I suggest going to the tradeskill forums and clicking on the first post in this area which should be called "Sticky: Trade Skills Sticky". This is what most of the gentlemen on in this area reffer to as "THE sticky" often with profane refferences towards those whom do not appreciate it's existence.
It has a section called "general trade questions" which should provide you with some guidance along your tradeskilling journey as well as the all important "How do I make monkey of this crap?" question.
If you search for "THE sticky" and can not find it you could
click here, but what fun would that be?