I was an industrial design major in college, and I spent countless hours in our photo studio. I do some graphic design and photography as well. I have a Rebel XT too. The most important thing in photography is lighting. I did most of my portfolio photos with a Nikon FE manual SLR and slide film. The downside is that studio equipment can get very costly, but don't worry, it's possible to shoot on a shoestring budget.
If where you live has good fair/sunny weather, I would consider setting up a studio outdoors. Sunlight is great. All you need is a table and covered by some white or black background paper (the kind they sell 4' rolls). You also need a wall and duct tape. You gotta make sure your wall and table can be set up at the propoer angle to the sunlight (I prefer mornings. Avoid shooting at noon when the light is directly above, and late afternoon when it is yellow). Since sunlight will be coming from one direction, you can get a large piece of white foam board to reflect light from the opposite angle. You can use multiple pieces of white foam board of different sizes to reflect the light on to your object.
You'll also probably need a tripod. I assume the auto white balance is sufficient, but if you want to get technical, you can use a gray card, and do a manual white balance, that's fine too. I prefer doing that. Instructions on the XT manual. You're mostly set. Word of caution, since you're outdoors, stay away from trees, birds, light poles, cables that may cause shadows or stuff on your project. Sometimes overhead cables are hard to spot. When you're working outdoors, the sun and shadows move.
If shooting outdoors is not an option, all you need is a closed (block out stray light) room with the same setup, and 2 lights. You can get softboxes or cool boxes (ie,
http://www.tabletopstudio.com or your local camera/photo store). The cool boxes basically is a soft box with a daylight adjusted flourescent spiral light bulb. They're great b/c it won't melt you, they're daylight adjusted, and last longer. Place one light on the left and one on the right and your object in the middle. Use foam board for reflectors. You can use 1 light and a reflector too, but 2 or 3 is preferable. Those lights can cost you about $200, and save yourself from renting a studio.
Oh, you don't really need to use your flash. Some photographers prefer flash but I'm not a expert on using flash.
good luck,
dw
