Mary Kay Botkins workshop: February 25th, 2012

First of all, let me apologize for the gross tardiness of this post. I would say it’s better late than never, but I’m not entirely sure that’s true so thank you for your patience.

I had the honor to assist Mary Kay Botkins during her daylong workshop at Terra Incognito a couple of months ago. We had been eagerly anticipating Ms. Botkins’ arrival through discussion of her work that had arrived in the gallery previous to her workshop.

Generally speaking, Botkins’ work is slab-built, made from porcelain, and fired in an electric kiln to oxidation at cone 6. Her pots are often folded, like the sides of a Chinese takeout container or the exterior of a leather handbag (see examples below).

The surfaces Botkins uses serve as a skin to these delicate vessels and can be seen in pastel tints with satin, zinc-based glazes.

I gained much information from observing Botkins’ demonstrations but my notes are a little jumbled, as notes tend to be, so I will do my best to explain her process.

The following notes are taken from a demonstration on how to create a vessel such as the one shown above.

1.  Botkins begins with a slab of clay rolled out to approximately a quarter of an inch. She compresses the clay both horizontally and vertically to strengthen and compress the slab before further manipulation.
2.  At this point Botkins advises that, when working in this manner, it is wise to do surface work when the slab is flat so as not to ruin any texture you’ve created while assembling the 3-dimensional object. Additionally, she suggests using a needle tool for cutting straight lines as opposed to a fettling knife or other flat cutting tool.
3. Botkins creates templates out of stiff paper, much as you would for creating patterns in sewing, and laminates them so they can be used for future pieces. She shares that using a quilting ruler also proves handy because you can take notes on the size used and later reproduce desired results.
4.  Once the clay is cut out from the template, Botkins suggests experimentation with form and shape so a variety of outcomes can stem from this one applied template.

As an intermission to this post, I will describe some disjointed tips for making a vessel with an inset lid. My notes on this were not fluid, so I apologize in advance for any confusion. Also, I leave you with this intermission video for a quick chuckle:

When creating a flange inside a pot, Botkins measures the width using a series of dowel rods. These dowels are later used to physically create the flange, so they serve an easy and practical purpose here.

The flange to the piece is attached previous to assembling the slab into an upright shape. Botkins warns that attaching a coil instead of a slab flange will require unnecessary tool and finger marks.

So, imagine this; a rectangular slab is laid out on the working board, and you have cut a thin rectangle from a secondary slab, equal in thickness and width. This is your coil, of sorts, and it becomes attached to the top portion of the initial slab (think: where the flange (tiny shelf) will live on the inside of the vessel. Botkins does this using a brush dipped in MAGIC WATER, a solution of sodium silicate and soda ash, the recipe of which you can find below. After creating a seam between the large slab and the flange piece, Botkins carefully folds the now-attached flange piece over the dowel to create a tube. The slab is now ready to be folded up into its three-dimensional vessel shape, anxiously awaiting its lid.

Magic Water:  This comes from Lana Wilson's book

1-gallon water

3 tablespoon Sodium Silicate

5 grams Soda Ash

As for the lid, Botkins suggests cutting the shape when the slab is soft leather hard and waiting until it is stiff leather hard to change the shape in order for the lid to fit the shape of the opening. She suggests a dull surform tool for manipulating shape at a slower rate. Also, it is better for a lit to be too tight than too loose. That’s about all I have about that. Hope it made a bit of sense.

The following notes are taken from a demonstration on how to make a shallow plate with attached feet using slabs and a wooden hump mould.

This is a variation on the form demonstrated during the workshop. 

1.     In order to create a rounded rectangular form, Botkins drapes a slightly thicker slab of clay (previously rolled out on a piece of drywall) over a hump mould made from cut wood.

2.     While the slab still sits on the mould, she attaches two ‘heels’ to the edges of the form. These will serve as the feet for this vessel. Botkins warns to keep the thickness of the vessel and feet consistent. It’s best to cut these initial shapes from the same slab.

3.     Once the shallow plate form is stiffened to leather hard, Botkins uses the surform tool to steadily define the feet. The resulting form is something similar to that seen below.

Aside from these techniques, Mary Kay Botkins shares her list of tools and books she has found helpful throughout the evolution of her process.

Books

Botkins says, “This was the book I was trying to think of that is a good reference book for tableware, table manners and table settings.”

The Art of the Table by Suzanne von Drachenels 

Also, “Even though I'm a hand-builder, I think this is a good pragmatic book about pottery that is still inspirational.”

A Pottery Workbook by Clary Illian

List of Tools

Dolan Tool: DPT 220 (knife)

Mudtools: red and yellow ribs, rasp (for shaving)

Kemper Tools: eye socket wood tool (ES2)

Amaco: Two-ended Clay Shaper

Terra Incognito thanks Mary Kay Botkins for coming to share her knowledge and expertise with the artists here at the studio and in the ceramic field at large. Her February workshop was a success; inspiring many who attended to try their hand at her techniques and develop new ideas using her process as a stepping stone.

You can find out more about Botkins’ work at her website. Thanks for reading!

Seana.

P.S. The next posting will be about last month’s NCECA conference in Seattle….stay tuned.