Chilly

Let's keep it civil people. 

(everyone is using Texas talc/AMTalc for glazes )-not anymore
This product is gone like many that come and go in ceramics, whether glazy has it in recipes is a moot point
There are other talcs out there-I use sierra light  in many applications  but not all.
In. ceramics it best to stock up on materials that you know you like and need
I have enough texas talc to last my career as well as other materials that now are long gone.
I have been thru at least 4 talcs that are no longer available  in the past 50 years
and that's just talc not to mention all the rest of the long gone materials.
 

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was working on this blog post. This is my response to those artists who express confusion or bother when they see my nearly (or completely) empty booth at the end of a show. I am happy to explain exactly what I’m doing. I also point out common mistakes I see other artists making. Buckle in, this is a long post. I tried to be as thorough and honest as possible. This went up yesterday and I’m getting tons of traffic and lots of good reaction to it.
https://www.goodelephant.com/blog/ill-tell-you-exactly-how-i-did-it

Sending out congrats to @neilestrick for the video he has up on CLAYflicks! (I'm going to use your method of tumble stacking pots in totes for sure.)
Way to go Neil! 
Video snippet below from "Neil Estrick's Efficient Packing for Art Fairs"

Neil Estrick's Efficient Packing for Art Fairs

In everything in clay, there are exceptions that prove the rule. If someone has said “you can’t!” I can guarantee there is someone out there who took that as a dare, and went and did it. But you don’t tell beginners like the OP that it’s common practice, or a good idea to do without a lot of caveats.
 It’s important to note Steve Branfman isn’t making functional items, whereas the OP was, and that’s a significant distinction. No one is putting flowers in a Steve Branfman vase. I’ve been tailoring my answers to the OP and their reference, or others who might be in a similar boat.
It’s my opinion that beginners, like the OP,  should not be using glass and ceramic together at all, IF they want pieces to last. Learn about the materials first! There’s a lot. If you want to learn through experimentation, cool! If you like science and chemistry, more power to you! Keep the results for your own reference though, and don’t give them away or sell them. If you have some skill in either ceramics or glass and want to start heading into more advanced territory by combining them, you already know there’s caveats to everything and probably aren’t getting a lot out of this thread.
I’d advise against most people using Series 90 or 96 stained glass, or products from hot shop  suppliers in ceramic applications, as well as  recycled stuff. Bullseye is great stuff for kiln formed glass or copper foil/lead came, but it’s even farther off the COE values of most commercial ceramic products. Plus, a lot of it will alter in colour when fired above kiln-formed glass temperatures, or for too long. Bisque temperatures will kill dichroic effects, as well as many pinks/ purples, and some reds/yellows/oranges. Depends on the colourants used to make it. Glass processes use a wider variety of colourants than ceramicists do, largely due to how we use heat differently.
 

Cimtalc is available and the new go to talc in place of Amtalc. We had a discussion about it when it became available here starting in April of last year.
Absolutely, please feel free to post talc related comments in the thread I linked on the subject of the new talc above. I don't think anyone here has been "fighting", we are respectfully in disagreement on some points.
If we keep the conversation on topic and more concise it should be easier for the OP to navigate.
 

Cast plaster?  Or cast from  plaster mould?
Personally, I think it looks like plaster.
If it's solid, it's 99.99% certain to be plaster.  It will be hard and resistant to rubbing with a wet finger.
If it's dried clay, it will be extremely fragile, and you will be able to rub/smooth bits off with a wet finger.
 

