Decades before the master assembled anything, they needed to slay the giant - over three hundred years old - in a fierce fight that exhausted several men and ground down their axes. After a long struggle, he fell with a crash that made the whole mountain shake in sadness. On chains, they dragged his body over the rocky ground, the horses straining, the men whipping them to more power. After they skinned him, they started to cut his flesh into pieces, two men carrying the chunks to the carriages. Thus they gathered the first ingredient.
A year before the master assembled anything, they needed to dig into the earth, deep tunnels in the heat. Within the body of the mountain, they looked for the thin shiny veins, broke them from the planet and carried them to the surface. The alchemist treated the rocks with mercury for a day, with lead for a week and with cyanide for a month, until he could produce the material. In the heat of the focused moonlight, he formed a tender string. Thus he made the second ingredient.
A week before the master assembled anything, they needed to kill a majestic beast, one held in captivity for a long time. It was restless, longing for release, so they took under the open sky and just as it started again to hope, they cut its throat. It collapsed in a river of blood. They took it apart, the skin, the muscles, the organs, still warm from the dream of freedom. Special attention was given to the bones of the beast, which were taken to the mill and made into a fine powder, which was then cooked for a full night. They also carefully collected the longest and strongest hairs, which they put into long, narrow boxes for safekeeping. Thus they made the third and fourth ingedients.
A day before the master assembled anything, a guardian looked after his children, crawling in vast colonies on the green leaves and branches. He took their gifts and broke them, heating them until they formed a red liquid. He also obtained a second liquid, clear and pugent, from a family of frost giants. The red and the clear liquid were packaged into separate bottles and only the master will be allowed to open them. Thus, he made the fifth and final ingredient.
When the master assembles all, he works for a day and a night without a pause, his long and slender hands finding the right and necessary steps. Once he is done, he collapses in exhaustion, admiring his creation. It will live in infamy for the next centuries, wanted by collectors and experts, drawing audiences to watch the best of the best handle it.
He knows of the sacrifices of the gathering the five ingredients and thanks the universe for providing them while he silently weeps for the loss. But he also knows it was worth it, because his creation is going to spread pure magic. No matter if sadness or joy, madness or lust, everyone in contact with the object's magic would feel better and happier afterwards.
As his last act, he writes a small sticker and attaches it to his work. It says: Made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona.