So the last couple of weekends I've been practicing on the lathe, learning how to control the tools a bit better, and in the process have finished 2 (practice) bowls!

The one in the front was the first one I turned; it's finished with "salad bowl finish" and buffed...

The one in the back I just finished today. On that one I used EEE cream and turners polish; easier and faster than the buffing and it came out pretty good! Of course you can't use finish like that on anything you're going to eat out of; for that you pretty much just have to stick with the salad bowl finish (which still looks pretty decent).

The pic on the left shows the sizes better; they're about the same diameter actually - just the perspective on the image above...

Had a little scare with the one I turned today... had it chucked into a shallow internal notch in the base and was working on the inside, when my tool caught and the bowl completely jumped off the lathe. Yikes! Tore a big chunk out of the base too; luckily I had enough thickness down there that I reversed it onto the chuck and took about 3/8" off the whole bottom to fix the gouge. Still, it got my attention!

One more pic below, showing the profile of the bowls a little more clearly. The shape of today's bowl was actually a result of an accident... was originally going to be a simple oval profile, but when I accidentally took a big chunk out near the lip, I realized the bowl wanted to be a different shape entirely -- so I just went with it.