Art Show Project-The Black Ash tea box

Hi Everyone,
I'm back.

The summer is moving right along and I need to get the art show projects done by early October when they're due to be turned in.
Plan to finish all three and turn in the two best ones so time to get to work on these.

Black Ash tea box

I decided to work on the black ash tea box as it's the least developed of the three. I've been looking at it the past several weeks and I've decided to hollow it out more than it was to to also make the beginnings of a lid for it so here we go:

I put the box back on the lathe and hollowed out about 1/2" on the sides and bottom and it's a lot lighter in weight and wider inside. I've begun sanding it and you can see the wavy-sand paper-thingy on the drill. That made short work of the inside and smoothed it very well. Purchasing that was probably my wise move for the month:

The Lid
I had wanted to make a lid for the box out of a piece of Brazilian cherry but the board I have is too narrow so I had to go with something else. I looked around and remembered the black walnut my friends Ed and Elaine gave me last month and decided to use that instead. Here is a picture of the board and the lid blank cut from it:

The end of the board is really warped and distorted so it's going to have to be trued up on the lathe and that's what I did next:

The wood cuts very well and flattening the surface took a minute:

In this photo I've cut the diameter down about 1" and left a small tenon in the center so I will have an attachment point for the Nova chuck when I flip it over:

This is the underside of the lid. I've finished turning it and I've sanded it a little:

 I've also filled the center hole with a small birch plug. I'll turn it flat tomorrow after the glue holding it in has dried:

And this is the lid on the bowl. I'm going to be cutting down the diameter for sure but the next big question is should I laminate a piece of wood on top and make a knob or should I shape the top differently and dispense with the knob entirely?  I think leaving off the knob is a good idea. I'll have to think about the over all shape next and determine if there is enough wood left to make a slightly different lid:

I'm hungry and covered in saw dust so I'm going to stop for the day and cogitate a bit over this . 

Oh, and last of all, the Wood Fairies and I have have embarked on a secret project:

Stay tuned for this one!
More later,
VW