Jewelcrafting is one of the workhorses when it comes to making money with gold. With this profession you can take part in the raw gem, cut gem, and jewelery markets. These markets are often very profitable but the main benefit of having a jewelcrafter is that it is the one MUST have profession to shuffle.
Benefits:
1) Because many recipes are bought with jewelcrafting tokens (which are obtained from doing the JC dailies) you can pick and choose which recipes to learn first. This means that with a bit of research you can choose the most profitable recipes for your server and learn them first - less time wasted learning useless recipes.
2) This is the must have profession in order to do the shuffle.
3) Since this is a converting profession you can take part in both the uncut gem (materials) and the cut gem / jewelry (finished products) markets.
4) A constant high demand for gems means that you can sell a lot of them.
Drawbacks:
1) Due to the Daily System it will take you a bit of time to build up a list of profitable recipes.
2) Doing the shuffle is a rather time consuming process.
3) There really aren't many profitable recipes until you max out the profession level.
My Advice on Jewelcrafting:
Get this profession as soon as you are level 75 and max it out. The fact that gems sell well combined with the fact that this profession is required in order to do the shuffle means that this is one of the mainstay profession in terms of making gold.
Recipes of Note:
1) Different cuts will sell on different servers and at different times but in general Inferno Rubies are especially popular - especially Bold and Delicate Inferno Rubies.
2) Shuffling. While it isn't really a recipe it is one of the workhorses of gold making. Shuffling is simply the act of prospecting ore for gems and then turning the gems into other materials. In order to shuffle you will need access to a jewelcrafter at a minimum and access to both an alchemist and enchanter to get the full range of products. If you are using a jewelcrafter and an enchanter to shuffle the process will be prospect ore ---> make jewelry with the gems ----> disenchant the jewelry for enchanting materials ---> make enchant scroll ---> sell scrolls on the Auction House. If you are using a jewelcrafter and an alchemist the process will be prospect ore -----> transmute green gems to blue gems ---> cut blue gems---> sell blue gems on the Auction House. Of course if you have all three professions you can choose between turning your green gems into enchant mats or blue gems.
The real beauty of this system though is that it offers you so much choice. You don't have to do all of the steps of the shuffle all the time - instead stop wherever the most profit for you is. In other words the shuffle isn't great because someone with all three professions can turn ore into enchanting scrolls or blue cut gems - it is great because someone with three professions can sell uncut gems on the Auction House, uncut gems to the vendor, cut gems, blue cut gems, blue uncut gems, jewelery, enchanting materials, and enchanting scrolls. This is an incredible diversity in products and markets and this diversity virtually guarantees that the shuffle will be profitable on your server.
Lastly one of the markets deserves special attention. Selling gems to the vendor is one of the important parts of the shuffle and can be used to establish a "floor price" for ore. A floor price is simply a price for an item below which you KNOW that you can make a profit. Currently the floor prices for Obsidium Ore is 30 gold a stack and the floor price for Elementium Ore is about 27.5 gold a stack. This means that if you have a jewelcrafter you can buy these ores any time they are below these prices, prospect the ore into gems, sell the gems to vendors, and make a profit. What is particularly nice about doing this is that you KNOW you can sell them for the vendor price. Whether you sell 1 or 10,000, whether there is or isn't a market for the gem on your server, whether you server is large or small pop and whether your server is rich or poor you KNOW that you can sell uncut Cataclysm gems to the vendor for 5 gold. This makes this market very stable and enables you to go through huge amounts of product.
Lastly I am going to give you the process for shuffling each Cataclysm green gem.
1) Any gem ---> vendor
2) Hessonite ---> Hessonite Band ----> Hypnotic Dust ---> Enchanting scroll OR Hessonite ----> Ember Topaz ----> cut Ember Topaz
3) Nightstone ---> Nightstone Choker ---> Hypnotic Dust ---> Enchanting scroll OR Nightstone---> Demonseye ---> Cut Demonseye
4) Jasper ---> Jasper Ring ---> Hypnotic Dust ---Enchanting scroll OR Jasper---> Dream Emerald ---> Cut Dream Emerald
5) Carnelian ---> Carnelian Spikes ---> Celestial Essences ---> Enchanting scroll OR Carnelian---> Inferno Ruby ---> Cut Inferno Ruby
6) Alicite ---> Alicite Pendant ---> Hypnotic Dust ---> Enchanting Scrolls OR Alicite---> Amberjewel ---> Cut Amber Jewel
7) Zephyrite ---> Ocean Sapphire ---> Cut Ocean Sapphire (Note: There is no jewelery piece made from zephyrite so it can't be made into enchanting mats)
Additional Resources:
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The Power Word: Gold Guide Free is Copyright © 2011 Jim Younkin. Guide contributors include Bangkok Bill and fluxdada.
