And then the plan changed . . .
Rather than go with The Clown - I went with a more incongrous idea - a more elegant, traditional turning - basically a BIG Christmas Ornament - with ebony finial and "icicle" - along with the Pendulum Finial idea. Here's what I had in mind.
And here's where I'm at with it. It'll end up about 10" by about 3 1/2" in diameter. The "icicle" is still in the chuck but I wanted to see things upright, since what may look OK when horizontal on the lathe, may look quite different when upright. In this case, the upper bead on the icicle needs to be reduced significantly or made into a short bottom of a cove. Note that the top "neck" of the icicle has to be pretty thinned down so the hole through which the tight rope will be strung will have the least contact with the tight rope - keeping friction to a minimum
Now the tricky thing about this is that the the center of gravity of the whole thing HAS to stay over the tight rope "rope" (actually, it'll be monofilament line). If it isn't, the piece may turn upside down, or come to rest at some odd side leaning angle - which won't do AT ALL.
How'd it turn out? Click Here To Find Out ---->