The art of becoming invisible has been, for many years, an unachievable dream for scientists everywhere. It wasn’t a dream of mine, as invisibility isn’t really one of the goals I’m going for.

Yes, I accidentally made half a bucket invisible – and half of the bathroom with it a while back – but only because I wanted to create a new glass cleaner… not to be the first to create invisibility or anything.

I’ve discovered along the way that maybe the scientific way isn’t my way. But, I’ve always kept trying…

In the past, I’ve attempted to create a slimming potion that caused hair to grow out of my teeth – now that was an experience! I’ve also tried to come up with a hair removal potion for unwanted hairs, that had the unwanted effect of causing hair to grow from all manner of places… and not the places you’d expect (and this wasn’t linked to the hairy teeth incident!)! I attempted to create a new colour, but that idea was thwarted by not having the correct equipment – even this Mansion is limited at times. And I once had a go at creating a bubble bath which had the unfortunate side-effect of setting like a rock on contact with the water – with me in it!

Like I say – science and I have a kind of rocky relationship.

Today, I had a go at creating a spot removal cream, as I have a rather large spot on my nose that needed taking care of. I didn’t have any water-based thickening agent left, so substituted it with toothpaste and added a tiny dash of prune juice. Well, science is mostly trial and error, is it not? Well, it is around here anyway!

So, I created this potion – sorry, spot removal cream – and smeared it all over the huge, red, bulbous spot that was on the end of my nose. I’m sure it must have been visible from space (although I may be exaggerating slightly here!).

Well, I watched my reflection in the mirror in the bath lab with great anticipation. I winced as I saw the smoke start to rise from the spot, which had suddenly taken on the appearance of an erupting volcano. Luckily, there was no horrid burning smell, as I all could smell was the minty freshness of the toothpaste element of the concoction.

Just as I noticed the smoke had started to clear, I noticed the spot start to vanish… and with it part of the end of my nose.

I quickly filled the sink with water, and washed my face, to remove the remainder of the potion – after all, it was only the spot I wanted removing, and not the nose itself.

And that is where I am now. The potion reacted to the water, which had caused it to become an accelerant. I now have an invisible nose, two invisible hands, part of an invisible ear, half an invisible neck, and an invisible right shoulder.

The sink is also invisible, and there are tiny patches if invisibility all around where I’d splashed the water.

Luckily, I’d only made enough potion for the spot, and as always, I can’t remember the exact ingredients I used. Like I say, trial and error.

Equally luckily, the invisibility this time is temporary – not like the time with the bucket which I now believe to be permanently invisible toward the top. How do I know it’s temporary? Well, at the moment I have an unattached spot hovering just in front of my noseless face – which wasn’t there half an hour ago. And my fingertips have reappeared, enabling me to type this – although it looks quite odd typing with only the tips of my fingers moving – there, actually!.

Still, I’m getting there.  Goodness knows what I’ll come up with next time in the laboratory… or elsewhere – for that matter!