Cody, I have only been at this a few months myself, so what I am going to pass on to you is from my "beginners" prospective. Others may disagree with me, but this is what is working for me. First, what Hardaway said would be a big help. Also, if there is a knap-in taking place in your area, go if you can. Check out all the videos on you tube you can. But this is the part I have discovered the hard way. When I started, I tried to do to much too fast. I wanted to learn copper and ABO and I wanted to work with every material. This got real frustrating real fast. My suggestion would be to pick one or the other, either copper or ABO. And I would pick one particular material. Most people start with glass because it is easy and cheap. The biggest mistake I made was trying glass, obsidian and all kinds of different rocks that I had collected and have no idea what kind they are and all in the same sitting. The problem with this is they all act different and I wasn't spending enough time on one type to really learn before I was wacking something else. And the way one thing flakes is different from another type. Basically what I learned was to pick a type tool and one type material. Work it until you understand the basics really well. Give it time and then expand to other tools and other materieals.
