Clothcraft GuideFollow

Note:

I originally wrote this over a month ago, when i was lvl 38 clothcraft. I am now lvl 56, and there's a lot more that I have learned. Since I am too lazy to run through and edit ALL of this, there may still be some stuff I wasn't sure on or mistakes etc., and many references to my experiences at lvl 38. Additionally, most of the prices here refer to a time over a month ago... the economy changes, and for the crafter, unfortunately most of it is for the worst. What I may claim to be a decent profit then may no longer be viable. For example, i know that Shinobi-Tabi prices have dropped, and bird feather prices have risen. I apologize for this in advance, and have spent some time editing it, but it is not perfect. However, it certainly is functional, and I have focused most of my editing attention on the leveling walkthrough, so that should be okay. Anyway, enjoy!
(3/15/04)


Well theres been a lot of complaints, and i've noticed it myself for a while now, but there simply are not many useful sources of information for many of the crafts. I have managed to get myself to lvl 38 clothcraft basically through recipe databases on this site and several others (not always reliable) and asking for snythesis material information from the guild. So i figured i'd do what i can to help any of you thinking about getting this craft to a decent level.

Foreword

First off, like any other craft in this game, you simply will not make significant profits starting off. Basic supply and demand tells you that, since if something profitable could be with minimal effort, everyone would make it and no one would buy it. That being said, starting around lvl 12 or 13, you will find ways to make some, by no means incredible sums, but you can make some steady, if small profits. That being said, unless you have a ton of initial capital to invest, you won't be gaining 20 levels in a day. I started clothcraft at least a month ago, and am only now lvl 38 in it. Don't be discouraged however, since most of that time i was flat broke from buying spells ^_^ At lvl 38, i can think of at least 5-10 recipes i can use that will net me a decent profit. I am not by any stretch of the imagination claiming to pull in 6 figures in pure profits in a day, probably not even a week (i'll get into reasons why later). That being said, i can still see times in the future where possibly i could. Make no mistake about it, as your skill increases, your potential for profit will as well.

Now, before we get started, you probably want to bookmark the following site, taken from another post:

http://atarukun.plala.jp/ff11/moogle/

and translate using:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr

If you can't understand a translation there, check the recipe with allakhazam to see what it is. I reccomend this site because it provides a level range of when you can synth things for skill gains and when you cannot. If you don't like the recipes I suggest here, use that website to search for alternatives.

Clothcraft Basics

I'll start real simple. At any level, the main area of clothcraft follows a simple structure:

2 raw materials + lightning crystal -> 1 thread
3 threads + earth crystal -> 1 cloth
threads + cloths + other stuff -> equipment

Weaving basically follows this structure in grass, cotton, linen, wool, silk, and rainbow, with a few other odd ones (velvet, silver, gold)

Theres also many many ways to break down beastmen items into threads, generally:

lightning crystal + beastmen equip -> several threads

of course an exception is yagudo necklaces. I'll discuss breaking beastmen equipment down and the efficiency of it a bit more later.

Another fun recurring synth is the fletchings. Required for making arrows, but generally extremely cheap, these things can be a minimal loss and quick gain for skill levels. Their general synth pattern is:

Wind crystal + 2 Feathers/Wings -> 6 bags of XXX Fletchings

Yagudo, bird, and insect wings are nice ways to increase your skill level for a minimal gil loss.

Leveling your skill in clothcraft will, in most cases, be when you are synthing a building block for something else. What i mean by that is you will gain most of your skill levels making threads or cloths or fletchings, not robes and tunics and gloves. Logic will tell you this, since you are a person, not a factory o_+

Ok enough of that, on to the juicy part =]

Level 0-4

Well it's nice and simple here. Yagudo Necklaces are probably the most popular way to go here.

