The Hung’ry Bag

It’s Sept 2024 and I have just had the pleasure of joining Flora Carlile Kovacs on her Felting Tour of West Hungary. We were a group of 11 passionate felters and all round textile creatives from 6 countries over 3 continents.

This immersive tour included workshops with amazing Felt masters Kinga Huszti, Vanda Robert and Judit Pocs and there were lots of opportunities to indulge in the culture, the breathtaking architecture of Budapest, the cuisine, the European city vibe and then the gentleness of the countryside, the delicious local specialities and wines, celebrating Hungarian use of paprika and poppy seeds. We had chance to shop in local markets, buy felting tools and obviously buy from Hungarian Feltmakers themselves. How could you resist?

Political, social and technological history peppered the tour. Not only the grandeur of the architecture in Budapest but the picturesque thatched homes in the western villages. In it’s heyday Budapest had a rule that 20% of any construction budget in the city should be spent on decoration both inside and outside of the buildings. This explains the breathtaking beauty of the city. Indigo dyeing was a major industry up until the late 20th century and there are a few tiny family businesses left. We visited the two extremes, one family business still printing, making blocks, renovating old blocks and dyeing their own beautifully blue fabrics, the second visit to a museum which had once been a major player in the country’s production illustrating the mechanisation when steam became a thing. One strong thread throughout the whole of the tour is how hardworking, innovative and open to diversification the business owners have been over the last two centuries, acknowledging changing trends, accepting influences from neighbouring groups, grasping new technology to maintain the productivity whilst fiercely defending their culture and symbolism in the patterns woven, printed, stitched and felted. A visit to the last remaining felt factory was exciting and heartbreaking in equal measure. To think that once up a time 360 people had been employed on 24/7 shifts running at capacity to now a workforce of only 12 and the factory running one week on and one week off each process on a single shift. If only they could find that niche product to give them the injection of life needed to maintain and sustain the business.

But back to the business in hand. One of the highlights of this year’s tour was having the opportunity to make a bag workshop with Judit Pocs. Judit laid out each stage to demonstrate the process and, as is often the case, arrived at a point where the students needed attention and the demo piece sat half made on the work table. Those of you who teach will know this scenario well, dragging home soggy half made samples that get dumped under the studio workbench! Judit very kindly told us that if we wanted to finish it we could have it. We did not need asking twice! Ellen, who was furthest ahead with her own bag, went around the class collecting silk fabric pieces that we had brought with us to decorate the surface of the bag. She then took time arranging them in a semblance of order, with other class members offering their suggestions also. Ellen then started adding them to the surface. As each of us got further ahead we took turns in rubbing, rolling and shaping until the bag was fast approaching the finish line. At last the communal bag was born!

So what do you do with a bag made by 11 people? How could we share the bag itself and share the love we have for the craft, the joy we have had working together and the good sense of community in our hearts in the room?

After much discussion we had a strategy, a start point, an end point and a joyful plan for the middle. We then had a name. The bag is hungry to travel, we were hungry to make it do some good and it was made in Hungary. The bag now came the Hung’ry Bag!

The bag will be shared among the 11 of us for a whole year. We plotted a route around the world starting in Tasmania, Australia where Mary will leave Hungary and take it on a month long holiday Down Under. The Bag will then travel to Jane in Canada then to the USA travelling the full width of the States with Ellen, Kate, Michele, Beth and Linda. Next stop will be with Baudyen in the Netherlands and into the U.K. to Susan in Scotland and onwards Jackie and Louise in England until each of us has taken it on a month long tour in our home country and on whatever travels we have too.

A Facebook page will share the journeys across these 6 countries. It will be so exciting to get a peek at where each of our fellow felty travellers live and what fun they have with the bag.

But then what happens to the bag at the end? The idea was born to use the bag to raise funds which will be used give another passionate feltmaker the chance to join Flora’s 2026 tour who otherwise would not be able. Flóra was invited to join in the fun and she kindly agreed to facilitate the process of choosing a suitable candidate with us.

I am so excited to see what antics the bag gets up to on its travels around the world. Do you want to join us in following the journey? Come onboard, we have just set off!

https://www.felttours.com

Follow it here on The Hung’ry Bag facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/888386189866701