What exactly are the materials for magical item creation?

[Jon_Dahl]

In the next session, my players are going to visit a merchant who sells materials which you can use to create magical items. For instance, they can buy materials worth 1,125 gp to create a wand of magic missile (1st). They can also buy materials needed for creating psionic items.

But the question is... What are the materials? How should I describe them?

[Chronos]

In origin, they're mostly parts of various monsters, with rare plants and herbs mixed in, and a smattering of various precious minerals.

By appearance, though, they're mostly dry powders, plus some oily liquids, and the occasional whole dried mushroom or internal organ.

The materials also include the various objects that themselves become the magic item. For instance, for wands you have a bunch of sticks made from a variety of metals, bone, and exotic woods.

[Thurbane]

If you can get access to older edition material, especially the 2E Book of Artifacts, there is some great fluff and material ideas on creating magic items (many of which are still relevant in 3.X).

[Fouredged Sword]

As a DM, I also like to throw in gems. Nothing like powdered ruby to include as a material in a flaming enchantment.

[Starmage21]

I take The Dresden Files approach. The materials are different for each enchanter, but what matters from a game perspective is the value of those materials.

So the materials could be anything that the enchanter thinks would help him make a long-lasting enchantment stick to the item being created.