This piece is my favorite, but only MY favorite. It gets no love from others. Relative to my finer outcomes, with their perfection arrogantly held high on display for all to bow, curtsy and applaud. The design for this piece was delivered by Hephaestus himself, who felt sorry for me, seeing me on my knees, in a foot of wood shavings. A week long quantity of Christmas shavings only a lazy lathe operator can appreciate. A segmented piece I was turning caught a snag, exploded, sending shrapnel against every garage wall, faster than I knew the snag had occurred. Pop, bang, meoooww, crack, swoosh as it whized past my ear…. I don’t think I sh** myself, I…I must still be alive……ok….I am ok…… son is not close by, it is ok to cry, one whaling tear for each second it took to prepare for that turn. I pushed my hands to the heavens. “Is there no god?”. I quickly ran my hands through the shavings, there must be part of her left…… I picked up the bigger pieces, walnut is completely gone, maple? was there any maple involved, I held her gently, I caressed the olive in her cheek and asked for her forgiveness. Why didn’t I stop and sharpen one more time. I know noone actually enjoys lathe turning, we do it so we can sharpen tools endlessly without being thought odd…. Oh the torment of a moment of lost discipline… And then suddenly, there was Hephaestus. “Everything can be reused”……hmmm, I thought….”e v e r y thing can be reused!”….so I saw a piece in the shavings here, and then found another there, and some wenge on the shelf said, “take me and bring her back”, and, and……I made this “thing”, which after much thought and debate, I declared…. It must be a toothpick holder. Of course, when I showed it to my wife, dripping of confidnece by then, I bellowed, “I MADE a toothpick holder, your gonna love it”. It now sits on my desk, away from visitors, discarded by all who could have loved her. I adore it, it represents the many failures one must endure on this journey of woodworking and of life.
Welcome to the forum! That’s exactly the kind of stories we are here for. Most people won’t have a clue of what you’re talking about, but I’ve got some idea. (Only some idea, because I don’t actually turn.) Looks like a beautiful tooth pick holder. Did you turn the tooth picks as well? 
WELCOME(!!!) Brian…
I feel your pain…
Did you use X/4 or a round for your master piece? What finish did you apply?..
Is the base Ebony or a dyed segment?..
The insert - what is it?
Tell us so much more…
Starting a new pursuit into walnut kitchen cabinetry now. I likely can be the entertainment at every meeting for the first year. Laugh with me, not at me. 
They were sold to me as square rounds meant for lathe turning. If I recall, something like a 4x4x12. I had cut them up into pieces as I tried to teach myself segmentation. The finish is a simple, rubbed in shellac given a recovery piece. I would greatly benefit in learning how to spray a finish at a professional level. The base, which goes up through the middle of the piece, as one single piece, is plain wenge and the shellac darkens it some. I have turned and used ebony for accents. Given its cost, I only use it in very comfortable situations. Non wood workers often do not appreciate the quality of ebony so I would benefit learning dying techniques to reduce costs in the right moments. A little piece of detail not mentioned is, I finished the base and the top, on enough of a different arc that while not threaded, the top tightens and holds, upon the top being turned/tightened. It was a first attempt at such a thing and it worked…Next story: Years ago, my son at age 10, seeing blood on me, yells, “Lets go get mom, she will know what to do”. How much more of an insult can a fellow endure from his son in his own woodshop.
