Hybrid Creature Comforts Cosy, 2009

The cautiously shy Hybrid Creature Comforts Cosy (of the Genus Handfabricatus Teacosii), on its quest for cake and tea near the visitor's car park on top of Mount Wellington in Southern Tasmania, in the Autumn evening light....

This tea cosy I made for a swap I'm doing with fellow Tasmanian textile artist extra-ordinaire, Catherine Badcock (AKA Cat-Rabbit), and I took a lot of inspiration from her own amazing work to create a truly personable tea cosy, with a definite personality and feeding habits....

Devonshire Teas are its main diet...with occasional bursts of cup cake feeding frenzies...this cosy has gone feral and has taken to hovering near tourists' cars in the hope of cake crumbs....

Hand embroidery on Thai silk, French silk and French silk curtain braid, American rabbit fur (gift from a friend there), local deer antler from a Tasmanian deer farm, steel support, Tasmanian wool, laser printed cotton lining (my own design, courtesy of Spoonflower.com), dolls eyes and leather.

Height: 60cm
Photos: Tara Badcock (Location: Mt Wellington, Southern Tasmania)
Collection: Catherine Badcock, Tasmania

Foxy Koala Cosy by Brigette Cameron

This amazing tea cosy, made by a artist friend of mine, Brigette Cameron, who lives in Melbourne, and who I met in the north of Sweden when we both worked at the Ice Hotel in 2005-2006.

I thought would be the perfect starting image for 2009, and an Australian summer!

I dont have all the details about the cosy, which is very lax of me (summer holiday mood!), though I think Brigette made the cosy in 2005, and it was in an exhibition of tea cosies held in Canberra...I'll have to ask her again!

Brigette is a knitter extra-ordinaire!

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY: Teacosy* Number 8; Sugarpink Colonial Cosy, 2008

I am holding a random lucky draw for this tea cosy as a special event!

Je fais un prix de cet couvre-theiere, comme une 'donation chanceuse' de Noel!

If you are interested in putting your name into the draw, please leave me a comment here in answer to this question:
Si ca vous interesse, laissez-moi ici votre reponse du question suivant:

What is your favourite tea cosy/tea drinking/tea party scene or paragraph in a film or novel?
C'est quoi votre souvenir de preference au sujet des cache-pots dans un film ou un roman?

I will then put everyone's names in a tea cosy on Monday the 22nd December and ask the Curator of Decorative Arts at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Mr Peter Hughes, to draw out the winning name.
If you re-check this blog again on that Monday night, there will be the winner's name posted.
Ce lundi le 22 Decembre, je vais mettre tout vos noms dans un cache-pot en attente de la main de M. Peter Hughes (Directeur des collection des Arts Decoratifs au Musee des Beaux Arts de Tasmanie), qui va tiens un nom gagnant. Epuis je vais ecrire le nom ici le lundi soir, donc si vous reviennez voir ce blog, vous le sauriez!

Tea cosy dimensions: (interior measurements) 31cm x 24cm. So will fit a two or three-cup tea pot.
Dimensions du cache-pot: (d'interieur) 31cm x 24cm. Ce cache-pot marche avec un theiere du 2 ou 3 tasses.







Hand embroidery on silk, cotton velvet, transfer print on silk, antique needle lace, wool, hand printed linen lining by Aunty Cookie, vintage brass bits, printed hemp by Pippijoe of Melbourne.

Brodee a la main sur la soie, velours du coton, homme inprime sur la soie, dentelle vielle, laine, lin imprime par Aunty Cookie, cuivre jaune vieux, chanvre imprime par Pippijoe de Melbourne.

London Transport tea cosy

My sister gave me this tea cosy on the weekend.
She found it at the Queensland Art Gallery when she was there in the winter.
Thank you Renee!

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!)