Nice going!
You might want to set up the shaddow attributes of your lights to best suit your need's. I wouldent jump ahead just stick to the ambient occlusion renders for now as they let you see if theres any bumps etc on your model.
What do you mean bu bumps on the platter?
It might be best to UV map the area then exprot into photoshop and make a bump map there?
"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle