OSRS Magic 77-99: Tan Leather vs Superglass Make – Profit per Cast & Market Margins

Game screenshots and facts are cited from the Old School RuneScape Wiki (strategy, equipment, drops, and related pages). Writing is original editorial, not a copy of the wiki article.

Level 77 Magic is the quiet fork in the road. You can burst dust devils, barrage Nechryael, or spend a small fortune on stun-alching. But there are two Lunar spells that turn Magic training into a market-making exercise: Tan Leather and Superglass Make. Both unlock within one level of each other, both process bulk materials into more valuable outputs, and both reward players who watch Grand Exchange margins like a hawk.

This guide compares the two from 77 to 99. We will look at requirements, XP per cast, profit formulas, inventory management, and the honest truth about when buying gold or a boosting service is a better use of your time.

Why 77–99 Matters and Who This Is For

Between level 77 and level 99 you need roughly 11.5 million Magic experience. That is a long grind no matter how you slice it. But if you are not an Ironman, you can buy materials on the Grand Exchange, process them with Lunar spells, and sell the outputs. This flips Magic training from a pure expense into a potential profit centre.

This guide is for mains who have completed Lunar Diplomacy and optionally Dream Mentor, who want to train Magic while building bank value. It is not for Ironmen, because both methods rely heavily on buying large quantities of hides or sand and soda ash. Ironmen should check the wiki for self-sufficient alternatives, such as charging air orbs or making teleport tablets.

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Requirements and Unlocks

Superglass Make unlocks first, at level 77. Tan Leather unlocks one level later, but has an additional quest requirement. Dream Mentor has a combat level requirement and a fairly challenging boss fight, so not every account will have it immediately. If you only have Superglass Make, you can still train efficiently; if you have both, you can choose whichever has better margins on a given day.

Both spells consume astral runes, plus fire and nature runes for Tan Leather or fire and air runes for Superglass Make. Rune costs are a major part of the profit equation, so always check current prices before committing to a bulk buy.

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How Tan Leather Works on Dragonhide

Tan Leather is a Lunar spell that tans up to five hides in your inventory per cast. The spell gives approximately 81 Magic XP per cast and uses a small amount of fire, nature, and astral runes. The exact rune costs should be verified in game; the key point is that each cast processes five hides, so your profit per cast is five times the margin between the untanned hide and the tanned leather, minus the rune cost.

The most common hides to use are green, blue, red, and black dragonhide. Green dragonhide is cheap and has a thin margin, but high trade volume. Black dragonhide is expensive and can have a larger absolute margin, but a smaller percentage margin and higher risk if prices shift. Blue and red sit in the middle. The spell tans any color, but you will usually want to specialise in one or two colors to make banking and buying simpler.

Profit per cast = 5 × (tanned leather price – untanned hide price) – rune cost. If that number is positive, you are making money while training. If it is negative, you are paying for XP. Because the spell tans five hides at once, small margins per hide can add up, but a single bad buy can wipe out hours of profit.

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How Superglass Make Works

Superglass Make converts all buckets of sand and soda ash or seaweed in your inventory into molten glass in a single cast. The spell gives approximately 78 Magic XP per cast, regardless of how many items you convert. The standard setup is to fill your inventory with 13 buckets of sand and 13 soda ash, cast once, and receive 26 molten glass. That means your XP per cast is low, but your material throughput per inventory is high, and the rune cost per cast is moderate.

This method is beloved by players who want to train Crafting later, because molten glass is the raw material for glassblowing. It also has stable demand because many players make unpowered orbs, lantern lenses, or other glass items. The profit per cast depends on the cost of buckets of sand, soda ash, and runes versus the sale price of molten glass. Because the spell processes so many items at once, you can often profit even when the margin per glass is only a few coins.

Unlike Tan Leather, Superglass Make does not require Dream Mentor, and it unlocks one level earlier. That makes it the default choice from 77 to 78, and often beyond if the glass market is favourable.

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XP and Profit per Cast Compared

The table below summarises the key differences. Rune costs are approximate and will vary with market prices; always calculate your own cost before buying bulk supplies.

Method	Magic Level	XP per Cast	Items per Cast	Typical Runes (approx)	Profit Driver	Attention
Superglass Make	77	~78	Up to 13 sand + 13 soda ash → 26 molten glass	Astral, fire, air	Margin on molten glass vs sand/soda ash	High – bank every cast
Tan Leather	78	~81	5 hides → 5 leather	Astral, fire, nature	Margin on tanned leather vs raw hide	Medium – bank every few casts

Superglass Make has a lower XP per cast, but because you process more items per cast, the rune cost per item is often lower. Tan Leather has slightly higher XP per cast and a simpler profit formula, but you need larger absolute margins to overcome the nature rune cost. Which is better depends entirely on current Grand Exchange prices.

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Market Margins: Buying Materials, Selling Outputs

The heart of both methods is the buy-sell spread. You are essentially running a tanning or glassmaking business. The Grand Exchange is your supplier and your customer. To succeed, you need to check buy limits, watch for undercutting, and be ready to switch between the two methods when one margin collapses.

For Tan Leather, the bottleneck is often the supply of cheap dragonhide. Green dragonhide is farmed by many players killing green dragons, so supply is high but margin thin. Black dragonhide comes from black dragons and King Black Dragon, so supply is lower and prices can spike. Blue and red dragonhide come from specific dragons and have variable supply. Check the wiki's money making guide for tanning blue dragonhide as a reference; that method uses the manual tanner, but the same price relationships apply to the spell.

For Superglass Make, the main inputs are buckets of sand and soda ash. Buckets of sand are gathered by players using a sandpit or by mining sandstone, while soda ash is made from seaweed or bought directly. Both are high-volume items with reliable supply. The output, molten glass, is used in Crafting, so demand is steady. However, because the method is popular, margins can fluctuate throughout the day.

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AFK vs Efficient Attention and Inventory Management

Neither method is truly AFK. You will be clicking the spell, banking, and watching prices. But there is a difference in rhythm. Superglass Make requires a bank trip after every single cast because your inventory is full of sand and soda ash. That means the pattern is: withdraw 13 sand and 13 soda ash, close bank, click spell, open bank, deposit 26 molten glass, repeat. It is fast but repetitive.

Tan Leather allows you to carry many hides at once, because each cast only uses five hides. You can fill your inventory with 25 hides (five casts' worth) and then click the spell five times before banking. That makes it slightly less bank-intensive, but you still need to pay attention to which hides you are tanning and when your inventory is full of leather.

If you want a more AFK style, you should consider bursting or barraging on Ancient Magicks, or even splashing. Those methods are worse for profit but much easier on your attention. For a pure profit play, Superglass Make and Tan Leather are active but rewarding.

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Common Mistakes and Hidden Costs

• Forgetting to switch back to the standard spellbook. After a long session on Lunar spells, you may find yourself unable to cast High Alchemy or teleport to Varrock when you need to.
• Ignoring rune costs. Nature runes for Tan Leather can be expensive, and if you use a staff to save fire runes, you still need the astral rune. Always include rune costs in your profit calculation.
• Buying the wrong hide. Not all dragonhide is equal in margin. A color that was profitable yesterday may be a loss today. Check before you buy.
• Assuming Superglass Make is always profit. If molten glass crashes due to a bot farm or an update, the margin can disappear overnight.
• Not having Dream Mentor. If you plan to use Tan Leather, make sure you have completed Dream Mentor. The quest has a combat requirement and a boss fight that can catch new Lunar users off guard.

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Time-to-Goal and Cost Projections

The time you spend from 77 to 99 with these methods depends on how fast you click and how efficiently you bank. Neither method is as fast as bursting on Ancient Magicks, but they can be profitable. Some players report Magic XP rates in the low six figures per hour with good rhythm, but you should test your own rate over 15 minutes and extrapolate.

In terms of cost, the worst case is that the market turns against you and you end up paying a few coins per XP. The best case is that you profit several coins per XP while still gaining around 80-100k XP per hour. That is the trade-off. If you value your time at more than the potential profit, you might prefer to spend gold on a faster method and skip the market watching.

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Honest Shortcut: When Buying Gold or a Service Makes Sense

There is no shame in deciding that you would rather pay for speed. If your goal is 99 Magic for raids, PvP, or just the cape, and you do not enjoy the GE spreadsheet game, buying gold to fund barrage runes or paying for a boosting service can be a rational choice. The profit from Tan Leather or Superglass Make might add up to a few million over the entire 77-99 journey, but that could take dozens of hours. If you can earn more in real life, or simply value your time differently, the honest shortcut is to buy the resources you need and train fast.

At GP Trillionaire, we provide live gold rates and account services for players who want to skip the grind. You can view our current offers and decide if the cost is worth the time saved. View live gold rates. If you choose to train manually, these two methods are a smart way to turn a necessary grind into a small business.

For another profit-focused Magic training comparison, check out our guide on Enchant Lvl-4 Jewellery vs High Alchemy: Profit & XP.

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Practical Next Step

Start by unlocking Superglass Make at 77. Spend an hour running Superglass Make, track your XP and profit per cast. Then, if you have Dream Mentor, unlock Tan Leather at 78 and do the same. Compare the two. Whichever method gives you a better profit per cast and feels comfortable is the one you should grind to 99. Recheck margins every few days because the market moves.

If at any point the method stops being profitable, do not force it. Switch to High Level Alchemy, bursting, or a service. The goal is 99 Magic, not loyalty to one spell.

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Sources

• Pay-to-play Magic training
• Tan Leather
• Superglass Make
• Dream Mentor
• Money making guide/Tanning blue dragonhide