Wind Crystal + Yagudo Necklace = 3 Grass Threads

used in conjunction with:

Earth Crystal + 3 Grass Threads = 1 Grass Cloth

I believe this will get you to level 4. Theres many many ways to get your hands on necklaces, but perhaps the easiest way (although impossible for most of you reading this probably) would be to simply use materials dropped from fighting yagudos if you are from Windurst. Yagudos will drop both necklaces and wind crystals, so you really don't need to buy anything. If this is not really an option, you can farm them in Giddeus, or buy them from the AH (price can greatly vary, from maybe 100 - 250) Alternatively, this isn't a bad way to go either:

Lightning Crystal + 2 Moko Grass = 1 Grass Thread

Obviously not nearly as product efficient, but will get the job done. I'd suggest doing this only if you harvest a lot. The advantaging to harvesting is that you will obtain many higher level raw materials that you would otherwise have to buy. The downside is less product during this level.

Well now the big question becomes, what do i do with all these threads/cloths? Theres many options here, and i will discuss some of the more obvious ones.

Profit. Believe it or not, you can actually make a profit off of this. Although i'm not sure of the price anymore, grass cloths were at one point 3k a stack, which may be a decent profit, especially if you produced the materials yourself. That being said, doing this is very myopic, as i will discuss later.

Make cool equipment! Well... unfortunately there is little of value you can make. I do not recommend this unless you need the item for yourself. Items you can make include capes, brais, gaiters, and headgear. its unlikely any of these will make you a profit if sold, so i wouldn't suggest this unless you need them.

So what do I suggest? Well if you really plan on keeping at clothcraft... keep them. Stockpile your grass cloths, because they will come in handy later. Obviously this won't make you a profit, but as i said, this is an investment, and you cannot expect tons of profit early on. Anyway, you will see what i mean about keeping your grass cloth stacks in the next section.

Level 5-11

Well this is where the harsh reality of this craft sets in. Theres no easy way to get a good amount of threads for the type you need to synth. Yagudo Necklaces are no more... now you must use the Lightning crystal + 2 raw material -> 1 thread synths. Around this level you can start doing some cotton. To substitute in what you would use:

Lightning crystal + 2 Saruta Cotton -> 1 Cotton Thread

No problem right? Wrong. Saruta Cotton stacks generally go for 4k at the AH. Keep in mind that a stack of cotton, with no failures, nets you 6 threads, or 2 cloths. Essentially the equivalent of 2 yagudo necklaces in terms of productivity. Ouch. Now you have some ways around this. First off, if you happen to be in the Windurst area, you can manage to get your hands on the cotton by fighting mandragora type enemies (only Pygmaioi in Tahrongi will drop it, others must be stolen with a THF) or by harvesting in W Saruta or Giddeus.

The other way to get this is to buy it from the guild. Solution to all your problems? Not hardly. First of all, because it is sold so cheap in the guild (i never bought it there but i believe it is somewhere around 60 - 80), some knuckleheads find it fun and profitable to camp the guild, buy the cotton, then sell it at the AH for 4k a stack. Which means, in all likelihood, you will have to camp the guild to get your hands on it. (sad, eh?) Unfortunately, that is not gonna solve all your problems either, since i am told that the maximum it sells in any day is 4. So you would have to camp successfully for 3 hours, just to get a stack.

Without question (in my mind) this is the hardest levels to get past (up to 38, where i am currently... although in retrospect, it was probably becuase i was lvl 15 at the time and very poor). Unless I completely missed something, there really is no way to level 5-12 without either putting in a lot money or time. Cotton Gloves seemed like a profitable alternative with some initial investment, however a slow moving market and chance for failure probably make it at best, breaking even.

So i'll tell you how i got through these levels. I got to level 4 pretty easily... but i was still a low level and had little money to invest. Seeing no options, i took a break from clothcraft for a bit. I came back aruond lvl 20 or 25 (whm, not clothcraft silly!) with some, not gargantuan sums, but some money to spend. Weighing the options, I choose to take the hit and buy some cotton to get to level 6. Seeing no chance for profit, at this point i looked to minimize losses. Cotton won't take you to lvl 11, so i switched to Hachimakis around this level. This is where your grass stacks you saved come in handy. When i was this level, grass cloth stacks were 3k, but they are probably a bit cheaper now (though thread stacks were at 1k when i was doing Shinobi-Tabis). Hachimakis should take you to 11. The recipe is:

Wind Crystal + 2 Grass Cloths -> Hachimaki

Hachimakis do not sell very often at the AH, so i suggest dumping them to some NPC (i believe its only around 120 gil or so, so some loss). Again, i'm quite aware of the loss of gil here, but remember you are capable of farming for necklaces, you do not have to buy them. Even at 3k for a cloth stack + 1.5k for wind crystals, you are losing maybe 500 gil per synth. Yeah, its painful. But you can minimize costs by providing your own crystals or cloths. Theres really not much else i can say... if anyone has a better alternative i'd love to hear it.

