I have done the same the pva on the outside and straight into the living room and very scientifically when its gone oval its dry enough, as well as weighing until it stops losing weight. Its much quicker but i ve lost a lot more like this.
I ve also got some big vases that were not thin enough, pva'd and gently dried and big cracks so a feature with bronze is called for, and next time i need to try and get the wall thickness correct.
Pete