Rare Crafting Material Trader Vs. Artisan: Using your Resources

After talking to a few guildies and friends, I have found that many of you are actually paying far too much for rare crafting materials. I hear things like “I had to buy a ton of vellum and it cost me 8K to buy it all!” Well, I would like to put an end to that and make it so that you know where to get your materials cheaply. Some of these do require a bit of work to get but it will save you gold in the long run.

As many of you have found, you have a over abundance in certain common crafting materials with a limited gold supply and the bank doesn't have enough of the rare crafting materials that you need. This often leads to selling off your extra. However, why sell your extra when you can craft the materials that you need using your over abundance of common crafting materials?

To do this, you just need to find an Artisan that crafts the materials that you need. Here is a complete listing of Artisans found in all of the campaigns: http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Artisan_list
First track down who will need to speak with for the materials that you’re going to need. Make sure that you bring enough gold and enough of the materials that you will need. Have him craft the material for you and be on your way.

However, be warned, SOME MATERIALS ARE CHEAPER IF BOUGHT FROM THE TRADER RATHER THAN CRAFTING THEM OR CAN BE FOUND ELSE WHERE. Below is a complete table of Rare crafting materials, the price range for the materials, what it will cost to craft them, and other ways to acquire the materials. Of course, some materials are not able to be crafted however, I'm researching the places to find them without spending a ton of gold.

Material	Price at Trader	Price & Materials to craft	Other ways to Acquire
Fur Square	120g	Cannot be crafted	4 Charr Hides for Calissa Sedgwick
Bolt of Linen	170g	-200g -5 Plant Fibers
Bolt of Damask	490-550g	-200g -5 Plant Fibers -5 Piles of Glittering Dust
Bolt of Silk	100g	-250g -10 Bolts of Cloth -10 Piles of Glittering Dust	Bringing Spider Webs from Pre-Searing to Post then Salvaging with an Expert Salvage Kit
Glob of Ectoplasm	4.8K		Farming the Underworld
Steel Ingot	150g	-200g -10 Iron Ingots -1 Lump of Charcoal
Deldrimor Steel Ingot	750g	-200g -10 Iron Ingots -1 Lump of Charcoal -5 Piles of Glittering Dust
Monstrous Claw	900g	Cannot be Crafted	Best farmed in the first 2 main land missions in Factions
Monstrous Eye	200g	Cannot be Crafted	Best farmed in the first 2 main land missions in Factions
Monstrous Fang	950g – 1.4K	Cannot be Crafted	Best farmed in the first 2 main land missions in Factions
Ruby	3.9K – 4.1K	Cannot be Crafted	7 Vabbi Trade Contracts
Sapphire	3.9K – 4.1K	Cannot be Crafted	7 Vabbi Trade Contracts
Diamond	500g	Cannot be Crafted	7 Vabbi Trade Contracts
Onyx Gemstone	500g	Cannot be Crafted
Lump of Charcoal	150g	-200g -10 Wood Planks
Obsidian Shard	2.8K	Cannot be Crafted
Tempered Glass	170g	-20g -5 Piles of Glittering Dust
Leather Squares	190g	-50g -5 Tanned Hides
Elonian Leather Square	270g – 290g	-50g -5 Tanned Hides -5 Piles of Glittering Dust
Vial of Ink	320g	-20g -4 Plant Fibers
Roll of Parchment	140g	-20g -5 Wood Planks
Roll of Vellum	200 – 250g	-20g -5 Wood Planks -5 Piles of Glittering Dust
Spirit Wood Plank	120g	-100g -5 Wood Planks -10 Piles of Glittering Dust
Amber Chunk	600g – 650g	Cannot be Crafted	Cashing in 5000 Kurzick Faction Points
Jadite Chunk	550g	Cannot be Crafted	Cashing in 5000 Luxon Faction Points

As you can see, there are many ways to aqcuire your materials. It's often just a matter of putting your resources to work.