Level 12-22

So you made it! And now, you are rewarded. Thanks to low guild prices and availability, Flax Flowers (used to make linens) are considerably cheaper than Saruta Cotton... even though linens are more valuable! Start with linen threads at lvl 11, then linen cloths later, maybe around 13 or 14. Last time i checked, Flax Flower stacks were going for 3k a pop. To put this in perspective, 1 stack = 2 cloths. 1 cloth sells for a little under 3k each (Ahh yes, the gobbie bag quest). Thats almost 2.4k in profit per stack by just selling cloths! (including crystal costs) Now may be a good time to try to make up for any gil loss you had previously. For reference, these are the main recipes you should be using:

Lightning Crystal + 2 Flax Flowers = 1 Linen Thread
Earth Crystal + 3 Linen Threads = 1 Linen Cloth

Just a note, cloths are a higher skill check than threads, so you may not want to try any cloth synths until you level up a bit on threads. In other words, stockpile threads until you feel you are ready for cloths, then start with cloths.

Sell threads/cloths or make stuff with them to your heart's desire... but eventually you will max on them around the upper teens... or perhaps you will notice your cloths/threads don't sell as fast as you craft them (sell in stacks, if you have the money for the initial investment). In either case, don't worry! Cuz theres still a nice way to increase your skill:

Wind Crystal + 2 Yagudo Feathers = 6 Bags of Yagudo Fletchings

Some quick math (prices subject to change, of course)

1.5k (Wind crystal stack) + 500 (2 yagudo feather stacks) = 2k

2k / 12 = 167 gil per synth. Note that you can sell them for about 200 or 300 per stack (of fletchings) but you will probably have way too many to sell, and you will end up selling to NPC for i believe 2 or 3 each, reducing the cost to about 150 per synth. It may or may not sound like a lot... If you are in the prime for this synth, you can lvl up for 1k gil... a skill level up for just 1k.... thats good =]

Level 23-28

This is another area where there really isn't a synth you can do that will level you up while making profit, or have bare minimal gil loss (actually, somewhat of a lie... will explain a bit later) The route i took here was Fly Lures, which are as follows:

Earth Crystal + Bat Fang + Animal Glue + Chocobo Feather = Fly Lure

HOWEVER!!! note that this requires bonecrafting as well. Don't be scared though, I had no boneworking at this time either. The amount it requires is minimal... lvl 4 or 5 should be enough, and doing this enough will eventually get your boneworking to lvl 8. If you are interested in boneworking, this is great because you either already have the requires skills, or this will help get them up. Plus, doing a synth with a secondary skill will increase two craft skills at a time... so i really see no real problem with this synth. Fly Lures can be sold for about 300 gil at the AH, or used if you happen to fish and are in the teens, roughly, in east ronfaure river i believe. The approximate synth cost is about 550 or so, but i'll show you how you can make a profit during this period...

Fishing gear!!! First, however, a warning. With any synth that will net you a nice profit, it can also net you a huge loss, if you fail. Before you go try to synth 50 fishing tunicas, please realize they don't sell real fast, and if you fail, you will be crying. I personally am guilty of trying this too early, and losing a lot of money this way. That being said, The material cost for Fishing Tunica is about 5 - 5.5k (using Flax Flower stacks for the linens) and sell for about 8k. This synth will net you 2.5 - 3k each, so this is really your first nice moneymaker. The synth is as follows:

Earth Crystal + Linen Cloth + Linen Thread + 3 Cotton Cloths + Sheep Leather = Fisherman's Tunica

I would not try this until mid to upper 20s, although i am guilty of attempting this synth at lvl 22 or 24, and actually succeeded a few times (don't be encouraged, though)

