Nikolo's Clothcraft Guide

Clothcraft Guide 
== Nikolo's Clothcraft Guide ==
Here's my shot at a cloth guide kids. It's only agoing to go up to level 90, because that's as far as I know so far. Good luck with your crafting all. And if you decide to copy this and post it somewhere, gimme some credit dammit! =D Also, 
DO NOT BLINDLY FOLLOW THIS GUIDE!!!!! 
A guide is just that, a guide. It is not a bible. Always check your serves prices and look on Somepage or Mysterytour to check out other recipes around your cap level. All that being said, on with the guide…
PS - Prices quoted are all on Caitsith server and are current as of 2/3/07. Your mileage may vary.
Intro:
The Clothcraft Guild is in Windurst Woods at G-12. Here'll you'll meet: 
1.	Guild Master Ponono, who will cheer you on in your career and occasionally check up on your progress by asking for guild test items
2.	Anillah, who will give you clothcraft recipes that are below your current skill level, and offer free synthesis support
3.	Nikkoko, who will give you clothcraft recipes that are 1-5 levels above your current level, and offer free synthesis support
4.	Terude-Harude, who will give you clothcraft recipes that are 6-10 levels above your current level, and offer advanced synthesis support
5.	Huah Colphioh, the Guildworker's Union Rep, who will manage your clothcraft guild points.
Across the street at G-11, you'll find the Windurst Clothcraft Guild Shop. Its business hours are 6-21h 7 days a week; it's closed on Firesday. Inside, you'll find Meriri and Kuzah Hpirohpon ready to sell you various threads, cloths, raw materials, and finished clothcraft items.
Some general information: Clothcraft is based around the manufacture and use of several types of cloth. The easiest cloth to work with is Grass cloth, followed by Cotton, Linen, Wool, Silk, Rainbow, and finally Cashmere cloth. There is also Velvet which is a blended material that fits between wool and silk, and various cloths which are only found from certain difficult monsters. 
In order to make any cloth, you need 3 threads of that cloth type and an earth crystal. So, for example, 3 cotton threads in an earth crystal will, with any luck, become a cotton cloth. Now you may be asking: how do I get threads? Well, besides purchasing threads from your local guild shop, you can also refine them from pairs of naturally occurring raw materials using a lightning crystal: 2 moko grass for a grass thread, 2 saruta cotton for cotton thread, 2 flax flowers for linen thread, and so on.
(Thank you Aurik for the Intro portion of this guide; his guide can be found at http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=24&mid=111239220326435927&num=27.)
Here is a list of each item you will need to turn in to advance to the next rank in the guild. You do not have to craft them yourself; they can be bought and turned in as well. They are, in order:
8-10: Recruit 
Cape (Cap: 8) - Earth Crystal, Grass Thread, Grass Cloth x2 
18-20: Initiate 
Cotton Cape (Cap: 18) - Earth Crystal, Cotton Thread, Cotton Cloth x2 
28-30: Novice 
Heko Obi (Cap: 27) - Earth crystal, Grass Thread, Cotton Cloth x2
38-40: Apprentice 
Feather Collar (Cap: 37) - Earth Crystal, Bird Feather x7, Wool Cloth
48-50: Journeyman 
Wool Bracers (Cap: 46) - Earth Crystal, Wool Thread, Wool Cloth x2, Saruta Cotton x2 
58-60: Craftsman 
Red Cape (Cap: 59) - Earth Crystal, Gold Thread, Velvet Cloth x2 
68-70: Artisan 
Wool Doublet (Cap: 67) - Earth Crystal, Wool Thread, Wool Cloth x4, Saruta Cotton x3 
78-80: Adept 
Silk Cloak (Cap: 77) - Earth Crystal, Gold Thread, Silk Cloth x5 
88-90: Veteran 
Arhat's Hakama (Cap: 88) - Earth Crystal, Silk Thread, Silk Cloth, Velvet Cloth x2, Sheep Leather x2
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And the journey begins...
