Cheat? Sounds like the smart way to do it.
I took a stab at a segmented turn this week as well. I have now turned a total of 3 items... a handle for a stanley #5, a cup made from a fallen and despised Bradford pear, and this abomination made from scraps rescued from the burn pile. Your urn shows much more competence and skill than my efforts! I don't really know what I'm doing with my lathe... but it is a lot of fun. I'll do a glue up this week with a bit more structure and planning, this was just off the cuff. I have a lot of cherry and maple scraps and I'll make something that looks of an interlaced layer of brick walls. I think the effect will be striking. I will pay attention to grain direction and orientation, something I neglected in this attempt. Although this wood is quite dry and the part is small so I don't foresee problems.
I actually bought my lathe just to assuage my guilty conscience over wasting small scraps of wood... now no fragment of a tree carcass is too small to escape my butchery and depravity. At present I am leaning hard on some carbide tools, but i did purchase the PSI / Harbor Freight 8 tool hss set that gets very good reviews. They are quite dull and my hand sharpening game for these doesnt seem quite up to snuff, so I'll pick up a set of CBN wheels soon perhaps.