You can also making Fisherman's Hose, which will cost you about the same (probably a bit less) for about the same profit. Everything i said about the tunica applies to the Hose as well, the synth is:

Earth Crystal + 2 Linen Cloths + Cotton Cloth + Cotton Thread = Fisherman's Hose

Alternatively, if you have some smithing skill (i suggest 10 or 11 minimum!) you can try kaginawa (ninja tool for Hojo). Recipe is:

Earth Crystal + Bronze Ingot + Grass Thread + Manticore Hair = 33 Kaginawa

Manticore hairs are available almost exclusively in jeuno, and supplies are usually limited, so it is unlikely that you will be able to max on this synth in one session. However, these were going for around 8k a stack, so this would actually get you some profit (5-6k for 3 synths by my calculations, prices may vary by server). Of course probably the biggest problem is most people will not have the smithing and probably dont want to spend time getting it to this level.

Level 29-38

This period will have you using what I thought was probably the best recipe i've used so far. Not only can you get skill increases while doing it, but also making a very nice profit. I cannot honestly say when i exactly started this synth, so check with your guild dude and when he gives you this recipe, fire away:

Earth Crystal + Grass Thread + 2 Cotton Cloths + Saruta Cotton = 33 Shinobi-Tabi

Some more quick math:

1k (1 grass thread stack at AH (cheaper to get yourself from yagudo necklaces...)) + 16k (2 cotton cloth stacks (many many cheaper ways to get these... but i won't go into them)) + 4k (saruta cotton stack... discussed before) + 300 (earth crystal) = 21.3k

Thats 12 synths, which means 4 stacks of 99. These bad boys were going for 7.5 - 8k a stack in jeuno... although unfortunately the price may have been driven down some. Still, that was minimum 9k profit, or 750 gil profit per synth. Finding ways to decrease cost isn't too difficult, which would then increase profits further.

Unfortunately, Shinobi-Tabi won't take you too far into the 30s. Around this time you can start looking into wool. I found that wool probably won't make you a profit.... but it should keep you breaking even. Sheep Wool goes for around 8k a stack (Try Sandoria for cheaper prices), while a Wool cloth went for 5k, giving you a small profit with no fails. Synths are as follows:

Lightning Crystal + 2 Sheep Wool = 1 Wool Thread
Earth Crystal + 3 Wool Threads = 1 Wool Cloth

Aruond 32 or 33, your guild master should offer you a recipe for bird fletchings. When this happens, you can level up your synth for minimal loss doing this. Bird feather stacks can be found cheap in Windurst, since Carrion Crows are a low lvl mob there. The synth is as follows:

Wind Crystal + 2 Bird Feathers = 6 Bags of Bird Fletchings

Again, losing some money, but worth it for the nice skill boost.

Level 38-42

While bird feathers supposively can take you to lvl 42, i found that levels up start getting slow around now, and i gave them up at lvl 40. If you chose to abandon bird feathers here too, you have a slight dilemma for leveling up a for a few levels.

Here are a few of the more enticing options:

Earth Crystal + Linen Cloth + Linen Thread + Sheep Leather + Wool Cloth = Chocobo Hose

A few problems with this... this synth can take you high into the 40s, so the synth failure rate at this level may be a bit high for its cost. I know i failed this once or twice and lost my wool cloth once. Also, while you could probably get the materials as cheap as 6 - 7k, they do not sell very often. If you make 4 or 5, don't expect to have all of them sold for maybe 2 weeks (they do go for about 10k however)

Earth Crystal + 8 Grass Threads = Hemp Gorget

Cheapest crystal and very easy threads to obtain. Unfortunately, by this time it will hardly be faster in skill ups than bird feathers (though it should be a little faster). Also they sell in the ah about once a month. So you will end up selling them to the NPC for some loss.

The synths that will level you fast here require a bit of goldsmithing. At this time i put some money into goldsmithing, about 11 skill seemed sufficient. I won't go into how to level up your goldsmithing since it isn't too difficult.

