+ all of the above

Well, I’m back from San Fran, with plenty of new shiny things (and a busted up elbow, but more to come on that later). Check out these freakin awesome badges from the folks over at Loyal Army and extra thanks to Katey for making me the badges on the spot!

I lost this badge yesterday. I think it was on the subway, but really it could have been anywhere. It was one of my favourites as it was larger than usual, about two or three inches wide, and it was made as a fundraising community art project for delinquent children and then sold at the ACMI gallery store in Melbourne. I just hope that someone finds it and enjoys it.

These were given to me by my very good friend George as part of a birthday present.

This is a tiny badge that I bought in Melbourne. It’s made of recycled curtain fabric.

The Strand bookstore is one of the greatest bookstores there is. So many books, and so cheap!

A friend of mine alerted me to a student exhibition in Canberra a year ago that had made badges of all the works on display. These two are quite small and are just fantastic.

Another set of Pawson badges from the same store.

Another set of badges found in the best shop ever in London. Which I will write about soon.

I haven’t managed to bring myself to open these yet.

I’m a big fan of recycled fabric badges and this is a great one. This one was bought from one of the many markets in London which I went to.

Because everyone needs one, I’ve never had one, and so I bought one from a punk in Camden.

I nabbed this one at the V&A Museum at the China Design Now exhibit. There were many other badges, but this one caught my eye and kept it.

This one was a long time coming, although the wait was worth it. I’m almost afraid to wear it out.

Another London find. London is brilliant for badges, they’re everywhere.

This one is from Fiona Hamilton who apart from making gorgeous badges, also has some fine illustrations

Probably the most annoying thing about London is being told to Mind the Gap every time a train stops on the tube. If you’re on the platform you’re told by a man with a deep Scottish voice, if you’re on the train it’s a soft lady’s voice. You’re told about three to four times at each stop.

At most stops, there isn’t even a gap.

It’s all very British. So I had to buy a badge.

It’s a Q. And it’s a badge. I bought it at one of the markets around London because it reminded me of the fridge magnets we had when I was a kid.

I spelled my first curse words with those letters.

This is quite possibly the coolest badge I own. I’m almost afraid of saying that in case my other badges get jealous, but I think it might be true. Created for World Book Day, I found this in one of the best little stores I’ve ever seen, more on that later. For the uninitiated the quote is from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and is one of the most powerful lines in a very powerful book. I normally avoid badges with quotes or sayings on them, but this I couldn’t resist.

I’m almost afraid to open it. It’s still sitting on my shelf, waiting to be worn.

Meanwhile, Tom Hanks was cast as Montag? And then withdrew?

I have a lot of badges. And I intend on getting more. I’m gonna start posting them up here. Starting with this one.

It’s a badge from the V&A Museum in London, I bought it because like every other gallery gift shop it was full of beautiful but overpriced, useless crap. I couldn’t justify buying any of it until I found this. It caught my eye. It cost 60p and the lady tried to give me a plastic bag for it. After I bought this I went and sat on the bench out the front of the museum to wait for my sister (the museum and gift shop having just closed). I sat and pretended to read my book while I watched all the Londoners walk by. They’re all so polite.