Speaking of Books there is one being made now that is all about the place I learned the most in Ceramics. I wrote a piece for that books which is in the editing stages now.
It was called the Laundry 
In the 50's-60s it was a commercial Laundry. In the late 60s it was bought by the Humboldt State University and turned into a pot shop. It has floor drains (wood covered cement troughs that drain out). They added a kiln room off the back. The builing is one huge barrel arch roof. A really great pottery setup for teaching.
Back then my mentor Reese Bullen  (who started the Art Dept there) hired a new instructor to help him teach ceramics from Alfreds as a recent gradute Lou Marak -it was 1969. I came a few years later to that program.
They hired another Alfred grad the year I came as well  (1972). It was the heyday of ceramics for this school. It was after the war and it was ahuge open learningtyransition time in ceramics-from Volkus to Arneson clay was expanding. Thes e recenty Alfreds guys where on fire from leaning from the greats who taught and wrote at Alfreds. Rhodes and the like passed what they knew down to my teachers who passed that to us. It was a solid 5 years in immersion in all things clay and kilns for me.Many a teacher and potter came out the other side of that Laundry .
In my time I learned slip casting, low fire ,high fire , kiln firing, hand building ,slab work,clay and glaze formulation just to name a few. I Worked in work study program for years as kiln and glaze room tec.( Back then tec was not used) loading and firing kilns of all types.Salt to low fire electrics-with redution cone 10 gas as the standard .
The program slowly after many deacdes switched as did many programs to  around the country  in schools to sculture and making art-mostly low fire. This slowy in my view turned the ceramics program into a lesser one than the one I was in at that time. I have heard lots of feedback on this from students over the past 30 years
Now the University recently became Cal Poly Humboldt and humanities is at the botton of the pile now. They now have funding to build in massive science expansion 3 new parking structures and you gues it the Laundry will be scraped to put in a parking lot as Joni Mitchell once said in a song. The last 10 year ceramics professor retire this year and no one is fighting this stupid mistake. For me the university long ago lost the community support as they do not care about that.
Two of the old ceramic teachers is compiling this book on 50 years of the Laundry-its history and students. I am just one of those and one of the few that choose the production pottery route over teaching and also stayed local and am still producing . In my. time we once had over 20 full timers in this small area making funtional wares now its me. Last man standing full time. The laundry is a special place for me in my brain  as well as the people who shared what they knew way back in the early 70s with me. When folks  are buying and using my pottery they really are using pottery that came from my years at the Laundry and those who taught there at that time.
Ps this book is being complied and underwritten by a gallery In Davis Ca called the John Natsoulas Gallery. John is footing the bill
He has a press at gallery and has had a 30 year ceramic realationship with HSU ceramics and did a book on the UC Davis ceramics lab already
its a great thing he is doing for our local clay history-if you are ever in Davis Ca stop by that gallery its worth the trip-just look for the 15 foot  high ceramic cat you walk thru to enter the gallery. You cannot miss it.
https://www.natsoulas.com
 
 

As @Babs says, local library.  Read every book you can get hold of.  You will find some make sense, and some don't.  Read them all again, and maybe three or four times.    Eventually, it will feel like you are understanding.  Old books tend to be more about firing a manual kiln.  The pots and the clothes worn in the photos may be "out-of-date" but the info will be sound.
Firing a manual kiln is easy, you just have to be disciplined, set a timer so you don't forget to turn it up every so often.  And make sure the timer on the kiln is set so that if the sitter fails, it will switch the kiln off by itself.  If you need to fire overnight, make sure the "finish-time" is around breakfast time, and leave the cereals near the kiln so you have to go and check it.

As @Babs says, local library.  Read every book you can get hold of.  You will find some make sense, and some don't.  Read them all again, and maybe three or four times.    Eventually, it will feel like you are understanding.  Old books tend to be more about firing a manual kiln.  The pots and the clothes worn in the photos may be "out-of-date" but the info will be sound.
Firing a manual kiln is easy, you just have to be disciplined, set a timer so you don't forget to turn it up every so often.  And make sure the timer on the kiln is set so that if the sitter fails, it will switch the kiln off by itself.  If you need to fire overnight, make sure the "finish-time" is around breakfast time, and leave the cereals near the kiln so you have to go and check it.

I would think that the best placement for test tiles is all over the kiln. At the same time you might want to put witness cones in the same areas to really get an idea of exactly what is happening at various temps. . . we all know there are hot and cold spots in any kiln. This way you would be able to determine the limits of the clay vs. temp. Hope I am making sense?? Of course all IMHO!
 
best,
Pres

They don’t work especially without the ash or sodium to react with, no. They’ll just be regular looking slips in an otherwise unaltered reduction firing. They need the uneven application of whatever’s carried by the flame to do the interesting things that they do.

Chilly, I have never considered that and will be wholeheartedly stealing the idea, thank you. I'm not sure about making tiles for every color all at once, but definitely for my next few colors I'll be trying that out. 