Once you get enough goldsmithing you can try these synths:

Earth Crystal + Silver Ingot + 2 Insect Wings = Wing Earring

Nice although a little slow in level ups (slightly faster than hemp gorgets i'd say) and will lose you some money unless you get a HQ yield or you have enough goldsmithing to make silver ingots from ore. Also i think this requires a bit more goldsmithing than 11, since i tried making some for a friend and failed once 10 clothcraft levels later (only 12 goldsmithing)

Earth Crystal + Silver Ingot + Silk Thread = 2 Silver Threads

Around this level, this is probably the ideal synth. It should level you up sufficiently fast. However, even with no fails, this is looking at around a 10 - 12k loss for 2 stacks (12 synths), maybe a bit less if you can make your own silver ignots from ores. But if you have some money to invest, this really is pretty much the fastest way through. You only need to get to level 42 or so for now. (they sell for 10k a stack at ah, but slowly)

Level 43-50

Once you hit level 42, the guild master will start giving you another fletching recipe.

Wind Crystal + 2 Insect Wings = 6 Insect Fletchings

Very nice! Insect Wing stacks are very cheap, i got mine at around 400 - 500 per stack. What makes this even better is that insect fletchings actually have some value! They sell for 2k a stack (!) at Jeuno ah, although i have never sold them there because of sold items limit (i sell them on my mule in sandoria for 700-800 each) although there is the 500 gil surcharge. Still, going by Jeuno profit, thats around 2.5k profit per stack with no fails! Of course don't get too excited since you will fail a lot at first. This hits its prime around level 45 or 46, with mostly successful synths and many skill increases. Once i hit 50, i found it rare to get a level up from these.

Also, you may at some point want to synth Wool Bracers since they are your rank test. The recipe is as follows:

Earth Crystal + 2 Wool Cloths + 1 Wool Thread + 2 Saruta Cotton = Wool Bracers

Hard to find at any AH but Jeuno, and price was around 11 - 12k, which is about the cost to synth it. If you try it around 43 or 44, you can probably get a skill up while still having a high chance of success.

Level 51-53

I suggest taking insect fletching as far as you feel comfortable. I believe they max around 51 or 52 but skill gains will be minimal starting at 49 or 50. Afterwards, there are a couple of options, such as Field Hose or Black Mitts but I highly suggest maxing on Silk Cloths (Earth Crystal + 3 Silk Threads) which is lvl 53. While the skill gains may be slow towards the end, you will want these cloths later. I suggest resisting the temptetation of selling silk cloth stacks at the AH because they sell slowly and again, you will want them later.

Level 54-62(?)

This is where I am currently. Basically, I am following the path of Green Ribbons:

Wind Crystal + Silk Cloth = Green Ribbon

A few things to note- 1) you saved your silk cloth stacks, right? 2) Synthing silk cloths yourself costs about 2275 each, so you may think this is a big money pit right? wrong! These bad boys sell for a little over 2k to the NPC, so most of the money loss will be on failures. 3) Unfortunately, I found the skill gains to be very slow... From 53 to 55 was painfully slow, averaging maybe 0.4 or 0.5 skill gain per advanced imagery session (I did not save many silk cloth stacks, so i synthed silk cloths without imagery, then put it on and used up as many as i could before it wore off, sold to NPC, and repeated). However, it did start to improve a little at 56. This should max around 62, however I am not there yet so I am unsure of how slow the skill gains may be around 60 or so.

Desynthesis

An often overlooked art... Lightning Crystal + Almost any finished product will break that object down and give you some basic building blocks. This is commonly used with beastmen equipment... for example,

Lightning Crystal + Goblin Armor = 2 Cotton Threads

However, note that the chance for HQ1, HQ2, and HQ3 are much much higher for these, and you will probably get 4, 6, or even 8 cotton threads more often than 2.

For those more observant, you may notice that cotton thread stacks sell for 4-5k, while gob armor is a mere 500 gil. Before you go rush to flood the already flooded market with cotton threads, also note that breaking down items has a good chance of failing... at any level, really. Breaking goblin armor down will max you at skill lvl 9... at skill lvl 38, I still fail this synth about 50% of the time.

