Runes of Magic US / AU

Did you actually talk to one of the trainers and get the respective skill you're trying to use first? An easy way to tell is to open your General Skill tab and make sure you have the skill listed. If not, the trainers are usually near the related equipment.

There are several things here that OP might be confused about.

First, there is a difference between "gathering" skill and "crafting" skill, but they are related. The pairs are:

Extraction (gathering) - Alchemy (crafting)
Woodcutting (gathering) - Carpentry (crafting)
Smelting (gathering) - Blacksmithing (crafting)

Gathering lets you gather and refine materials. Processing lets you make items out of the materials. Both can be done at the same station.

To make ash timber or zinc dust, you need raw materials and you need to know gathering recipes. They are obtained from trainer in Pioneer Colony or Obsidian Stronghold.

Once you refine raw materials into processed ones, you can use crafting skills to convert those materials into usable product. Once again, you will need recipes, and for the products, they can be bought or found. The basic recipes can be had from vendors, in Logar or Obsidian Stronghold. Advanced ones drop from mobs.

Also, Heffner camp has both gathering and crafting trainers and recipe sellers, but I am not sure if it has every profession.

HTH.