Grow your own slime mold

You will need:

• Sclerotium, this is the dried 'sleeping' slime mold from the business card. You can store this sclerotium for 1+ year when it's properly kept in a dry and dark environment.
• Petri dish or a small container with a lid
• 2 grams of agar
• 50 mL water
• Saucepan
• Food for you slime mold. Oats are recommended for beginners.

Steps:

1. Mix the water and agar in the sauce pan. Put it on the stove and bring it to a boil. Leave it boil for about half a minute. Keep stirring.
2. Pour the agar mixture in the petri dish and put on the lid. Wait until it cooled down to room temperature.
3. Your agar should now have solidified. Put the sclerotium face-up on the agar, in the center of the petri dish. Leave it in a shaded place for about a day.
4. Your slime mold should now be awake! If there is condensation on the lid of your petri dish, remove it with a (paper) towel and some disinfectant. It is now time to feed the slime mold. Place 1-3 oats at the edges of the slime mold. Don't put too much food in the petri dish when the slime mold is not fully developped, as this will give opportunity for other molds to come onto your petri dish.
5. Try to give some fresh air to your slime mold about twice a day. You can do this by lifting the lid for a few seconds.
6. Feed your slime mold once a day. Place a few oats at the edges of the slime mold. During the first few days, place the oats only at the edges of the slime mold, not on top of it. When the slime mold has fully occupied the petri dish, it is okay to place some oats on top, it is now strong enough.
7. You should now have a thriving slime mold! If you want to store some slime mold for later, you can turn it back into a sclerotium.

Sclerotium steps:
8. Take a wet sheet of coffee filter paper and place it at the bottom of a container. Place the slime mold next to it in a way that it touches the coffee filter. Put the lid on the container and leave it for a day (or maybe a bit longer if needed). For lack of space, the slime mold should now migrate onto the wet coffee filter.
9. Remove the agar from the container, only leave the coffee filter with the slime mold on it. Store the container without the lid, or with the lid half-open. Make sure that the coffee filter can dry up, but be careful for any contamination. Leave the container to dry for a few days, this time may differ depending on the room temperature and humidity conditions.
10. Your slime mold should now have dried up in an orange blob on the coffee filter paper. When done properly, you should be able to store this for at least a year.