Having a no good, very bad day. The kiln is firing, but as you can see from the photo I was able to wreck two mugs before loading. I put my thumb through the bottom of one mug while carving it and then I hit the lip of the only dragon I have this time around into a shelf and broke it. I prefer to wreck mugs before I carve them, saves a lot of work.
And I got my new (very expensive) carving tools from Diamond core last night. Of course after I had finished all the mugs for this kiln. But I tried them out this morning on the hawk with the hole in the bottom (I could make it into a small planter?) The mug is bone dry but they all went right through the black slip. I think I want a slightly thicker 4th one, but I am excited to try them out on wetter clay. I'll start throwing for the next kiln tomorrow.