BA,
The attached image is from Jorge Cervantes' Marijuana Horticulture Growers Bible. Pretty much says what S5 said about where to take your clippings from, but with a picture. Also, thank you for asking these questions as this was something I was wondering myself.

S5/VG13,
Are there any advantages to keeping a mother plant and constantly cloning from her? The only thing that I can think is it's a little insurance policy that until you get another clone going to replace the mother plant, you don't have to constantly worry about your clones not taking hold before switching your veg room to 12/12.

The way I've heard cloning performed before is that clones C1 are taken from the mother. Once clones C1 have taken hold the mother is put to flower. Clones C2 are then taken from the C1 clones when they have reached maturity. Once C2 clones have taken hold C1 clones to flower. C3 clones are then taken from C2 and C2 is sent to flower, so on and so forth. Is this a proper way to carry out the cloning process? does it offer additional benefits or risks.

Thanks in advance for your time