The Ripley Masks - As Above, So Below
Thrice I've been lucky enough to visit London, and twice those visits have included the Ripley Scrolls. Each one varying slightly due to their handmade process, there are only 22 of these alchemical documents in the world. Working with photographs I took of the Ripley Scrolls I was able to view, I printed images onto ink jet transfer paper that was found when cleaning out my elderly mom's art studio: the dates on the packaging and instructions are 1998-99.
The outer face of the masks is a cotton flour sack used for toweling. The transfer paper ironed well onto the toweling, with the vintage paper producing a vintage iron-on appearance.
As Above - excepted from the part of the Ripley Scroll where a dragon sits below a triple sun/moon, the transfer for this mask was peeled when fully cooled, which produces a glossy finish to the surface. To the hand, the mask almost feels like a thin leather or a soft vinyl tablecloth.
So Below - this Ripley Scroll detail features a toad, the symbol of Calcination and the imperfect Prima Materia. This transfer was peeled while still warm, producing a matte finish to the image surface. This mask pattern is the Contour 3D Face Mask from Japanese Sewing Books.
