I'm new to ceramics - very new.  So I bought some clay that's going to bisque fire white and assembled a slab birdhouse.  I'm certainly not going to brag about it but it was an enjoyable first effort and I learned a lot so I'll use up the rest of the 25lb of clay and make some more bird houses. My approach to decoration was going to be to use underglaze and cover with a coat of clear. 

But then I read that if I try to brush on the clear, that it would re-hydrate the underglaze and I would have a mess.  Is there a method I should follow to prevent this?  Or, is my approach a bad idea altogether?

Thanks for your comments.

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Most of the underglazes I have played with have enough binders in them, that if you let them dry, they should not come off with properly applied clear glaze. Your clear should be brushed on in one direction, with a high capacity brush (hake or similar) always laying down material, and not working it back and forth.

The big problem with underglazes is getting them thick enough that they don't go transparent as a thin layer is dissolved into the glaze melt. 2-3 coats of underglaze should resist the attack of the glaze melt.

Thanks George.  I'll give it a shot.  I just built another bird house today.  I think I'm going to like this as a retirement gig.  Tomorrow, I'm going to start on a kick wheel.

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