This is an idea that Harloff came up with and he and I have been discussing a bit and I thought I’d throw it out here.
The idea is that to craft special items like the gnomish lenses you do a quest to learn this. Something of the sort, you meet this gnome who asks for something, which you then do, this could be resources, crafted items or just a kill quest, in any case upon completion he teaches you the secret of the gnomish lenses. You would then receive an item in your inventory which is non-tradeable and required for the gnomish lens recipe.
This would add a bit more history/flavour to these special items. It could be applied to several items such as
Orcish Dwarf Razor
Dragonslayer Sword (a long hard quest)
Royal Ball Gown (perhaps meeting a former tailor to the Dregarian court)
Gnomish Lenses
Gnomish Repeating Crossbow
Orcish Bane of the Elf
