Using MSWord to generate circular text for cutting

I have been getting a lot of questions about how to make circular text since I posted the video on moving the letters with mesh. While circular/curved text can be done in Inkscape, (see this video) the best tool out there is probably already on your computer, its the WordArt widget that’s been in Microsoft Word for years. It is an incredibly powerful and flexible feature with a friendly user interface (did I really just say that about a Microsoft product?) and the best part is that it generates vector output. So here’s how to use it for your cutting projects.

Step 1: Generate your circular/curved text in a blank MSWord document. If you don’t know how to do that, see this video. Edited to add Important: Windows users need to right click on the WordArt object, select Format WordArt, click on the Colors and Lines tab and under Fill> Color choose black and under Line> Color: select No Line. Text will show up solid black in Word and Inkscape instead of as shown in the Mac screen shots below.

Step 2: Print to PDF. If you have a Mac, do as shown in the screen shot. If you have Windows, keep reading.

Step 3: Import the PDF file you generated in Step 2 (default settings, click OK). Click to select the circular text object and then click the Ungroup button repeatedly until you see the word “Path” instead of the word “Group” indicated in the tip bar. (In my example it took 4 clicks). If you don’t see the Ungroup button widen your window, or select Ungroup from the Object menu.

Step 4: Save and name your file in Inkscape’s default format (SVG). Open a new document in Sure-Cuts-A-Lot and import your SVG.

If you have Windows and have installed a PDF print driver like Cute PDF, you can also use the above technique, but here’s an even better one:

Download and install SVG Factory. Create your WordArt as in Step 1. Select and copy it (to the clipboard). Open SVG Factory and paste. SVG Factory will convert the WordArt to an SVG and let you save it to the location of your choice. Import the SVG into Sure-Cuts-A-Lot, if you like, and it will look like the screen shot directly above. That’s right, you can generate curved text for cutting without Inkscape. Is that cool or what?!

Re-update: Added an extra step to fix issues with Windows version

Another update: A reader reminded me that the Microsoft’s WordArt feature is also included in Publisher. I should also mention it’s in Excel and Powerpoint, too, as well as MS Works versions earlier than 8.5. Might be worth picking an a bargain bin or ebay copy of Works or Publisher just for this feature.

Another update: SVGFactory.com seems to be defunct. If you don’t already have SVGFactory then stick with the PDF version.

In search of more elegant stencil fonts

You may have noticed that sometimes you want to use the negative space on your Cricut cutouts on a layout, craft or as a stencil for painting, embossing, screen printing, etc. Unfortunately, those pesky little trapped spaces like the triangle in the uppercase A (called counters) cause problems for negative space applications. You may also have noticed that most of the stencil fonts currently available scream military/industrial complex. Recently, I’ve run across a couple of posts that are addressing this problem, as well as giving instructions on how to mod any font you like for stencil use.

Michael Mandino and Patrick Davidson have a stencil version of Zapfino they call Stencilano available for download here.

Denise over at Denise’s Scrapbooking Room has a couple of stencil letter sets in SVG format.

Stencil letters from Denise

A giant source of public domain SVG files

Finding art that is legal to use can be frustrating, but here’s a tool for images you can know are OK for just about any purpose. The Open Clipart Library is a repository of SVG files started by the folks that develop Inkscape. It is a growing source for public domain artwork. If you have created original art in SVG format, you might consider uploading it to the open source community there. Some versions of Inkscape have an openclipart import/export feature in the file menu, making it even easier to download or upload images. The disadvantage of the OCL has been the lack of thumbnails and inefficient search tools. But now another site, clker.com has made the contents of the OCL available with thumbnails. The search function is still kinda quirky, but at least you can scan visually to find images that might be cut-friendly.

Screen shot of clker.com

More on using the Paint Bucket in Inkscape

Wow, the response to the first video has been overwhelming, literally. I am approaching my bandwidth limit at screencast and am looking for a different way to host the tutorials. Here is the second video, which shows how to use the Inkscape paint bucket technique to convert a color image into color separated vectors for cutting on your Cricut. If this doesn’t work, please try this alternate site for viewing the video.

