Then I found a couple of new ceramic stains from Mason - a brighter, more intense yellow and an orange. The yellow was an improvement, but the orange, although it looked like it might work before it was fired, came out neon. Garish. I let the endeavor go for a while - until the CA poppies came up again in the garden this spring.
This time I mixed the garish orange with the brighter yellow, maybe a touch of the older marigold yellow and a tiny bit of burnt orange. Will I be able to duplicate it? Hope so. I was very pleased with the results.