Aw, thanks, glad you liked the tut! :)
LOL painstaking is the right word alright. I wish I could make icons a bit more... effortlessly? idk, in a way that doesn't take this many hours and layers. .__.
I so wish the variance thing was something I had come up with on my own but I'm pretty sure it was raiindust I learned it from. She's awesome like that!