New Technique for Making Piecing Patterns in Inkscape

Did you know you can use the Paint Bucket tool in Inkscape to trace a bitmap piece by piece? Well, you can and it’s a fun and easy technique you’ll want to add to your arsenal. Click for part 1 of the video tutorial which covers how to convert a black and white (line art) coloring book page  into vector form for paper piecing patterns you can cut with your Cricut.

Free SVG silhouettes at UberPiglet

For those of you that were frustrated with the earlier vector packs because of the conversion required, you are going to love this site. Uberpiglet.com has an outstanding collection of silhouettes that are already in SVG format. All you need to do is open them up in Inkscape and save the image you want into a new document for import into SCAL.

Some examples include the Safari and Farm Animals set from Spoon Graphics:

and the Transportation Pack from D.A.T.:

There are 15 sets in all covering business people, dancing people, sports, florals and more. SCAL users are going to want all of them!

Instant font slideshow in Mac OSX (Leopard)

Compared to the PC side, there is a dearth of font viewing software for Macs. In particular, none of the freebies and few of the for-pay font utilities I have found allow you to view uninstalled fonts. However, you can view the character sets for your fonts, whether installed or uninstalled with this Mac OSX Leopard  trick.

Open a finder window and select the fonts you want to view. Here I have filtered my downloaded fonts folder by searching for “ttf” to eliminate most of the folders and read me files. It doesn’t matter what view you are in. I am showing this in the cover flow view, because some of you may not know you can use it for fonts.

Next just tap the space bar (or the QuickView icon which looks like an eye) and your font slide show window will appear. Use the arrow keys to navigate or click on the triangle on the screen to play the slideshow automatically.

The contact sheet button works, too, though it acted a little quirky for me .

This is really a lot of fun to play with. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

A new font from old shapes

As promised, allow me to introduce PunchDings, a dingbat font I created on YourFonts.com by gluing shapes from my (much bigger than I realized) collection of craft punches onto the font template.

Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. Download the TrueType font here. If you’d like to share this font, please help me publicize my blog by sharing a link to this page instead of just the font file. The sharing button in the right hand column makes that easy. Thanks!

Create your own font online for free

Update: yourfonts is no longer free

One of my favorite web apps of late is called YourFonts and it lets you create a personal font online. All you need is a printer and a scanner. The process is very simple, first you download and print their grid page, write in your letters and then scan the page. Alternately, you can download a bitmap version of the grid and paste in your own art or input with a graphics tablet. You could also cut and paste letters from a handwriting sample for a more natural look. Once your grid is filled in to your satisfaction, upload it to YourFonts and within minutes you can download your brand new TrueType font, ready to install. Amazingly, this service is free. You don’t even have to register.

The applications for this are enormous. Scrapbookers can type in their own handwriting, parents can preserve their children’s handwriting, companies can put their logos in easy reach, the list goes on. And I’m sure you SCAL users are already dreaming up ways you can use this to create cuttable outlines for your Cricut machine. Watch for my next post when I’ll show you my newest font creation, made at YourFonts.com.

A cure for inkjet transfer disaster

I made some awesome inkjet transfer t-shirts last week for all the parents of one of my kid’s teams. We looked great at the competition until one of the kids got the idea to start splashing water at his folks. The thick bar of black ink bordering the design began to run (I didn’t have time to wash the shirts before handing them out). Our shirts made it out unscathed and then I accidentally left them wet in the washing machine, which is always a no-no with inkjet transferred shirts.

With another competition coming up I didn’t want to just throw the practically brand new shirts away. I had an old box of Dylon Run Away in the laundry room and I figured I didn’t have anything to lose so I tried it on the shirts. I thought it might take the stray ink out, but I figured it would also destroy the design, since it is for white fabrics only. After using the hot water in the sink method, I was elated to discover that the shirts were repaired completely! The inkjet design was a little faded, but not any more than it would have been after a few washings.

So if you run into stains from bleeding inkjet transfers, I recommend you try Dylon Run Away (box shown below). Unfortunately, I don’t remember where I got it and I’m not even sure it is made anymore, but I understand that Rit Color Remover is similar so that might be an alternate solution.