Starting out

Hey everyone,

I'm starting out with making costumes and I'd like to know if there's a really good resource for newbs to check out. I just figure if someone can point me in the right direction now, it'll save me asking a bunch of dumb questions later.

I'm planning on building a couple firefly costumes (Mal and Zoe) which should be easy. And possibly a tuscan raider and who knows what after that. I'm on a tight budget, but I'm semi-skilled with leather work. I guess the hardest part for me is finding the weapons. I would like to have metal (or at least something that won't break super easy) cap guns or something cheap like that which I can modify.

Thanks so much.

Cal

EDIT: Got more specific.