Week Four: June 19-23
This week was a busy week with Potions. Professor Snape would be proud.
DAY 1
Unfortunately, there is no Daily Prophet this week. Our trusty reporter was pretty busy and missed her deadline. Oh well, we should be back to our regular publishing schedule next week.
We started to make rock candy today. We followed the directions I found at this
website. We had all of our materials and our candy flavoring. We chose Cherry and Grape and we were excited to make some candy!
 |
| Bug-A-Boo wearing her Harry Potter apron |
 |
| Grape and Cherry sugar water |
 |
| The prepared candy sticks |
Unfortunately, we knew pretty early on that we must have done something wrong because it looked nothing like the pictures on the website. We kept it going for a few days and I even tried to recook the Grape mixture but it just wasn't working. We may try again later in the summer, we still have Strawberry and Watermelon flavoring.
Also on today's schedule was dying flowers. This is not only a cool potions project but it also satisfies Step 2 of the Girl Scout Juniors Flower Badge.
We got our white carnations from
Hilliard Floral Design, right in Old Hilliard, and grabbed some food coloring and jars. I got the instructions on how to dye flowers from a
website that I found on Pinterest.
We cut the stems and sliced the ends a little to allow the colored water a way to really get in there and then we waited.
DAY 2
Today we are going to be satisfying Step 3 of the Girl Scout Junior Flower badge by finding out how flowers help people and learn about different essential oils made from flowers and their healing properties. We will then be making some great potions with those oils.
The oils we learned about were: Clary Sage, Geranium, Lavender and Ylang Ylang
Once we learned about the different oils we gathered our materials to make our potions. We made our own Shampoo and Conditioner using the following ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of Distilled Water
- 1/4 cup liquid castile soap
- 1/2 teaspoon of grapeseed oil (can also use jojoba or other vegetable oil)
- 1/4 teaspoon essential oil of your choice
We doubled the recipe and Bug-A-Boo used Lavender and I used Lemon and Lime.
For the Conditioner we used:
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 cup distilled water
- 8 drops of essential oil of your choice
We did not double the conditioner recipe. Bug-A-Boo used Eucalyptus and I used Wild Orange.
Our next potion was a Healing Hand Lotion. The ingredients are:
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (best to use cold pressed, extra virgin, organic, unrefined)
- 4 drops Frankincense Essential Oil
- 2 drops Lavender Essential Oil
- 1 drop Lemon Essential Oil
Just drop everything in a mixer (or do it by hand) and whip for 5 minutes. Transfer to a glass jar (citrus oils will eat away plastic containers), and you're done!
Next we made a Blemish Blend for those stubborn little spots we sometimes get on our face.
- 10 drops Frankincense Essential Oil
- 10 drops Geranium Essential Oil
- 10 drop Melaleuca Essential Oil
- Fractionated Coconut Oil
Put in a 10ml Roller Ball Bottle
Our final potion for the day was Happy Place Blend. We made a rollerball to apply topically and we also made a blend for our diffuser.
- 2 drops Ylang Ylang
- 2 drops Wild Orange
- 2 drops Lavender
We love the smell of the Happy Blend. It is wonderful!
The flowers are coming along really well too.
 |
| Flowers Day 2 |
DAY 3
Today we are doing some really fun and interesting Potion projects. I had searched the internet for different projects and found some great ones. First I gathered all of our supplies and used special Potions Labels to label our ingredients.
The first one we did was Helious Potion.
Helious Potion
Materials:
Empty soda or water bottle (any size)
Balloon
Powdered Bicorn Horn (baking soda)
Tantacula Acid (vinegar)
Paper Towel
Directions:
1. Tear the paper towel in half. Take one half and tear it in half again. You will use one of
these smaller squares as your "wrapper".
2. Place about a tablespoon of powdered Bicorn horn on your wrapper. Fold it up and
twist the ends closed so that the powdered Bicorn horn is neatly inside.
3. Pour about 1/4 cup of Tantacula Acid into your bottle, then add the wrapper of
powdered Bicorn horn.
4. Quickly place the balloon securely over the top of the bottle and watch the balloon
blow up all by itself!
NOTE:
You can swirl the liquid in the bottle to help the two chemicals react once the balloon is
fastened to the top.
