Have had the idea of a winged vase for a while and been waiting for a suitably shaped piece of wood. I started with a forked branch of a small Hakea tree. This is a wood of medium hardness and reasonable strength that turns nicely (as I found). Although the branch had died the wood was still somewhat green.
Started the piece between centres, turned a tenon on the foot and did most of the turning with the piece mounted in a chuck. While the heart wood had completely rotted out of the branch there was plenty of solid wood to hold it with.
The piece is about 250 mm high and 180 in diameter, finished with Danish oil and buffed with EEE polishing compound.
Tony