... to find this forum. I wasn't really looking, but I know a good thing when I trip over it.

I've put in nearly twenty years working on slot machines in Nevada and California. Now that the national industry is so much larger, the local industry has tightened.

I am one of the many coming to grips with the awareness that Social Security won't keep me off the streets once I become unhirable. This side of that PCH Prize Crew knock on the door, I'll never retire.

I am learning SVG as a means of widening my income opportunities and building something that can be sustained with maintenance and upgrades once I get it past the takeoff point.

For practice, I have been playing with the emblem used by the Pittsburgh Steelers. This experience has taught me how to:
1.) create a surrounding circle sized so as to allow the precise bounds for the interior symbols;
2.) build the "stars" from a single carefully laid arc;
3.) select the grid and tailor it to my preferences;
4.) set the guides so that they will be useful in orienting multiple objects;
5.) use four quadratic Bezier curves and the Fill tool to create a crudely-finished (i.e., w-i-p) surround that varies in width ...

I could go on for twice as long. But the next step is to back to Tavmjong Bah's extensive starter manual ([ Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program ) to complete the tutorials that follow the Introduction.

I am delighted to find this forum!

Now, back to work.