Blessing: Hephaistos values hard work, honesty, dependability, and above all, loyalty. He is not concerned with getting the glory, but with getting the job done, and doing it well. He encourages his followers to tackle their problems with vigor and persistence, and shows them how to take rough and unpleasant things and turn them into works of beauty. He is a peacemaker, capable of seeing the many different sides of an argument. He doesn’t jump into a fray until he has carefully weighed all sides of the dilemma. But when he does, his actions are swift, decisive, and effecient. He is the patron of all civilized arts, though smiths and metalworkers are his special charges.
Epithets: Ambidexter (Skillful), Aithaloeis theos (Sooty god): Klytos (Renowned), Klytotekhnes (famed-for-craft), Amphigueeis (Doubly-lame), Polymetis (Resourceful), Khalkeus (Bronze-working), Kyllopodiôn (of crooked feet)
Equated with: Vulcan, Ptah, Khnum
Associations: forge, anvil, tongs, quail, frankincense, fire opal, aloe, red poppy, hibiscus, nettle, galbanum, olibanum
Festivals:
Katallageia (5-6 Audçnaios)
Khalkeia (last day Dios)
Ways to Honor: Work with your hands, particularly in making jewelry, smithing, or home repair projects. Support artisans and craftspeople. Support those with disabilities. Read about volcanoes and earthquakes. Visit the site of one, if you’re able. Be a peacemaker.
See also Harnessing Fire, a devotional anthology in honor of Hephaestus from Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Ancient Texts:
Excerpts from Bibliotheca Historica by Diodorus Siculus
Excerpt from Concerning Images by Porphyry
Excerpts from De Natura Deorum by Cicero
Homeric Hymn XX (To Hephaestus)
Orphic Hymn LXVI (To Hephaestus)
Modern Texts:
Cast Away by Jason Ross Inczauskis
Hephaestus by Reverend Allyson Szabo
Hephaistos’ Hammer by P Sufenas Virius Lupus
Hymn to Hephaestus I by Rebecca Buchanan
Hymn to Hephaestus II by Rebecca Buchanan
The Smith by Diotima Sophia
To Hephaistos by Amanda Aremisia Forrester
Rituals and Festivals:
Katallageia by Amanda Aremisia Forrester
Essays:
A Meditation on Hephaestus by Poppaeus
Links:
Wikipedia entry for Hephaestus
Carlos Parada on Hephaestus
neosalexandria 
There’s a dissertation about him floating on the internet. You can view it here (free download too):
The Return of Hephaistos: Reconstructing the Fragmented Mythos of the Maker
http://pacifica.academia.edu/CherylDeCiantis/Papers/769964/The_Return_of_Hephaistos_Reconstructing_the_Fragmented_Mythos_of_the_Maker
Also here’s this little summary:
http://www.men-myths-minds.com/Hephaestus-greek-god.html