Congrats on the missus. My wife turned one few weeks ago and it turned out great. It was her first time on the lathe too. Did a designer with acrylic too!
I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Nikitas-Congrats on the Acrylic. I have successfully turned 2 acrylics so far. The third attempt= It kept blowing out huge chunks. I got them repaired the first 3 or 4 times, but the last one was an undamaged section all the way around the end of the blank. It hurt to see it happen. I guess it was too brittle. Or maybe the room was too cold.....
I tried the skew, and it still wanted to cause small tearaways. I think that particular blank was waay to brittle for me to get ambitious yet. I am still undoing damage caused by the tools in softer wood. I will be turning more acrylic someday. I was so upset after getting it drilled out without the hole melting and making a must repair situation.