I had another of those flashes! For those who don't have a spare lathe sitting around gathering dust. Make a turntable that you can fit the vase down snug over a spindle and hook it up to a small motor to power it, but not too small or it won't have enough power if you are doing heavy sanding. Would work similar to a potters wheel. Then you could sand the day lights out of it without all the hand sanding. Save elbow grease!
I hope someone benefits from this idea!
Gabby