0-1 Grass Thread x 3 - Yagudo Necklace, Wind crystal
0-2 Chocobo Fletchings - Chocobo Feather x 2, Wind Crystal
You can do this too if you like. I don't recommend it.
0-3 Grass Thread - Moko Grass x 2, Lightning Crystal
Any one of these recipes will work for your first few levels.
3-4 Grass Cloth - Grass Thread x 3, Earth Crystal
You can do this for a level, or you can go straight to the next synth, which is capes. Might as well make the cloth since you'll be using it in your next synth.
4-8 Cape - Grass Cloth x 2, Grass Thread, Earth Crystal
These are basically useless. Even if you make all the ingredients yourself, you lose money. Also, capes take a long time to sell. When I did this stage, I sold them all back to the Clothcraft Guild NPC for about 77g each. Personally if I had to do it again, I'd desynth them instead. You’ll blow up 60% of them, but honestly what does it matter if it's only worth 77g? You’ll make back enough thread in the process to make it worth you while; plus you can get skill ups while desynthing, although they’re rare. 
After you’ve hit level 8, you need to turn a cape in to Ponono to pass your first Guild Test. This will advance you to the rank of Recruit.
8-11 Hachimaki - Grass Cloth x 2, Wind Crystal
If you thought capes sold slowly, these are even worse. No one wants them. NPC or desynth them for grass thread. 
PS- Please don’t try to make cotton thread in this stage. Saruta cotton is always more expensive than cotton thread (ie, two stacks of cotton balls costs more than one stack of thread) so you’ll automatically lose money. 
Also, farming cotton then turning it into thread makes no sense either. Might as well sell the cotton and buy the ingredients you need.
11-19 Linen Thread - Flax Flower x2, Lightning Crystal
This is where Clothcraft starts to get good. You can buy flax flowers from the Clothcraft guilds in both Windurst and Al Zahbi. The lowest price you can buy them for is 187g each, and you'll frequently see them selling for that price. If the guild happens to be sold out, you can buy them from the Airship vendor of the first place city (I believe you have to be a citizen of the first place country), also for around 200g. 
Personally, I went out, bought about 12 stacks of flax flowers, and sat down and blasted through a ton of synths. Initially, you'll fail. A lot. An 8 level gap is large. GET ADVANCED SYNTH SUPPORT! However, even critical fails only cost you 400g plus the costs of the crystal, which isn't so terrible. 
Also, it would be good if you’re above level 50 to do some cluster farming in Qufim. Lighting Elementals pop there very frequently. Since you're going to need maybe 15 stacks of lightning crystals and maybe 20-24 stacks of flax flowers to get through these 8 levels, you might wanna try to save the ~2500g per stack of crystals if you can. 
19-22 Linen Cloth - Linen Thread x 3, Earth Crystal
The bread and butter of Clothcraft. Linen cloth is cheap to make (roughly 1200g each if you farm lightning crystals to make your thread) and sells for around 4,000g each in the Jeuno Auction House. Stacks generally go for ~40,000 in Windurst and 35,000g in Jeuno. Needless to say, Linen Thread is your first real profit synth. As any Clothcrafter will tell you, the answer is always Linen Cloth.
Following Linen Cloth, you have a variety of choices ahead of you.
22-23 Moblinweave - Moblin Thread x 3, Earth Crystal
22-27 Heko Obi - Grass Thread, Cotton Cloth x 2, Earth Crystal
22-29 Kaginawa - Grass Thread, Manticore Hair, Bronze Ingot, Earth Crystal
Requires a Smithing subskill of 15.
22-30 Fly Lure - Chocobo Feather, Animal Glue, Bat Fang, Earth Crystal
Honestly, this portion of your crafting can really suck if done poorly. I myself made heko obis from 22-27, and then I desynthed them for a HUGE profit. At the time (which was probably June 2005), stacks of cotton cloth cost about 15,000g each, while a stack cotton thread cost more than 30,000g! 
