Bettye’s signature clay pieces were sagger-fired porcelain pots that sold at prestigious art shows and galleries. These were each hand burnished with polished stones to create a smooth finish. After bisque firing, they were put into a larger pot, called a sagger, one that had a sprinkling of copper carbonate around the inside bottom edge, then bay grass was spread around and over the porcelain piece before the sagger was covered and put into the kiln. The combination of fuming from the copper carbonate and burning of the bay grass turned white porcelain into the lovely pink finish with irregular gray patterns, creating a marble like appearance.
In 2008, ten years after she closed her mountain studio, she began working with clay again, focused on raku clay wall pieces that explored “Seasons of the Heart”, the many ways in which we experience joys and pain in our heart connections. For several years she had collected quotes that touched her, awakening a desire to express these through art.
Bettye especially loved the excitement of raku firing, a process in which the glazed pieces are removed from the kiln with tongs when they reach a temperature of 1800 degrees and put into metal cans containing crumpled paper. The paper catches fire from the heat, the cans are quickly covered so the flames burn away all oxygen inside creating a reduction atmosphere that affects the glazes. This is what creates the iridescence and amazing colors that are so inviting with raku.
Her work with raku during that time also included stylized figures and a series of “funky birds” that revealed her enjoyment exploring the endless and fun possibilities of clay.