Sharpie checklist

I love Sharpies, but I am not too impressed with the Sharpie web site. Oh, it’s cute, but a little thin on the info. For instance, there is not a list of colors. You can only see each individual color as you mouse over it <sigh>. So I moused all over the site, writing down each color as it was revealed and thought some of you might want to have a copy of my Sharpie Checklist, too. I made both a checkbox and a space for hand coloring in case you want to test colors you don’t own yet (Office Depot is a great place for this since they have a bunch of individual Sharpies with the colors labeled). The column on the far left is my attempt to match up the Sharpie colors with the Bic Mark-It colors using an untrained eye and the Sharpies I could get my hands on for side by side comparison. In general, the Sharpies write brighter than the Bics, so there aren’t as many close matches as you’d expect.

A big disadvantage to Sharpies is that the color name does not appear on the marker itself and sometimes not on the package either so it can be difficult to tell what color Sharpie you hold in your hand. My next step is to label my Sharpies with their color names. Hmmm, I wonder if you can write on a Sharpie with a Sharpie?

Oh, and if you are looking for a Bic Mark-It Color List along with cross reference to Copic and Prismacolor colors, you can get that from Lindsay over at The Frugal Crafter blog.

Still more pre-filled gel pen fonts

All of these are available at fontspace.com. As with the last post, each is rendered at the largest size that will still appear filled in. I’m only printing a few letters of each now for these samples so as to save time and preserve ink.

More filled in fonts

Another batch of pre-filled fonts for your gel pen enjoyment. Be sure to test a letter or two with the font, size and pen you want before committing to the long drawing process. Take this from someone who has run out one gel pen in the process so far. When you look at the regular printed version of the font, you will see how very different they look rendered with gel pens, and this will help you learn to spot good candidates yourself.

Where to get them:
Scanografia (my fave!), YoYo and Needle are available at Fontstruct.com (free registration required).
Debonair Inline
Aria Penci Roman
HV Stripe ExtraB
YngreEBStripe

Pre-filled fonts for gel pens

I had a prior post where I gave a rather contorted procedure for filling in the fonts that you draw with Cricut markers, gel pens, etc. Today I had a better idea. Find fonts that already have a “fill” that works with the Cricut. So I tested a bunch of fonts with my gel pens and when one seemed promising, I reduced the size until the fill looked solid. Some look really nice with the crosshatch showing, as well. All of these are freebies from either fonts101.com or dafont.com.

Keep in mind that these take a long time to draw, so plan ahead. If you want to use markers instead of gel pens, there are many more options, or you can use the fonts above at even at larger sizes. Also see this previous post about single line fonts.

More gel pen jiggle testing

I have tried some more tests and find that I get less jiggle with the pastel and neon pens. My results are shown below. Notice that the Staples pastels show up better, but have a skipping problem. To print brighter with the Cri-Kit pens or cover over skipping with the Staples pens use multicut to draw over the lines a second time. (For reference, the top upper case ABC is 1/4 inch tall)

Pen fonts for your cutter

Now that we all have clever ways to use various pens and markers with our Cricuts, the problem remains that computer fonts aren’t made to write with pens using strokes like a person writes. Instead, TrueType fonts are defined by closed outlines so that there is open space in the center, and this becomes more pronounced the larger the font is rendered. This is great for cutting, but usually doesn’t give us the look we are after with pens and markers.

There is some indication that SCAL2 will cut with open paths, but it is unclear as to exactly how we can take advantage of that. In the meantime, I’ve tracked down 3 free fonts, that while not the best looking, do a great job of creating a single line look at a wide range of sizes. The sample was done with a gel pen holder from Amy Chomas. The numbers you see on the sample are the default size in SCAL1.

Bauhaus Engraved (last link on page)

Stymie Hairline (look above the capital E for the hidden link)

Agrafa Hairline (free registration required)

Update: here’s a great looking font you will want to grab to use with your gel pens.

Rose Water (thanks to Christy of the SureCutsALot Yahoo group for pointing this out)

Filled in letters with Cricut markers

I’ve heard a few folks looking for a way to create filled in text or shapes when using markers in their Cricut machine. Normally when you cut or draw letters, you get the outline of the font, with open space in the middle. In this Video Tutorial I’ll show you how to apply a screen pattern to the text in Inkscape so that it will fill in with your Cricut markers.

A couple of things to remember

1. Do not try to cut files you make this way, they are for markers only.

2. The size of the screen pattern should not be changed, so work in actual size and import into SCAL at that same size.

3. This takes a very long time to finish marking on the Cricut so take that into account when using this technique.

Download the screen file

Update 8/18/09 here are some great, much simpler, tips for solid lettering with markers on the Cricut from HeatherM.