Desynthesis of heko obis results in (in order of NQ,HQ1,HQ2,HQ3) grass thread, 4 cotton threads, 5 cotton threads, or 6 cotton threads. Currently the prices of cotton thread and cloth have come a little closer together, but thread still costs about 2,000g more per stack than cloth does. 
As for the other synths, just steer clear of Fly Lures. THEY WILL LOSE YOU LOTS OF MONEY. Animal glue is outrageously expensive and the finished product sells very slowly on the AH and is sold to the NPC for next to nothing (maybe 200g? I can’t remember). So don't say I didn't warn you. 
Kaginawa: At the time, I didn’t have my smithing sub leveled, so I have never made these. However they sell very well in Jeuno because Ninjas need them to cast Hojo, which is the Ninja version of the spell Slow. Be careful though; Manticore Hairs can be pricey. Following these synths, once again you have a couple of choices. You can go right to Wool Thread (as I did) or use Shinobi-tabi to bridge.
xx-34 Shinobi-tabi - Cotton Cloth x 2, Grass Thread, Saruta Cotton, Earth Crystal
34-35 Wool Thread - Sheep Wool x 2, Lightning Crystal
35-42 Bird Fletchings - Bird Feather x 2, Wind Crystal
A seven level gap you say? Bah! Such is the beauty of fletchings. Bird feathers cost you next to nothing (~1000g/stack). Unfortunately, the fletchings pretty much sell for nothing as well. You can try AH'ing them in Sandy, or muling them in front of the Woodworking guild. In the end, I AH'ed maybe 5 stacks, made some of my money back, then got frustrated and NPC'ed the rest. Luckily, you can do that when each synth costs you about 200g a piece.
42-45 Velvet Cloth - Silk Thread, Wool Thread x 2, Earth crystal
Again here you can profit while you skillup. The profit isn’t huge, but hey at least it’s not a loss right?
45-51 Silk Thread - Crawler Cocoon x 2, Lightning Crystal
It might be tough to get enough cocoons to skill up all six levels. However, with the recent drop in cocoon cost, this is looking like a much nicer skillup synth. If you can get cocoons for under ~400g each you should be ok. You could use this as a bridge synth to velvet if you like.
45-51 Velvet Cloth (again) - Silk Thread, Cotton Thread x 2, Earth Crystal
Again, more skillup profit. {/cheer}!
51-53 Silk Cloth - Silk Thread x 3, Earth Crystal
Obtain the silk however you like (AH, make your own from Crawler cocoons, or farm it). You’ll still make a little profit from this synth.
This is the end of profit skillup in Clothcraft. At this point, you have a fork in the road ahead of you. You have two choices: the classic Silk Road, or the newer Hunter’s Cotton road. Both are HUGE gap synths, especially post level 50, where skill ups drop off to about 0.1 skillups per 3-4 synths. Here are your choices.
53-62 Green Ribbon - Silk Cloth, Wind Crystal
Silk Cloth sells for ~6k per piece and ~50k per stack in Jeuno. Green ribbons don’t sell on the AH. You're going to make so many of these they'll be coming out of your ears. Therefore, you have two choices: NPC them for about 2075g (with max fame), or desynth them and hope to get some of your silk threads back. I didn’t take this route.
53-63 Hunter's Cotton - Cotton Thread x 3, Carapace Powder, Distilled water, Earth Crystal
This is the route I took. The carapace powder is a level 21 Bonecraft synth. I HIGHLY recommend that you level bone to 21 to make your own powder when you do this stage, seeing as how bonecrafters have realized that there is a market for the powder. The powder is made with 2 beetle shells and a wind crystal. You can usually get beetle shells for less than 1,000g (sometimes 100g if you bid right). Powder singles AH for 2k and stacks for 12-15k. 
Save yourself some money and level bone to about 16-17 (shouldn’t cost more than 150k), then make powder up to 21. If you don't/can't level bone, then you’ll have to bite the bullet and buy from AH. Beware, the supply is volatile. 
