Here is the latest batch of ingredients that I’ve restocked and updated for my magic potions class—perhaps the all-time favourite workshop that I teach as part of my creative writing curriculum.
I decided to group all of these ones together into one past as they involve parts of various creatures. I said that no magical creatures were harmed in my post about phoenix ashes and winged horse clippings, but I’m not so sure about these ones. Sure, you can sneak behind a Gnome and pick up his leavings without causing him any harm—but I’m not sure how you get the juice out of a Pixie without giving it a good squeeze, or extract the bones from a Goblin without leaving it rather floppy.
When it comes to plucking the snot from a Troll or collecting the tears from a dragon . . . well, there isn’t so much a danger to them as there is to YOU. (Which is all to say, please do not try gathering these ingredients without wizardly supervision).
Here’s some of the close-up photos . . .
Troll snot; it’s bubbly (though, surprisingly, doesn’t smell that bad).
Orc boogers. These are SO sticky. It’s almost impossible to get them out of the jar.
Neither of these two things smell that great. And I have NO idea what Gnomes eat to cause some of their leavings to be bright red.
These ingredients are precious and have to be added drop-by-drop. Pixie juice and dragon tears seem to be the most popular ingredients in class.
Well, only a few more ingredients to show! Soon, I can have my kitchen table back. (Though I’m not sure we’ll ever eat there again—after all, would you after it has been smeared with Orc boogers?)
Between the Cracks of Here and There 