[Note, I am trying to keep as many of the points as vertical and horizontal as I can, in order to make clean paths.]

Some good stuff –especially by John Hudson– here:
http://www.typophile.com/node/96989

hhp

Thanks, hrant...I thought it might be a common question, but I was not sure how to search for it here. I'll see if those tips help me slay my dragon.

A bit of a hassle to find on the site, but there is a very comprehensive description about constructing /s/ on
http://briem.net

Of course, that letter famously gave Donald Knuth difficulty when working on Computer Modern.

https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/euclid.bams/1183544082