On the trail of some family history...

So I went looking online for some information about my Grandfather, Clayvel 'Jack' Badcock, just to see what sort of a write-up he's got.
There's a great image of him on a 1930's cigarette card...



Its got me thinking a lot about the whole Australian obsession with sport(s) and how different, and in fact 'opposite' French culture is with its grand tradition of Art, Intellectualism and Beautiful Objects!
Australians seem to feel more comfortable with the humility and humble state of the human condition, always seemingly aiming for homogeny and the safety of mainstream popular culture. Why are we such an insecure culture? Why always a trend towards wanting to be someone else, or deriding our own points of origin...?

I think also it's the fact that I'm in Melbourne at the moment and it's a city which always makes me aware of the power of conservatism, even in the most multicultural of metropolitan environments! I keep seeing pairs or groups of people, men, women, kids...all dressed as each other, matching! Is life so very frightening that people here feel that safety is in wearing black, or copying Paris Hilton's latest Long-cardigan-and-slim-jeans-and-long-leather-boots-with-a-floppy-cap-and-big-shoulder-bag look?!

This brings me back to the floppy cap...the Baggy Green cricket cap my Grandfather is wearing in another of his Cigarette Card portraits (not included here). Its an iconic garment/accessory and its function is more symbolic than physical. I think of the two my Grandfather had, my cousin has one and the other is in the National Cricket Museum, if such a thing exists...I cannot remember where it is.

I have his travelling trunk from the 1938 World Tour to England via Europe and Egypt. If anyone is interested, my Grandfather made a silent film of the whole trip which is in the National Film Archives and has been put on video. Its a really fascinating documented event...and my Grandfather being the sparky provocateur he was, has spliced in shorts of the local Cataract Gorge in Launceston when it was in flood...right in the middle of the Swiss Alps!!

So I think what I'm really pondering here is how and where do I fit in to all of this...and how can it benefit the Teacosy* Revolution?!

There are aspects of my Grandfather's story that inspire me and that I wish to adopt and assimilate into the Revolution in order to keep a sense of diversity and inclusiveness, especially where sport is concerned...and yet it must not dominate the Revolution (the sport, that is!)...I will weave together a magic combination of Australian and French cultural sensibilities to create my ever growing Teacosy* Revolution Manifesto...which I really want some time to work on and get finished...life can be quite frustrating like this sometimes!

So we raise our tea cups to all the women and men in sport, and especially cricket, as they break for tea, mid-match, and enjoy the socio-cultural patina of an iconic pastime...Here's to you, Gamp*!

*Gamp was the name his first Grandchild gave Cleyvel 'Jack' Badcock, of Exton, Tasmania in the late 1960's!

"A Cup O' Tea an' A Slice O' Cake" Song from Worzel Gummage

Oh, my childhood favourite television show...I didn't know they did this song!

Message to World Leaders

Courtesy of The Age newspaper, this Karmarama advertising strategy came out in 2006 when the U.k were putting more troops into Iraq to support the US in their ridiculous and dangerous 'War on Terror'...the only terrifying thing in my mind is the ignorance, greed and stupidity of US businessmen and 'leaders'!

And its SO good that Obama is now going to be President...at last some brains in the 'top job'! The Teacosy* Revolution wishes President Obama the very, very best in his daunting mission to turn the US around, and will send President Obama a celebratory Tea Cosy, to help him get through long days of policy review and implementation!

Jasmin Tea Ball- Fleure d'Orient

I used one of my precious Mariage Freres jasmine tea balls the other day, I wanted to enjoy the magic of the flowering tea ball in the lovely big Russian tea cup my Swiss friend gave me last (European) summer!

The tea is lovely and fine with a delicate flavour...and the most pleasure is of course the enhanced magic of the flower bobbing around in the cup!
(Photos in reverse order, start with the lowest one, then follow it up!)

A call for conributions: Help the Fabric of Resistance!

I just found this site for The Fabric of Resistance, which is probably naughty of me to post again here, though its just so exciting and inspiring to have found it, that it must be shared!
And if you know of anyone, or even yourself, who has participated in some form of resistance action or protest, in relation to this project, please follow the link to contribute your story.

The following image and text are from the Fabric of Resistance project site:
(Image is of Handkerchief embroidered by Janie Terrano in Holloway Prison 1912.)


We can best help you prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods - Virginia Woolf

"Welcome to the Fabric of Resistance!

One of the things that has becomes very clear in doing and talking to other people about radical craft is that political and radical craft is far from a new idea. What is also clear is that this amazing herstory is way too absent from history books. It seems that even feminist political action herstory books marginalise the art and creative responses to political issues.

So we have started this wiki as a public archive of profiles of activists who use(d) craft as a way of communicating their ideas, resistance and vision. And at some point in the future, all these stories will be collated into a book.

This wiki is a constant work in progress. So this is a call out is for the stories of women and men you know in your community who use craft as a form of resistance.

Please add your stories, preferably with images. We want to know names, dates and issues. But we're especially interested in the stories behind the work. Tell us about the design processes as well as the creation process. If you want help with questions to ask people let us know.

And please don’t hold back because you think some information you have is not significant enough. Even if you just remember someone’s name from some protest back in the day, add it in because it might be a good lead for some else to follow up on.

Finally, please pass this information on to people you know who might want to help collect these stories. We need this call out to go as far and wide as possible.

Love and rage and solidarity"

Looking for direction...

Voila, une femme Francaise...Mme Chanel, talking about how she works...