The challenge was issued: witches need a way to exercise while working that is also biodegradable. While first looking at these cards, I initially thought that my work would be easy. Unsurprisingly, I was wrong. Everything is always harder than it appears.

You can see the five ideas that I came up with above. The first idea was stationary bike whose chain caused a conveyor belt to turn compost. After all, compost is important for maintaining a garden full of potion ingredients.

My second idea was an animated (by magic, of course) dummy made of hemp that periodically would crash through the door yelling, “Burn the witch!” The purpose of this doll, naturally, was to keep train the witch in avoiding the angry mobs of peasants who would occasionally come around trying to capture her and burn her. In addition to keeping her in shape, the doll would also force the witch to memorize her escape routes. After training, the doll also functions as a scarecrow.

My third idea was a set of cardboard bellows that would be used to keep the fire under the cauldron roaring. The bellows would be half above ground and half built into the floor. On the top handle would be a gyroscopically stabilized platform upon which the witch could jump. When she landed on the platform, the bellows would compress, stoking the fire. She could then hop off before jumping again, completing as many reps as desired.

The fourth idea was for a rowing machine that charged up a broomstick with magical energy. In much the same way that you can induce a current in a wire by a changing magnetic field, so too can you create magical energy though induction. As the witch rows, the changing magical field induces a magical current into the magical wire. This induction provides resistance as any layperson knows that magical induction generates a force that resists the change in the magical field. Her broom, which also has a handy-dandy energy indicator to let you know when it’s fully charged, could then be used for all sorts of witch’s work. The broom, being made of wood, is also biodegradable.

My final idea was a standard walking desk with a treadmill made out of hemp. I chose this idea because I found the mental image of a witch working a standard 9 – 5 job funny.

I found it hard to come up with ideas that were both for witches and biodegradable. The results of this can be best seen in my fifth idea (walking desk with hemp treadmill), but it can also be seen in my other ideas as well. I found it easy to come up with ways for witches to exercise at work or ways to exercise at work that were biodegradable, but combining the two was difficult.

The idea that I decided to run with was the inductive rowing machine. Although I initially wanted to draw it in 3 point perspective, I found doing so to be too difficult. Curved shapes are hard to draw in perspective. So, I ended up drawing a side view as well as a top down view. I know it’s boring, but I think it gets the message across effectively.