Does anyone else use household items for lighting? Examples would be great

I've been at photography for a little bit now (about 4 months) so I'm not completely new, I've been reading and learning a lot. I got my first DSLR a few weeks ago. Nikon D3100. I've used full manual since day one.

Right now, I'm just learning, doing some volunteer work and as a hobby. For most things I shoot, natural light is sufficient. But I would like to be able to do some photography around the house for times when I don't get to get out to shoot. I've been trying to look up some at home tutorials for various projects, like low key, water splash photography, flower photography, but it seems that multiple light sources are needed. All I have is my on camera flash and tripod at the moment. I will be investing in a speedlite, but not soon.

I've been doing some reading for fill flash which I would like to start getting a feel for that as well.

I've been reading up on some shortcuts with the on camera flash, on how to make home made diffusers. Does anyone here know if making a diffuser for the on camera flash is worth it and is it possible to use household lamps as a substitute for light sources? Are any special bulbs in particular to use for lighting?

Some of my photos

My flickr

Any examples of what you've been able to do with limited resources or the on camera flash would be great!

You have a good eye, I like your stuff.

Some things will be very hard to do with household lights. Shooting at a high shutter speeds is really not possible unless you raise your ISO really high which in turn will give you too much noise. Your built in flash is not going to do you much good either. You can get fluorescent tubes and a holder for the tubes at home depot and use that as a light source. That little set up won't cost you much. The light is not very powerful but it is soft. If you go that route, get daylight tubes. They will be marked on the box, look for 5600 degree Kelvin or number near that like 5200-5500, can't recall what the boxes say. Now you have a light source to do indoor pictures but you will need a fairly slow shutter speed. If you don't have a tripod, find something as stable as possible to rest your camera and shoot away. This will work well for still life shots and can even work for portraits if you shoot at 1/125 sec.

Cheap diffuser:
Buy a ping pong (table tennis) ball or some toy plastic golf balls.

Cut out a slot and slip it over the flash.

It costs you a fair amount of light, but it does soften it.

Reflectors:
The pop-up or fold-up sunshades made for cars work well. I bought a silver one and sprayed one side of it with white paint for two different "looks".

For fill flash or attempting to replicate natural lighting, I would stay away from lamps or other house hold lighting.

However, if you want to try cool photography, there are lots of things you can use with slow shutter speeds in low lighting.

* flash lights of all sorts
* laser pens
* candles/fire (be careful)
* glow sticks
* sparklers (be careful)
* LED lights
* etc

There's a review on a photography book here that has a ton of great "light painting" techniques (as well as many other great tricks to learn).

http://www.great-photography-tips.com/Photography-Tips-Reviews-Photography-eBooks.php