From the archive record
Gujarati women crafting mirror embroidery on sarees, clothes, etc at their centre. Shisheh embroidery mirror-work, is a type of embroidery which attaches small pieces of mirrors reflect metal to fabric. Mirror embroidery is spread throughout Asia, and today can be found in the traditional embroidery of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Indonesia. The Shisha embroidery was originated in the 17th-century in India. Traditionally, shisheh or abhla bharat work was done using Mica but Beetle, Tin, Silver or Coins were not uncommon depending on the region. This was replaced by glass blown into large thin bubbles and broken into small pieces for this use. Traditional shisha mirrors have a convex curve due to this process. The tradition of making circular shisha was extensively done by women