ABOUT PRINCESS MIRAH DESIGN
Princess Mirah Design/Bali Fabrics, Inc. is an Indonesian-based
wholesaler of handmade batik fabrics that has been in existence since
1981. Princess Mirah Design has been extremely successful and continues
to evolve with the ever-changing market as evidenced by the recent
addition of the innovative new craft line.
All of the fabrics are designed by owner and designer, Princess Mirah,
an internationally known designer. Mirah designs 10-12 collections
herself twice a year bringing contemporary sophistication to the
traditional art of batik. She is involved in every step of creating the
handmade fabrics in the traditional batik method bringing the rich art
of her native land to the consumer in the form of her amazing Balinese
fabrics. This exceptional attention to detail and excellence brings the
consumer a product of extremely high quality.
THE PRODUCTION OF PRINCESS
MIRAH BATIK
Traditional batik designs
reflect the life of the Balinese people, their religious mythology and
their harmony with nature. Mirah sketches each design and follows it
through the complex and labour intensive process to completion at her
batik factory in Bali.
The fabric is stamped with a
special stamp, called the cap, with batik wax--one impression at a time.
The fabric is then immersed in dye, dried in the sun, immersed in
boiling water to remove the wax and the process is repeated numerous
times in order to get the desired final product. The wax resists
the dye batch therefore leaving a design imprinted on the fabric when
the wax is removed. This process gives the batik fabric its
characteristic "stamped" look.
Some designs are dyed as many
as 14 times, giving the fabric a colour so deep that the fabric becomes
reversible, extremely soft, as well as pre-shrunk due to the constant
boiling. A characteristic of a true batik is that the pattern is
visible on both sides of the fabric.
There are some batiks
available that do not have a stamped design. Princess Mirah has
chosen to call these wax-less batiks "polos" representing the Balinese
word for "without pattern". Polos are often made with a multitude
of colours creating a new multifaceted look in fabric design.
Mirah's cotton batiks have
approximately 80 threads per inch making them ideal for handiwork unlike
many batik fabrics.
Care of the fabric:
Although the fabric has been preshrunk through the dye bath process, you
must prewash the fabric in order to return it to it's natural shape and
to remove any wax resist that may be present in the fabric. The
fabric will shrink lengthwise between 1" and 4" but does not lose it's
width. Prewashing can be done in the washing machine with warm water on
the gentle cycle with a mild cleaner such as Eucalan. Dry the
fabric in your dryer on low heat until just dry and hang up on a
clothesline or hanger until you are ready to cut out your garment
pattern pieces. Once the garment is made, you may hand wash or
machine wash on gentle in warm water with mild detergent. Then
hang to dry until damp and place in the dryer on low heat to soften the
fibres. Touch up the garment with your iron on the wool setting
with lots of steam. In order to prevent a shine on darker colours,
iron on the wrong side of the fabric or use a Teflon cover.
