"Felt has now come out from under the carpet and adorns the body with pride"

The above quotation was given by a rather special lady in Australian felting history  - Val Gilmour in her recent speech when the Bunbury Felters honoured Val by making her a life member of the group.

Val was one of the founding members of the Bunbury Felters and was Convener when the Bunbury Felters hosted the 3rd Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence in Bunbury, back in October 1994. It was the first time this International Felting Convergence had been held in Australia and is remembered by all as a wonderful time of felt making and friendship.

The Bunbury Felters are very proud to again be involved in organising this International event. Again the venue is the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School, perfect for holding this type of forum with its numerous classrooms for tutorials, arts area for hands on felting and auditorium for key note speakers. Here participants can live in and enjoy felting and friendship in a private bushland setting - 24/7 if they wish (and stories from previous Convergences suggest that some do)!

Felt of course has moved on since those days. It is one craft that has been constantly evolving with new techniques and styles being created as felters experiment with different "feltmaking" equipment. Felters are well known for adapting all sorts of ordinary household goods in their quest to make better, smoother, more textured, faster felt – whatever their current holy grail may be. After all, where other than a felters kit bag do you find kitchen graters, non slip matting, bubble wrap, plumbing pipes and merino wool all nestling together?

So although the program will be different and the Convener will be another Val,  the fun, the felting, the fellowship and the spirit of Convergence will be the same.

We look forward to seeing you all again in Bunbury for the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence 2nd - 7th October 2011.

If you'd like to read more about the first Australian Felting Convergence look out for future posts on this blog.  The first issue of Felt Magazine also has an excellent article written by Christine Sloan in their very first issue.