Essences are crafting ingredients in Ars Nouveau that go into glyphs, enchantments, Threads and a lot of the mod’s gear. There are seven of them, one for each school of magic, which are Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Abjuration, Conjuration and Manipulation.
Every Essence is made the same way, by turning a 
Source Gem into it inside an 
Imbuement Chamber, with three items on Arcane Pedestals next to it. The items you’ll need are different for each one, and the pedestals don’t get used up, so once a chamber is set up it keeps making the same Essence for as long as you feed it Source Gems.
How to Make Essences
Put a Source Gem in the Imbuement Chamber and place the three items for the Essence you want on 
Arcane Pedestals within 1 block of it. Each Essence costs 2,000 Source, which the chamber takes from a 
Source Jar nearby, and it’ll make its own Source very slowly if there isn’t a jar.
| Essence | Pedestal items |
|---|---|
 Air Essence |  Feather,  Wilden Wing and any  Arrow |
 Water Essence |  Water Bucket,  Snow Block and  Kelp |
 Earth Essence |  Iron Ingot, any seeds and  Dirt |
 Fire Essence |  Flint and Steel,  Torch and  Gunpowder |
 Abjuration Essence |  Fermented Spider Eye,  Sugar and  Milk Bucket |
 Conjuration Essence |  Wilden Horn,  Starbuncle Token and  Book |
 Manipulation Essence |  Stone Button,  Redstone Dust and  Clock |
The Wilden Wing and Wilden Horn come from Wilden, which is why Air and Conjuration Essence usually come a bit later than the others. It’s worth building one Imbuement Chamber for each Essence you use a lot, since swapping the pedestal items back and forth gets tiring quickly.
Air Essence
Air Essence is used for the Air glyphs, like 
Leap, 
Launch, 
Slowfall, 
Glide and 
Lightning. It also goes into the 
Belt of Levitation, the Gliding, Heights and High Step Threads, and all three Augment Arrows.
For enchantments, it’s needed for Feather Falling, Power, Punch and Knockback, and for Infinity, which takes seven Air Essence in one go. That makes it one of the Essences you’ll want quite a lot of, especially if you’re using a bow.
Water Essence
Water Essence makes the Water glyphs, which are 
Freeze, 
Cold Snap and 
Conjure Water, and it’s needed for the Chilling and Depths Threads. Its enchantments are Respiration and Depth Strider, and Respiration III takes six of them.
It also has a couple of handy crafting recipes. Crafting a Water Essence with a 
Bucket gives you a Water Bucket, and crafting one with a 
Lava Bucket turns it into 
Obsidian, which is an easy way of getting Obsidian without a water source nearby.
Earth Essence
Earth Essence is used for the Earth glyphs, including 
Harm, 
Grow, 
Harvest, 
Fell, 
Crush and 
Snare. It’s also needed for the farming ritual tablets like Harvest, Overgrowth and Forestation, and for the Drygmy and Whirlisprig Threads.
The main reason to make a lot of it is for Fortune and Looting, as both of them take Earth Essence at every level, going up to three for level III. So if you’re enchanting pickaxes and swords in the 
Enchanting Apparatus, you’ll go through it fairly quickly.
Fire Essence
Fire Essence makes the Fire glyphs, which are 
Explosion, 
Flare, 
Smelt and 
Firework, along with the Kindling and Immolation Threads. For enchantments, it’s used for Fire Aspect, Flame and Fire Protection, and it goes into every level of Fire Protection up to V.
Crafting a Fire Essence with Gunpowder and 
Coal makes three 
Fire Charges, and surrounding one with eight 
Stone makes eight 
Magma Blocks. Fire Essence is also a great fuel for the 
Volcanic Sourcelink, which gives back the full 2,000 Source it cost to make.
Abjuration Essence
Abjuration Essence covers the protective glyphs, like 
Heal, 
Dispel, 
Invisibility, 
Hex and 
Wither. It’s also used for the 
Potion Flask, the 
Potion Melder, and the Life Drain, Undying and Wixie Threads, so you’ll end up needing it for a lot of the mid game upgrades.
It’s the Essence most enchantments need, as Protection, Fire Protection, Projectile Protection, Unbreaking, Quick Charge and Mana Regen all use it. A single Amplify upgrade for a Potion Flask also takes eight of them, so it’s worth having a chamber making Abjuration Essence full time.
Conjuration Essence
Conjuration Essence is used for the summoning glyphs, which are 
Summon Wolves, 
Summon Vex, 
Summon Undead, 
Summon Decoy, 
Fangs and 
Animate Block. It’s also needed for the 
Planarium and the Decor Blossom.
Surrounding a Conjuration Essence with eight Stone makes eight 
End Stone, and doing the same with 
Sand makes eight 
Soul Sand. That’s handy if you only need a little of either for building, as it saves a trip to the End or the Nether.
Manipulation Essence
Manipulation Essence is used for more glyphs than any other Essence, including 
Blink, 
Exchange, 
Place Block, 
Delay, 
Rune and the area glyphs 
Burst, 
Linger and 
Wall. It also goes into the 
Enchanter’s Bow, the 
Enchanter’s Wand, the 
Runic Chalk and the 
Tablet of Containment.
It’s also used to swap blocks around. Crafting one with an Archwood Sapling changes the sapling’s color, and surrounding it with eight blocks turns them into a different block, with 
Granite making 
Andesite, Andesite making 
Diorite and Diorite making Granite again. The same works for Tuff, Calcite and Deepslate, and for Grass Blocks, Mycelium and Moss Blocks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Put a Source Gem in the Imbuement Chamber with a Stone Button, Redstone Dust and a Clock on the Arcane Pedestals around it. It costs 2,000 Source.
Place an Iron Ingot, any seeds and Dirt on the Arcane Pedestals next to an Imbuement Chamber, then put a Source Gem inside it.
It needs a Feather, a Wilden Wing and any Arrow on the pedestals, with a Source Gem in the Imbuement Chamber. Wilden Wings drop from Wilden Stalkers.
No, only the Source Gem in the Imbuement Chamber turns into the Essence. The items on the Arcane Pedestals stay there, so you can keep making the same Essence.