As for the synth itself, you're going to need a LOT of cotton. Get it however you can. Buy it on the AH. Desynth it from gear from NPC's. Steal it from Mandies in Tahrongi. You're going to need a TON (read: maybe 96 stacks? not exactly sure) to get through those 10 levels. Unfortunately, Hunter's cotton as an end product is almost worthless. If you know a Ranger who needs to upgrade to their AF+1, then you can sell it to them. That's it. That's the only thing it's used for. Needless to say, it sells for 200g each to NPC.
Uncomfortable with a 9 or 10 level gap at this point in your synthing? That's understandable. Here's a few synths that can help bridge the gap a bit.
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55 Karakul Thread - Karakul Wool x 2, Lightning Crystal
Karakul wool isn't so easy to come by (4 stack sales in Caitsith AH history), and it's EXORBITENTLY expensive (~500k per stack). Not exactly a good thing to level on, but hey, you do what you want.
57 Karakul Cloth - Karakul Thread x 3, Earth Crystal
Karakul thread is sold at the guild in Al Zahbi for about 3000g each. The cloths will sell, albeit slowly, on the AH. Their main use in in some of the cross-synth gear that came out with the Aht Urhgan expansion (Jaridah and Sipahi gear). Breaks will be costly, but profit can probably be made.
58 Linen Doublet - Saruta Cotton x3, Linen Thread, Linen Cloth x4, Earth Crystal
Considering the alternatives, I didn't find this to be a particularly inviting alternative when I was skilling. I still don't.
63-72 Black Chocobo Fletchings - Black Chocobo Feather x 2, Wind crystal
Another huge gap synth. You can buy black chocobo feathers from the chocobo stable’s of the 1st place conquest country if you are a citizen of that country. They cost between 1150-1300g, depending on your fame. If your country is never in first (like Bastok on Caitsith), then you have two options: you can either buy them from the AH and pay through the nose (usually about double) or you can get a friend to buy them for you. Either way, you’re going to need a crapload of stacks of feathers to get through these 9 levels.
72-78 Rainbow Thread – Spider Web x 2, Lightning Crystal
Spider webs go for about 3-5k on the AH, and are dropped from, you guessed it, spiders. You can farm them in Altepa Desert, but the drop rates kinda suck (or so I hear). If you want to farm, you’re better off farming the spiders in Wajaom Woodlands, outside of Al Zahbi. Unfortunately, these spiders probably can’t be farmed solo by anything less than a level 70-something. They check DC++ to my 69RDM, for a reference. 
Regardless, you're going to blow up spider webs when you start this recipe. It sucks. It sucks losing ~8,000g in one poof of a crystal. But be patient. If you've been saving up your Guild Points and have obtained your Weaver's Glasses and/or your Weaver's Apron, they're about to pay off. You're going to save yourself quite a few breaks and a significant amount of cash. Sell the end results in singles or stacks on the AH.
78-82 Puk Fletchings – Puk Wing x 2, Wind Crystal
A synth introduced by the Aht Urhgan expansion. Puks are the chimera type mobs (think mini-dragons) that populate Wajaom Woodlands and Bhaflau Thickets. Currently the wings go for about 3-5,000g per stack on the AH. At this level, you’ll take the small loss of NPC'ing these and love it.
82-88 Wamoura Silk – Wamoura Cocoon x 2, Lightning Crystal
82-88 Arhat's Hakama - Velvet Cloth x 2, Sheep Leather x 2, Silk Cloth, Silk Thread
The AH prices of Wamoura Cocoons have absolutely PLUMETTED as of late (down to about 3-5k from around 40-50k 6 months ago), making skilling up with this synth much more viable. However, the end product sells slowly at best, and not at all at worst. Regardless, I think this is probably a better option than Arhat’s Hakama from 82-88. Up to you really.
88-90 Wamoura Cloth – Wamoura Silk x 3, Earth Crystal
Make the cloth from the silks you spin during your previous 6 levels. If you save them, you should have enough silks to get you through these two levels pretty easily.
That's it for now kids. My clothcraft level currently stands at 89.5+3. I’ll update this more and more the further along I go. Take it easy all.