If you want to play around with off camera lighting on the cheap, you can buy a couple of these at your local hardware store:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stor...uctId=100354514

Put a 150w bulb in each, set your white balance to tungsten, clamp them on the back of a chair or on a hat rack. Tape a piece of diffusion paper over them and it gets even better.