Making a bowl: Step 2 - Make the cross section

The cross section is made using a spline. Start with an empty spline by making one from the Objects menu:

Not just any spline will do for such a fine bowl. Let's make it a Hermite spline (don't ask). Also, don't close it right now, since this will only confuse the drawing. Save the closing for later. Set up the spline using a dialog like this one:

Now we have an empty spline. Notice that it appears in the Object Manager, but since it doesn't have any points, there's not much to see yet in the main window. Now it needs a few points, so select the Points tool by clicking on this palette button:

Once the point tool is selected, you will be able to add points to the spline by clicking with the CTRL key down. Each point has a center and two tangents.

Don't worry about the tangents for the moment. Just add the points roughly in the shape of a cross section. If you mess up, you can delete a point by selecting it and clicking the delete key. If you wind up deselecting the spline, you can select it again by clicking on its name in the object manager. A yellow spline will curve around your points.

When you are done, you should have something like this:

Now close the spline by double clicking on the spline icon in the Object Manager to open up the Spline dialog. Click the "close spline" box:

Drag the spline's points and tangents as you like to make the right shape for the cross section of the bowl. It will be rotated about the Y (green) axis next, so you can keep a mental image of what it's going to look like. To make corners or to adjust the tangents independently of one another, hold down the Shift key as you drag the tangent. You can always change the spline later.

Now you're ready to make the NURBS ---> proceed to step 3.