On my Orc, I have found a few different “motifs”. A motif teaches you to craft items using designs that are customarily for other races. That means that my Orc started knowing the Orc motif (which uses Manganese to craft), but she has also learned:

Khajiit motif – uses Moonstone

Bosmer motif – uses Bone

Altmer motif – uses Adamantite

Argonian motif – uses Flint

Breton – uses Molybdenum

You can change the motif at the crafting station itself, under “Creation”.

I made a “Homespun Robe” using each motif my Orc has found, here are what they look like (Scroll down to the bottom and you can find full outfits of each motif!):

See what a difference the motifs make!

So here’s what the clothing station screen looks like:

Now this is with my Argonian crafting. See where it says “Style”? That’s the different motifs.

This is how you research. You have to have an item that has a trait, like “increase armor”. You research that trait (it destroys the item). Then you can add that trait to armor you make.

This is where you Deconstruct items. I can craft something, then deconstruct the same item. When you deconstruct items you get crafting materials, although not as many as you would put into making that item.

Here is my Argonian trying to refine raw materials (materials gathered in nature) to something I can use to make gear. You have to have 10 of a raw material to turn it to refined material to make gear.

This is how you upgrade items, you can turn a white to a green, a green item to a blue, a blue to a purple, and a purple to a yellow. That means you can take a “Normal” item (white) you crafted, change it to a “Fine” (green), change the “Fine” to a “Superior” item (blue), change the “Superior” to an “Epic” item (purple), and then change an “Epic” item to a “Legendary” (yellow). It takes a lot of materials to upgrade all the way up though!

When making light armor items you use “Jute”.

When making medium armor items you use “Rawhide”.

So I made this Gecko Helmet and decided to upgrade it.

Each upgrading tool increases your odds of a successful upgrade by 20%.

Four upgrading items (Hemming when using clothing) brings my chances of a successful upgrade to 80%!

Well, 80% wasn’t enough it seems. The item was destroyed. Since that was a normal item I had just made, I wasn’t too upset, but if it was a superior or epic item I had just lost I would be angry.

This is turning Raw Jute to Jute I can use.

This is another way to get Jute and Rawhide, deconstruction of items I gathered from chests and looting.

You also get “scraps” of items that you can make into clothing materials.

This is what Jute looks like in nature:

Here is my Orc wearing a level 1 Khajiit outfit:

Here’s a Khajiit level 14 outfit (that’s the highest I can make right now)

Bosmer level 1:

And Bosmer level 14

Altmer level 1 homespun outfit, again, this is LIGHT ARMOR

And Altmer level 14

Argonian level 1 light armor gear is called “Shrike” gear instead of Humespun:

Here’s Argonian level 14, called “Turaco”

Orc level 1 light armor gear:

Orc level 14 light armor

Here’s Breton level 1 light armor

And Breton level 14 light armor

Here’s the Breton Rawhide outfit – which is medium armor:

Level one and level 14 look the same.

Orc rawhide level 1 outfit

And here’s the Orc medium armor (made of rawhide) level 14

Here’s the medium armor for Argonians, level 1 is called “Anole”, like the Anole lizard:

And here’s the Argonian lvl 14, called “Skink”

Here’s medium armor for the Altmer, level 1:

And here’s Altmer level 14

 

Here’s the Bosmer medium armor level 1 (this is the only one I made pants for too, I just didn’t have enough raw hide)

Bosmer level 14

Khajiit level 1 medium armor

Khajiit level 14 medium armor