oil that smells good to you and add a few drops to bring your candle to the next level!
Make soap !!
We start with a soap base that can be melted, colored with different food dyes, and then combined with essential oils to give the soap a gentle smell.
Once melted, you can also add glitter before pouring the melted soap into a silicone mold. That gives your soap a cool shape when it hardens.
It’s real soap you can use!
Make a leather bracelet
Leather is another traditional material used for crafts. Shape pieces of leather to make a bracelet, a necklace or a key chain.
Use metal stamps to hammer patterns into the leather, or add paint to bring out some color.
Leather crafts will last a lifetime!
Folklore helps keep alive some of the traditional crafts and art techniques shaped by the culture of these Appalachian mountains. Rockbrook has always featured these crafts, from sewing quilts, to needle crafts like knitting, to weaving and making toys.
Sheets and straps of leather are a traditional material that can be stamped, painted, burned and etched to make jewelry like bracelets, and sewn together for pouches and other small containers.
Using corn husks, scraps of cloth and yarns, the girls can learn to make dolls. Gluing found objects like thread spools, buttons, sticks and pieces of metal, small animal figurines can be sculpted. Add a little paint and you’ve got an amazing piece!
Girls can make candles by dipping wick thread into hot wax, make soap by mixing together fats and ash chemicals, and weave dreamcatchers from twigs, yarns, flowers and feathers found in the forest.
These craft projects may be traditional, but they provide Rockbrook girls a great chance to create something unique, all while preserving some of the crafting traditions of the area.
