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[TheCobblestoner]

Made this post on Reddit, but, I am a pretty new player, and my first Masterwork items were crafted.. in the first season. Two of them. Is this normal? And what should I do with them, other than put them in noble rooms?

[cochramd]

Masterwork items happen all the fucking time once you've got your dwarfs up to a decent skill level. So often, in fact , that it;s not unreasonable to give everyone in your fortress masterwork furniture and masterwork furniture only. Don't fret about it.

[martinuzz]

masterwork is not special like an artefact. It's just the best possible 'normal' quality modifier.

[PatrikLundell]

Getting two masterworks during the spring with completely untrained dwarves is lucky, but not impossible, as stated by others. I strive to use only masterworks for furniture, clothing, goblets, and instruments in my fortresses (it takes time to reach that point, of course), with inferior quality items disposed of via the garbage trucks (a.k.a. caravans).

[infrequentLurker]

The only thing to be wary of with early masterworks is losing them.  Beards get very upset when a masterwork of theirs is lost (taken off the map by a kobold or kea) or destroyed (melted in magma, obsidianized, atom smashed, mined out [masterwork engravings]), or otherwise ruined in a preventable manner (no bad thoughts from masterwork clothes being worn to tatters)

[martinuzz]

The unhappy thought is inversely proportional to the amount of masterworks produced by the dwarf. So if a dwarf already created 5634 masterpiece cat skull totems, he really won't mind much if one gets destroyed. Or at least, that used to be how it worked. EIther it is still so, or the unhappiness from losing a masterpiece is nerfed altogether with the new version thoughts.
I've atomsmashed quite a few spent masterpiece steel bolts, cleaning up my map, and although he did get an unhappy thought in his profile, it didn't make my weaponsmith one bit more distracted.

[PatrikLundell]

I recently (0.42.X) had a dorf get stunned by a masterworks loss, so it can still be severe. I don't remember if the dorf was experienced, though.

[Dunamisdeos]

I hoard masterwork valuables, such as gold crafts. Everything else gets traded.

A giant vault is usually involved, with absurd levels of security.

[Diamond]

Now that stats influence the result it is not really unusual to get mastercrafts at start. As long as you pay attention who you give the jobs to or get lucky combination, at least.

[Niddhoger]

Now that stats influence the result it is not really unusual to get mastercrafts at start. As long as you pay attention who you give the jobs to or get lucky combination, at least.

I thought that attributes (creativity, spatial sense, etc) always influenced crafting.

To the OP, check your dwarfs item preferences.  Matching preferences to jobs not only gives the dwarf a happy thought, but gives hidden skill bonuses.  A dwarf that likes statues will create higher quality statues than they will, say, tables at the same skill level. If the dwarf also likes marble, you can get even bigger bonuses making marble statues.  Combine this with random chance, an Urist can punch well above his paygrade and create a masterwork early on.  Conversely, a Legendary dwarf without matching preferences isn't even guaranteed to make an exceptional item (next lowest quality).  It can be rather frustrating when trying to force masterwork armor when your legendary +5 smith wants to throw 5+ duds in a row. 

Oh, and masterwork items carry a whopping x12 value multiplier on them.  They make excellent trade goods (just don't sell all the first ones away), and can massively boost a rooms value.  This is why weapon traps are broken for increasing room value.  You can stick 10 masterwork steel (edged, higher value) weapons in a trap with a masterwork mechanism.  Room value will skyrocket madly from placing 11 high value (steel is worth the same as gold) masterworks in one tile.  You can even -masterfully- decorate the mechanism first. 

[Detros]

Oh, and masterwork items carry a whopping x12 value multiplier on them.  They make excellent trade goods (just don't sell all the first ones away), and can massively boost a rooms value.  This is why weapon traps are broken for increasing room value.  You can stick 10 masterwork steel (edged, higher value) weapons in a trap with a masterwork mechanism.  Room value will skyrocket madly from placing 11 high value (steel is worth the same as gold) masterworks in one tile.  You can even -masterfully- decorate the mechanism first.

Wooden trap components (spiked balls especially) of high quality are usually much easier to obtain and they manage the job of rising room value decently enough.

[steel jackal]

later on in a good fort you will get "uristMcSweatShopWorker has created a masterwork" spammed in chat more often than your plump helmet farm generates "cannot plant seeds, item misplaced"