I made this! Grabbed a small piece of wood from Ben's giveaway bin (Thanks Ben!) for this project on the lathe.
It was the perfect size, and already rounded so I feel like all the hard work was already done for me. The process on the lathe was great. Actually - I tried to turn on Sunday, but the machine wasn't turning on, which was scary. I thought it had died and another Subtraction project went down the drain. But alas, it came back to life on Monday!
I didn't turn from a pre-existing design, I kinda went with instinct. I turned to trim first, then rounded out the top and bottom faces, then worked on turning the middle to accommodate fingers in a comfortable hold.
I love the exposed bark at the back end of the piece, and was really happy to leave it in my finished piece.
Once I was satisfied with my piece, I sanded it, then waxed it.
I was planning on putting a utensil at the top end of the piece, but I think I might actually put a large spoon in the middle, so that it looks like a corkscrew and the handle turns into more of a shovel handle.