halftone effect in inkscape

i've been trying to do a halftone effect in inkscape for awhile now. i was reading the chapter about "tiled clones" in tavjong bah's inkscape guide one day. it showed how color can be used to create a group of stars with different sizes. i didn't think much about it at the time.

that night i had a dream about using this tech to create a halftone effect. when i awoke, i wrote my dream down (i do that a lot). i tried it out in inkscape and it works just fine.

here is what i came up with.

note: the templates can also be made in gimp using it's many gradient features and is actually easier that way.

i hope some find this useful. part two to come...