Thanks folks!
No steady, no tape, and no cling... There's not enough solid wood to allow for any of that stuff. I sanded this piece with the lathe off, and I could see the whole top flexing... Fun stuff!
I absolutely wore a shield... I don't turn anything without one anymore.
Come on now, Michelle... This whole thing weighs about 3 ounces and was turned on a single axis. Scary is a big platter sized chunk spinning off axis like the stuff you do so well.
Not too bad actually. Of course, the mallee piece was done right before this and nothing would seem dusty after that. I guess you didn't notice the 'all air' piece sitting right next to this one in the photos...
I did this at about 850 RPMs. One other thing that I think helped me... I bought some 1/8 inch HSS cutters from Enco that I use in the ends of some of my homemade tools. That small cutting surface really cuts down on the drag and chatter when hollowing. The scariest part of this piece was the smoothing cuts with the scraper tips.