Extreme Jewelcrafting Profits?Follow

Hi there,
From what I've read on these forums, which isn't alot considering that I'm new, it seems that Jewelcrafting doesn't seem to be a very profitable profession?
Because, my friend picked up Jewelcrafting as soon as he got TBC (because he hated engineering) and got TONS of money... When he hit 40, he had enough money to pay for 2 riding lessons and 2 mounts... Just from Jewelcrafting he says. But that was when he was somewhat new to it. (probably around 100-150) Now, he still makes alot of money, but it's harder due to rarer mats.

Now I was wondering, is this normal? If it is, then I'll sure as heck take Jewelcrafting! And I'm not sure if that is considered 'rich' but it was in my book, considering that I was only able to afford my riding lessons and mount a level after, and still only had 46 copper left. (I was astonished)

Thanks for your time.

From what I can see, the only way to generate a good income from Jewelcrafting is if you either match it with Mining as your gathering profession or have Mining on an equal (or higher) level toon that you can use to supply your JC toon with gems and ore/bars.

On my realm, jewelcrafters are scrambling to gouge the hell out of people on cut gems for socketing. There aren't that many people on my realm running around in gear that's going to last them more than a month on a casual instance/heroic instance/raid schedule, so nobody is willing to go out and drop 700g on gems to socket gear they're going to be replacing with the next upgrade.

I don't blame the JCs for this; they've chosen an expensive craft and they've gotta make the gold to keep it going somewhere. I just won't pay 70g for a +16 AP gem (or 60g for +8 Agility) when I have 7 sockets to fill and more just around the corner once I start running heroics.

If you can mine to fill 90% of your needs, you're basically getting the lion's share of your mats for free (omitting opportunity cost). Even if you end up vendoring (or D/Eing) the majority of what you make to start, you're still going to see some sort of return. If you're having to buy all of your materials from auction in order to skill up, you're going to lose your shirt.

Everything always has 2 sides to it, judging from above. Same with Enchanting/Disenchanting

I make a nice profit. I have the solid star of elune pattern. The actuall pattern, I have never seen for less then 2000g on my server, so it is quite rare.

I go out mining adamantite, I prospect it, cut the gems I get and sell them, turn the dust into mercural adamantite and sell it.

For fel iron, I mine it and sell it.

Profit.

At the lower level jewelcrafting though (1-300) it is a major money sink. I was always poor because I had to level it up. But over 300 it gets nice money.