Thing-a-day.com

This is not a new thing, but it’s a follow-up to the unfired plate I posted about last week:

I hate it.

Can any experienced potters out there give me a hint about some way to do this design that would not have come out a gloppy, uneven mess? Laying down a solid orange ground under the brown (except where the blue is) would have helped, I’m thinking, but how can you tell where you’ve already painted, when you’re trying to get a deep color? I’ve clearly got four layers of glaze in some places and one in others. (It only looks blotchy on the unfired photo because the last coat hadn’t yet fully dried; once it’s dry, it all looks the same.)