OMG, you are so generous. I'd be thrilled to be able to come to you from time to time for advice on a troublesome icon or for general critique on technique; that is such an awesome offer. I hadn't heard of the idea of an icon beta before, but it makes total sense; it's such a key tool for writing, why not for graphics as well? I'll also try to be less shy about asking you how you've done certain things in icons of yours that I admire - which would be all of them, heh!, but I'll try to be moderate in my questions. (You're so kind to repeat the offer.) One particular icon of yours that I've studied and studied comes to mind immediately *g*, but this probably isn't the venue for that, so I'll drop a comment elsewhere in a little while, if you that would be all right with you.

I read through paddies's critique that you linked to above, and wow, that's helpful even for a third party whose icons are not the ones being analyzed. Just excellent training in learning to look. Thank you for pointing to it.

The LIMS idea continues to sound both exciting and daunting. :-) I think it's going to be a great contribution to the fandom. Way to go, you, for coming up with it!