I usually take atleast an hour most of the time I take longer though...color combo's I usually like bright colors, I think thats a personal thing...about the edges..as long as it go's with the style you use and u use it balanced over the whole pieceyou can mix it up...looking at other peoples work usually gets me more inspired or just doin one random letter at a time if it works out stick another letter behind it and so on...if it doesn't work out start with another letter and go from there(but that's mainly cause I don't really write one name)I end up a lot of times with just one good letter though

but from time to time a whole piece comes out...I dunno guess I have a weird way of workin but hope it helps you in some way
peace