Al,
Your flash and homemade diffusers are fine for smaller objects up to about 12 inch cube, beyond that then large light sources ( lightboxes ) make life a lot easier.
There are lots of pics showing set ups in the ' Behind the scenes '. In all cases where I have used a softbox then a smaller flash and diffuser could have been substituted. Purely a matter of conveniance for me as the flash in the softbox is mains powered, and I can leave it turned on so saves me lots on batteries. My other flashguns are old and do not go onto standby when not in use. All of Foxys pics are taken with standard flash units.
As Stephen has said the background choice is just as important as the subject. Something plain that does not clash.
Quite a bit of trial and error for light postitioning in the first few objects you take on.
For metal objects then sometimes a bit of harder light from an undiffused flash, or using silver foil reflector, ( kitchen foil scrunched up and flattened attatched to a bit of card ) helps to create highlights.
I will have a look later for something similar, so I can do a behind the scenes to explain my ramblings.
Don
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