I did manage to spend a little time at the lathe, this past week. One thing on my list to do was to finish the platter- which actually turned out to look even more like a collection plate. To make the texture stand out, I painted it black. Just used hobby store acrylic stuff. After it dried, I sanded the high spots. To finish the bottom, I reversed chucked the turning and brought the tailstock up to maintain stability. So that the live center didn't mar the bottom I used a scrap of wood to apply the pressure. Then applied several coats of wipe one semigloss poly.

The bottom is concave. The foot is just the rim formed by the scooped out bottom and the sloping side.

Feeling pretty cocky, I decided to try another long overdue gift to a friend. The texturing went so well, I thought I'd add it to a small bowl. First up, however, was the need to make a new tool for creating the inside "dovetail" for chuck mounting.

It's just an old large file ground to the correct angle. I made it short on purpose. File are brittle and a long tool rest overhang combined with a catch could prove disastrous. The bowl is small and simply shaped.

At this point, I removed the face plate and mounted the piece on my chuck. Refined the shape a little and added some texturing.

Sometimes your mind's eye and the real thing differ greatly. Although not anywhere near what I want, I pressed on.

Time to shape the inside. Here again, I thought I'd try something new. I usually hog out most of the material first using bowl gouges. I get close the depth I want and then refine the wall thickness. I see many turners use a handled drill bit to set the depth of their turnings. I'll give that a shot.

I was going to make a handle to hold the bit, but everything was in place so I put the bit into my lathe jacobs chuck and handheld it to drill the hole.

Here's a tip- make absolutely, positively certain to accurately take into account the depth of the recess into which the chuck sets. 

As this is a family site, I won't print the range of Navy vocabulary that was used at this point. I guess it could be used as a funnel.

Pressing on, I turned a plug and glued it into place. To accurately gauge the diameter, on small spindles, I use a set of ignition wrenches.

This is where I stopped. Mimi volunteered me to make some Adirondack porch chairs. At least I didn't drill any holes too deep, in them, YET.

A couple of turning videos for your enjoyment-

In the first one, Martin Saban-Smith uses an airbrush to create a stunning platter-

And this one is on turning a lidded box by George Watkins-

Safe Turning! 

Your platter is a piece of art, well done

Your platter is a piece of art, well done

Thanks for the kind words, Ron, they are rally appreciated.

really nice  platter/bowl

 Love your combination of texturing and color.

 

Thanks, Cliff! Lucky first attempt.