Seer’s Milk (used in divination to see the future)
Materials:
Unicorn milk (milk)
Rainbow Rock extract (food coloring)
Aged Bloodstone Liquid (dish soap)
Shallow pan (like a pie pan)
Directions:
1. Pour Unicorn milk in a pie pan, and allow the milk to warm to room temperature.
2. Place a few drops of different colored Rainbow Rock extract into the pan of milk.
3. Next, place a few drops of aged Bloodstone liquid into the pan of milk.
4. Watch what happens.
Dragon Snot (when fed to a hippogriff, it will be under your complete control)
Ingredients:
1 cup Leech Juice (glue)
Rainbow Rock extract (optional: coloring can stain!) (food coloring)
1 cup Dragon Bile (liquid starch)
Directions:
Pour leech juice and coloring in plastic container.
Stir until color is thoroughly mixed in.
Add dragon bile a little at a time, stirring with a spoon or kneading with your fingers as
mixture thickens.
Keep stirring until mixture holds together like putty.
Test with your fingers: if too sticky, add more starch in small amounts until mass is
smooth and rubbery.
Our favorite one by far was the Exploding Soap.
Exploding Soap
Some Magical messes can only be removed from the skin with exploded soap. Transform an ordinary bar of Muggle Soap into a cloud-like cake of Charmed Cleansing Castile.
Ingredients
- Bar of Ivory Soap (Muggle Soap)
- Microwave Safe Plate
Instructions
-Place Muggle soap on a plate
-Heat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes
-Watch as it bubbles and grows into a cloud-like shape over 6 times its original size
Burning Basilisk Skin
Use caution! Basilisks are one of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world. Their venom is very potent, one of only three things capable of destroying an evil horcrux.
The skin shed by the basilisk is a powerful ingredient in many potions. Since it is quite unstable, the skins are transformed into a powdered form.
We must burn the basilisk skin powder to make the snake skin reappear by following the process below.
Ingredients for This Potion
•Powdered sugar (Powdered Basilisk Skin)
•Baking soda (Horn of Bicorn)
•Rubbing alcohol (Dragon Drool)
•Heat-resistant bowl or pan (We used a Pyrex mixing bowl.)
•Matches
Instructions
In your plastic cup (Small Cauldron), mix:
•4 teaspoons Basilisk Powder
•1 teaspoon Horn of Bicorn
Set the powdered mixture aside.
In your large Pyrex or metal bowl/pan (Fireproof Cauldron): Flip the cauldron (cup) full of powdered mixture over in the bottom of your heat-resistant mixing bowl or pan. It’s like making a sand castle. Leave the cup in place.
Add Dragon Drool (alcohol or fuel) to bowl. Stop when the bottom of the bowl is covered. The more you add, the longer you’ll have to wait for your fire to burn out.
Lift the cup away carefully. You want to keep the powder dry, so try not to let it spread out into the fuel.
Have an adult ignite the fuel using a match and stand back. We just dropped the match in and let it burn along with the alcohol.
Never add more fuel to the burning snake. You risk igniting the alcohol stream. This potion will probably burn longer than you expect. Ours kept going for several minutes. Keep careful
watch on it!
At first, you’ll see a flame and some small black balls.
When the mixture starts reacting to the heat, you can watch little carbon snakes start to extrude.
Ask: What does it smell like?, What does it feel like?
Our last potion of the day was a yummy one and one we saved for after dinner.
Goblin Guts (gives the drinker a boost of strength)
Materials:
Moonstone Juice
Mandrake Juice
Simply mix Moonstone Juice and Mandrake Juice together. Use dry ice for potions
effect.
We are loving the flowers!
 |
| Flowers Day 3 |
DAY 4
Today is kind of a crazy day! We have TaeKwonDo, Piano lessons and tutoring. We are also going to the Columbus Metropolitan Library-Hilliard Branch for a Harry Potter-Potions 101 event. Hopefully it will be fun!
The flowers are really getting color!
 |
| Flowers Day 4 |
DAY 5
We are taking the flowers to Grandpa Pietrzak today. Hopefully they will cheer him up and add a little color to his room at Darby Glenn Rehab Facility.
Next week...History of Magic!
SaveSave