List of Beast-Made desynths:

Wind + Yagudo Necklace = 3 Grass Threads

Lightning + Goblin Armor = 2 Cotton Threads
Lightning + Antican Robe = 2 Cotton Threads
Wind + Antican Robe = 1 Cotton Cloth

Lightning + Tonberry Coat = 2 Linen Threads
Wind + Tonberry Coat = 1 Linen Cloth

Wind + Gigas Necklace = 2 Wool Threads

However, you can do this on many other items too. Just to get you thinking in the right direction without giving too much away, think of it like this:

What sells for very little, but is made of high quality materials? Or, what synth was i looking at before and wondering who the **** would make that and lose 5k?

Basically, theres plenty of cheap items that are made of cotton or linen or wool. Try breaking them down.

HQ Synths

Well theres plenty of posts in this forum about this now, and my understanding of this is as following (correct me if i'm wrong)

Moon Phase: New Moon
Day: Windsday (for Earth Crystals) or Darksday

Also, you must be a significantly higher level than the synth if you want a realistic chance of getting a HQ yield. Just to give you some idea, I'd say, completely unscientifically, maybe around 20 levels higher for 1 in 4 HQ yields (excluding desynths)

Tests

Every 10 levels, you must take a test to continue leveling up. You will be offered this test 2 levels prior to the skill cap (8, 18, 28, 38). Don't worry however--these tests are generally require making or buying a cheap item. They are as follows (up to 38)

Level 8 (break 10): Cape

Earth Crystal + 2 Grass Cloths + 1 Grass Thread = Cape
(or buy for 200 - 300 gil)

Level 18 (break 20): Cotton Cape

Earth Crystal + 2 Cotton Cloths + 1 Cotton Thread = Cotton Cape
(or buy for 500-600 gil)

Level 28 (break 30): Heko Obi
Earth Crystal + 2 Cotton Cloths + 1 Grass Thread = Heko Obi
(or buy for 600-700 gil)

Level 38 (break 40): Feather Collar
Earth Crystal + Wool Cloth + 7 Bird Feathers = Feather Collar
(price greatly varies, ~2000 gil outside Windurst, anywhere between 2000-4000 Windurst, but usually few or none avail)

Leve 48 (break 50): Wool Bracers
Earth Crystal + 2 Wool Cloths + 1 Wool Thread + 2 Saruta Cotton = Wool Bracers around 11-12k, found almost only in jeuno ah.

As you can see, the tests are all the sort of auxilary armor items (waist, back, neck) so they are generally cheap or easy to make, so no worries ^_^ ...until level 50 that is.

Well thats about it for now... hope this helps in some way. I realize its pretty long but you should be able to pick out whatever information you really want/need. any comments, questions, suggestions are welcome, enjoy =]

(2/10/04 added tests)

(2/25/04 updated through lvl 50)

(3/15/04) updated a lot, added through lvl 62)

Edited, Tue Feb 10 21:35:10 2004 by CometNet

Edited, Thu Feb 12 22:16:32 2004 by CometNet

Edited, Wed Feb 25 16:58:09 2004 by CometNet

Edited, Mon Mar 15 22:36:35 2004 by CometNet

Edited, Tue Mar 23 15:22:35 2004 by CometNet

*edit* n/m

Edited, Fri Feb 20 10:43:45 2004 by Lienna

breaking down goblin armor is definitely clothcraft.

i have been doing this for a while, and with only lvl 1 leathercraft, i get HQ yields far more than regular yields.

logically, it makes sense that this would be clothcraft, since cotton threads are by nature, a clothcraft item.

this site has a solid database; however it is not perfect. there are several synths that are in leathercraft that should be in clothcraft, and vice versa as well (fisherman's gloves, for example)

meh, guess ill go try it again and see.

Will try both goblin MAIL and goblin ARMOR.

I seem to have forgotten to mention...

yagudo feathers will max at skill level 22.

It will allow you to start synthing them at 12, but this is highly advised against; you will fail almost every synth.

As the previous poster suggested, maxing linens then switching is definitely a better option.