I get newbies to do a "number of coats" test tile, before they do any glazing or underglazing.  A square of clay, marked into 4 smaller squares.  Corner 1 gets one coat of underglaze, corner 2 gets 2 coats, corner 3............etc
This gets bisque fired and then they apply 1 coat of clear on half of corner 1, 2 coats on half of corner 2..........
Second fire to earthenware, (we don't do any high-fire) then they (I) can determine if they are a light applier or a heavy applier.  This gives them a guide for future applications.    
We often repeat with a vertical tile with texture.

+1 vote for 4321. It’s easy to work with, user friendly in the bucket, doesn’t  run, it’s cheap to make, and if you need to substitute feldspars or different clays it’s a good intro to glaze chemistry software. 
 

Nope, there are hundreds, thousands of them out there, hence tough for someone to suggest a single one. 4321 has a long history, is easy to make and gets you started in what I believe a helpful direction
Have you gone to Glazy.org?
You will also find many other formulations there as well and maybe can try those.
Colorants / oxides
I would try any and all colorants in concentration, combined, etc….. color to your taste as they say. It likely does not match my taste.
If you do go to Glazy you can also look at the effect of various colorants as well so you can try the ones pleasing to you first. Hence the suggestion I gave you.
In reality there is much to learn about glazes as there is not a single good gloss clear. They are “your” clay dependent, “your” firing dependent, available local materials dependent and so on. Learning about them takes time and testing but also is very rewarding.

A visual of why testing a glaze with your clay and firing schedule is important. Images below are of a few different claybodies with Leach's 4321 clear glaze. It looks perfect on some clay but not so much on others. How the base glaze reacts to colourants brings in more testing. Are you firing in an electric kiln or ?
 
 

I know of no base that works with all colorants for all the colors you are asking about-its just not that simple.I have 50 years in now experence wise  with cone 10 glazes in a production studio and I have no base that works in my 15 weekly glazes I use they are all different. No single base . If you find one let me know as that would simplify mixing all 15 each.
You can use a white base and add cobalt for blue  or try copper for green but its a try try try test test test deal. I would start with a simple 4 ingredient glaze base thats white. The white base  glaze will have zero colorants in it.I can post one if needed called honey white. Next time I'm in glaze area I'll jot it down-its very simple white-likes heat so not good in cold spots

It would also help us narrow things down a bit if you have a particular look you’re trying to get out of your work, if it’s sculptural or functional,  what clay you’re planning on using, and a little background on how much experience working in clay you have. We get folks at all levels of skill here, and it helps to tailor our answers to you.
 

I have boards made as in that video above.
First you need a base board.  Then decide what the tallest size you will need.  Then make the length of the boards so you can clamp them and they still fit on your base board.
I've also used cardboard boxes, fruit boxes, tupperware containers, anything that will hold the weight of the plaster, or can be lined with bin bags and padded out with cardboard, foam, anything.  Usually I'm restricted by height more than any other dimension.

Are you familiar with the Orton cone chart and making the last segment go the speed in the chart for the final 100c of the firing to get the cone to drop?
The center column speed is common so your last segment speed would be 60c per hour and for cone 5, end of firing = 1186c, start of final segment: 1186c - 100c = 1086c.  So last segment starts at 1086c, goes 60c per hour and ends at 1186c. This should get cone 5 to drop as planned.
your first segment can go as fast as your pots will tolerate so approximately 100c - 250c per hour.
It turns out, most of the heatwork is done in the last 100c, so get that right and you can more accurately fire to cone. If you add a hold to the end generally a 15 to 20 minute hold drives it approximately to the next cone.
This way, you always have a place to start working on a “good” schedule.
 
 

I use this 
https://www.axner.com/pure-lube.aspx

Pure & Simple suggest https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1130/0194/files/INSTRUCTIONS_2021.1.pdf?v=1609298598

an 18x18 concrete patio block works well, can me moved easily and tilted if you find a support for one side.   may only find 16x16,  look at used on craigslist.
 
NO CANVAS!

I get newbies to do a "number of coats" test tile, before they do any glazing or underglazing.  A square of clay, marked into 4 smaller squares.  Corner 1 gets one coat of underglaze, corner 2 gets 2 coats, corner 3............etc
This gets bisque fired and then they apply 1 coat of clear on half of corner 1, 2 coats on half of corner 2..........
Second fire to earthenware, (we don't do any high-fire) then they (I) can determine if they are a light applier or a heavy applier.  This gives them a guide for future applications.    
We often repeat with a vertical tile with texture.