[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Agreed in many ways, but at least the first and the last thing Belegorn quoted refers to Elves in general. It reflects also well what Tolkien has written in "On Fairy-Stories" - even though one could of course put into question whether when he speaks about "Elves" in there, he means the same Elves as those in Middle-Earth, I would say that he does, because after all, Elves were one of his major obsessions and so it is, I believe, justified to imagine his portrayal of Elves, in whichever of his works, to reflect in one way or another his general understanding of the Elves.

Elves were supposed to represent just that: the race which is, somehow, connected essentially to the fabric of fantasy, or the fantasy world, and is capable of making it "real", whereas human mind makes such changes only "in one's mind". Of course, the Elves (in Arda) pay for it by being bound to the world, whereas human spirits are leaving Arda after death (for more details, see Athrabeth in HoME). It is a very complicated subject, but essentially I believe it is perfectly right to say that Tolkien was not afraid to show that Elves could essentially manipulate (such an ugly word - read as "enhance with beauty" etc.) the reality of Middle-Earth, since it is, after all, a fantasy world (while at the same time being presented as "real" - but at least in relation to the Elves it is, I believe, all right to regard it as "fantasy"). So in other words,

I however now see and I agree that we can't probably say what exactly is still craft available to Men and what is solely Elven domain - such as, whether a Man could theoretically be able to craft an Elven-rope but not an Elven-cloak (or vice versa) and so on. Nonetheless, even though we can't probably tell where exactly the line is, I believe it is right to claim that there was a kind of special Art which was specific to Elves as Elves (and not to Fëanor because he was Fëanor, or to Fëanor because he happened to be in Valinor, or to Lúthien because she was special, or to Galadriel because she had the Ring etc).

Speaking of Rings, remember what Gandalf told to Frodo - that the Rings of Power were "too dangerous for mortals", implying that it is nothing the Men (or Hobbits) should meddle with, of course first, because it is dangerous, but I also believe that it implies that such kind of stuff is exactly not for them. (And maybe it is dangerous also because it is not for them. Again, you can see the same themes in "On Fairy-Stories", if you look at them from that perspective.) The same idea again being present, I believe, in the Smith of Wootton Major, where he is not supposed to keep the star which allows him to travel to Faërie - simply: anything, which directly relates to Fantasy, can be at most "borrowed" by Men, but to make permanent, real connection to Fantasy, to alter it "in flesh" is for Elves only. So even in Middle-Earth, Men do not, or should not have the power to alter things "magically", in another way than to make a sword out of iron or a house out of wood. But to make a glowing tree or a talking sword should basically be beyond human reach. Or that's how I would see it, hope it is understandable what I wanted to convey, even though I was sort of jumping between two perspectives here. But basically it all points to Tolkien's understanding of the Elves and Elven "craft": they have keys to something to which the Men will never have full access.