HandMade with Love Blog Hop: Introducing Ron of Ostlund Custom Works

When Ron turned me on to his work, I was amazed.  Here were pieces with seemingly lifeless parts (such as metal and machine parts) that, when repurposed through his art, became dynamic and functional!  Also, something I’ve noticed about handmade products is that often their function is determined by or through gender.  I can appreciate that Ron’s work doesn’t have those restrictions and therefore become universal pieces.  In particular, I love this clock he created, titled Walnut Tear.
Ron says that the clock was “realized at the hardware store when I was buying wood! I was going to buy cherry wood until I saw this piece of walnut! The grain pattern is so beautiful and reminded me of a tear drop. It has brass hands and little brass ‘stand off’ pieces for number accents. The stand offs were recycled/up cycled from the scrap yard I used to go to. The actual clock face is off centered just a bit because I put the clock shaft through the knothole.  This one-of-a-kind piece is signed and dated on the back.” In his Etsy shop, Ron has some other wonderful one-of-a-kind pieces to fit every budget.  Want a functional accent piece for a table top?  How about this cardholder?   Or how about a lamp that is both traditional and contemporary?  Ostlund Custom Works reflects the artist’s ability to see the potential energy in industrial objects. To find out more about the artist, check out this recently published article about Ron here (great interview, Ron!). To learn about the stories behind his pieces or about his philosophy on art, check out Ron’s blog here. 
SHOP: And of course you can shop the range of Ron’s work at his Etsy shop here where you’ll find one-of-a-kind functional pieces that will energize your living space!
WIN: You are lucky because Ron is donating some items a $50 gift certificate for his Etsy shop to the Handmade with Love Blog Hop!  You can enter the Ostlund Custom Works giveaway right here on Moana Saves.  Here’s what you need to do to enter: As the mandatory entry, go to Ron’s Etsy shop and leave a comment below telling me which handmade piece you absolutely love.  (Mandatory entry means that if you don't do this first, all of your other entries will be disqualified.)
To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:
1. Become a public follower of Moana Saves via Google Friend Connect in the sidebar. 
2. Become a Networked Blogs follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).
3. Follow Moana Saves on Twitter.
4. Follow Ron on Twitter.
5. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following:
#Win a $50 GC for 0ne-of-a-kind functional art from @RonOstlundJr and @moanasaves #giveaway ends 2/6 http://bit.ly/dVSojT
6. Subscribe to the Moana Saves feed via RSS reader and/or email updates (in the sidebar).
7. Favorite Ron’s Etsy shop. 
8. Like the  Ostlund Custom Works Facebook page.
Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway.  He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S.  This giveaway ends on Sunday, 2/6/11 at 11:59 PM HST (Hawaii Standard Time).  One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org.  I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.
I was not compensated for this post.  Any and all opinions here are mine.