Also, for any interested, I am currently leveling on hemp gorgets (earth crystal + 8 grass threads) only because i come across plenty of yagudo necklaces while i am camping Hoo Mjuu. There are some enticing recipes that require a small amount of goldsmithing (Silver thread, Wing Earrings) that i want to try soon after i get my goldsmithing up. I am fairly certain you can attempt those synths once your goldsmithing is high enough to start silver ingots (rank 2, i believe) so that is not really a large investment required.

silk is rank 6 i believe, which would be aruond lvl 50. could be wrong, but its high; i cannot do it at 40.

in any case, 3 silk thread stacks are 30k, at 10k each, so the profit made by selling a stack of cloths for 30k is... non-existant?

so i can just synth things to level, break them down, synth again with gained materials to level some more? 0.o
does this work for anything in clothcraft? i had thought it just worked with beast-made items! ^^

and thank you for the guide comet, i cant wait to try it out^^

while in theory breaking down items that you synth for level, not profit, seems like a solid way to decrease loss, my experience has been that it doesn't usually work out.

the problem with breaking things down is that even 20 or 30 levels above the synth level, you still fail a good portion of the time. the example of goblin armor, which a high lvl weaver told me maxes at level 9 (no more skill increases), still fails for me about half the time at almost lvl 40. however, i think that some items are easier to break down than others; i experimented with breaking down fly lures when i was synthing them for level and succeeded a decent amount of the time. of course the problem was using a lightning crystal, losing 120 gil of potential profit from merchants, and getting in many cases a chocobo feather.

but since the poster claimed to have his/her first success at lvl 11, chances are its probably not worth it.

of course there could be something im doing wrong, but experiment with that at your own risk o_O

Wow, nicely written... good job ^^.

Actually they say Darksday is the worst day to craft unless you are using dark crystals.

Thanks for the info on clothcrafting, hit 5 the other day and it seems like every lvl gets slower and slower and costing me a fortune. So the only question I have is does clothcrafting become profitable as some of the other crafts?? Been reading about all the different crafting skills, can't decide if i want to keep at the clothcrafting or try my luck with a different skill. Maybe i'll just be one of those people just standing around fishing all day :P

I must be doing something wrong :P , I've probably dumped like 50k already in it, but i think i already figured out what i did wrong, I concentrated on making gear instead of stock piling my threads, heh oh well. So i can't decide on if i want to go to windurst to harvest my own Saruta Cotton, or pay the 4k a stack for it, I am currently in Bastok, so i can do the Bubbly Bernie steam clock quest some more (Already spend enough time doing it trying to get gil for my spells :P ) Any recemendations for a lvl 5 clothcrafter trying to make his way?

use hachimaki to level from 5 to 12 as discribed above, then choose to level it on iceday. Because wind crystal is weak to ice crystal. and dont try to synthesis at new moon, cause leveling skill is very bad at that time.
More information about time? check this --> http://www.pyogenes.com/ffxi/timer/v2.html

I just de-synthed some gloves
Here is what happened
I did it on watersday since lightning crystals are strong.
I used up 6 crystals and 4 gloves about 1400-1500 gil
I got back 6 grass threads and 2 sakura cotton about 1100 gil.
The cotton looked like it was a HQ desynth because the crystal made a different pattern then for the thread???
I am lvl 22 the gloves are lvl 0 to make.

They will sell in San d'Oria. Aside from the ~10 or so my ls purchased from me at cost, I sold the rest of the fletchings I made from 15 to 22 skill in San d'Oria. I'd put up as much as I could in the auction and left my bazaar running next to the woodworking guild vendors, full of the rest of them at 25 ea (or 300 for 12 at the auction -- the going rate). When I managed to stay connected all night, I sold almost as much from my bazaar as I did on the auction.

Keep an eye on the auction prices for yagudo feathers, as well. On Leviathan, feathers were selling at 200 for 12 in Windurst (but I would expect them to sell out quickly, since there were only ~20 stacks when I checked). That's quite a deal compared to the 30~37 ea at the region NPC.

for fishing/chocobo/field/vagabond equipment, the body and leg parts are clothcraft. The hand and feet part are leathercraft.

In other words, you could make field tunicas with no leathercraft.

