Okay I'm not fantastic at making money yet. Sure, I make enough to keep working with my other crafts leveling (as of today, wvr 50/alch 50/gsm 50 others 20ish)

Now, I know i'm going to have to meld materia to this gear in order to reach the requirements for 2 star and above recipes. I have a few questions though.

1) I think i've melded a low level materia to my wvr af chest. using materia removal system, does my gear stay intact and just take that out, am i going to have to craft another?
2) Prices of IV materia on my server are INSANE. As of today, 600k for 1 IV control item. If i was to look into spiritbonding gear myself, rather than buying these, is it going to be a marked improvement (taking into consideration my money earning rate, time invested into spirit bonding ((how long does that take with all hq patricians etc, all melded with low materias, spirit bond potions etc)) over just grinding craft sales and trying to make the money? Word limit next post >