Glaze testing

Spent the afternoon at the clay spot studio. It was quite a productive session. Several pieces had been bisque fired, and so I tried to glaze them somehow. Because the glazes are new to me I tried to keep a record of what I was doing but this soon became pretty hit and miss. Lisa has a nice reference set of tiles that are very helpful and so I hope that a couple of the pieces will turn out okay. I haven't done much with double dipping pieces before so I tried that on a few things-- note to self-- be sure to let them dry thoroughly before yanking so as not to disturb the glaze.
Then I tried some glaze trailing with one of those bulb things you squeeze that has different size ends. This was pretty messy. It has potential but I would have to practice a lot to avoid runs and gain some sort off control over where it goes.
Lisa gave me a bit of gerstley borate and so I mixed it half and half with the glaze stains I got in Asheville. I did some brushwork with it and also tried some banding on the wheel with it in the squeeze bulb thing and it worked okay.
I did some dots with dark blue and dark green glaze on lighter colored glazes. By that time I was getting a bit confused.
I did a few more glazy things and then realized I had come to the end. I washed the glaze off from one of the bowls since it was definitely ugly.
After all of that I was in need of a bit of fun. So I got a new bag of clay-- a different kind from before. It is called Loafer's glory or some such thing and it is a mid fire combo of porcelain and stoneware.
I loved it! It was creamy and smooth (except for a few bits of sponge it had picked up from the table when I was wedging it). I threw some cylinders to use for mugs. They have thin bottoms so that I won't need to trim them very much. They are sort of mel's shape, since I think that over time it is the mug shape that I like best. Also Richard likes that wide based shape for stability.
For the next glazing session I would like to work in some of the celadon glaze in combination with the satin white and maybe some blue accents.
I don't mind a bit of glazing but so far I think that I like using the undergazes better on the leather hard stage. I don't like handling the bisque as much. Also, I really like carving into the clay, whether through slip or not.
Also it might be interesting to try the shellac resist where you wipe away clay, but use something like polymer paint medium or wax.
So many things to try in order to find a combination that works that is fun to do and is aesthetically appealing.