As for levels, these are very rough, but i'd say vagabond around 5 - 10, fishing around 20-25 (low end pants, high end tunica), chocobo i cannot get the guild master to give me the jacket recipe, but i've made chocobo hose at around 40. Field hose i am now given the recipe for at lvl 50. I believe the field tunica requires lvl 60.

Also, i have gotten my skill level to 50 (sad isn't it? my clothcraft has equalled my main job level... and may surpass it if i don't get this papyrus soon O_o) so i may update this guide sometime soon. I've also found a way that i might be able to make around 15k per synth, however i'm holding off on that for now until i confirm it works and such.

Edited, Tue Feb 24 03:19:56 2004 by CometNet

Thanks Coment for this awesome guide...
Now I am already at 20 clothcraft skill. But I still confused what should I synth to level up. I tried to synth yagudo fleetching again, but it never increase my skill again after i reach 18. After that, I try to synth linen thread, its made me level to 19. But after that, its stop. (I am sure linen thread is only increase to level 19 max).
Now, to make a profit and also increase my skill, I synth linen cloths and sell it for 1 stack at AH. Because the material is very expensive, so I just made one stack per day and wait until someone buy it then I can make it and level up again.
But, is there any best way (faster way) to level from 20 - 28?.....
I read Comet suggestion about making fly lure..... but the material for making fly lure is very expensive too....(glue 1 stack --> 5k, and fly lure sell 300 at AH). Please help me....
(Sorry my english is bad)

Thx Akiraine,
but 100 - 200k to level.........1 or 2, isn't that too expensive?
So, do you think its gonna bring you a lot of profit if you reach the high level of clothcraft skill? (because i am still confuse, leveling my clothcraft gonna bring me profit or not) Synthesising cotton gaiter for example, the material cost more than the item itself.
Thanks again.^^

**edited because i'm dumb and read the faq backwards >_<

i moved onto cooking cause clothcraft was pissing me off so much at lvl 22, i think i'll give it another try :D

Edited, Tue Mar 2 13:13:50 2004 by Lierin

I moved to cooking after I stucked at level 22 clothcraft too...
I think we got another problem like we had at level 4 before (synthesysing hachimaki all the times until level 12).
At level 22 the only thing to level up to 23 together with making some profit is just making the fisherman hose. Thats what I do now.
The other things like making cotton kyahan, cotton dogi, linen robe will not give you any profit (even worse you gonna waste lot of money), but it gonna takes you to level 27-29.
Making fly lure is the only way (as CometNet suggested). So just run to Bastok, make some glue, get the alchemist level also.
The material needs to make kaginawa is very hard to get. Always no stock in AH.
O yeah, I got this web site address: http://mysterytour.web.infoseek.co.jp/mt/eng/index.html
This web has a very good and a very precised guild guide.
In my opinion, clothcraft is the hardest among all the guilds and cooking is the easiest.............
peace

thx Comet.....
Now I am really stuck at level 23, I try to synthesis fly lure.... but the rate of sucess is 4/20 ........
i am a clothcraft level 23 bonecraft level 2.....:(
is that not enough?....

thx....

Clothcraft hit 70 last nite ..

Was pretty painful .. dumped like 600k into making rainbow threads ..

will get most of it back tho when I gain a few more levels and convert them all to cloth and selling the cloth

Yowsa! I'm not sure I could stand that much pain. Congrats on a huge accomplishment.

I need some help...
I've been stuck at lvl 11 on clothcrafting for weeks...
Hachimaki don't make me raise skill anymore.

What should I do???

lol that question is answered in the guide... thats kinda what its for.

anyway, just a correction that you mean yagudo fletchings, not chocobo. and like the previous poster stated, lots of failures until maybe 14 or 15. I believe you can safely do linen threads from flax flowers from 11, probably shouldn't try cloths for a few levels however.

well if your server is like mine .. where silk threads goes for 9-10k per stack and a stack of silk cloth goes for 40k..

I bought up basically all the silk threads .. make all of them into cloth .. sold half of those cloth for a profit and keep half of it to make green ribbons , and silk headbands

I basically did that until 69 where silk headbands trivials