As an Artisan, combat won't be your main priority, unless you decide to make a hybrid character that does both. (Such characters are a lot of fun, IMO.) Crafting is a guide in of itself, so I'll only touch up on the basics here. If you want to really learn some good stuff, you might want to check out some fan sites, for some in depth guides.

Anyway, when you start off, you should have some important tools: A General crafting tool, and survey tools.

Every thing in SWG is made using tools similar to this. Your survey tools are what you use to get resources to make things.