Using The Pinsetter Line Font In Design Space - Single Line Vs Hairline Fonts

 
"A single line/hairline version of pinsetter for sketch pens, foil quill, engraving, and more!"  

https://bit.ly/3Jo0Bs1

Today I was finishing up a tutorial on how to make this puppy dog birthday card with cricut.  [It's a pdf file I converted]  I wanted to have cricut do the writing for me, so I tried one of the true single line fonts I bought when they were on sale awhile back.  [I think they were in the $1 deals?]  Anyway - in this bundle was the Pinsetter font.

Find the tutorial, and file, for this card here:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/06/pop-up-puppy-card-from-pdf-to-svg.html

When you download the pinsetter line font, it comes with two versions - a TRUE single line, and a Hairline, version. True Single Line fonts work in very few programs. It's hit or miss in Design Space. Hairline fonts appear single line in Design Space, but the pen will actually trace over them twice. Still, hairline is often the more reliable option, and it looks as if it were single line, which is typically all that matters anyway.

The top line is the Pinsetter Line 1 - TRUE single line.

The Bottom Text is Pinsetter Line 2 - Hairline

Note the extra lines in the true line version.  That happens often, with true single line fonts in cricut.

Here's more about my experience with the Pinsetter font:

First off, the cursive letters do not touch with this font.  They aren't supposed to.  But after years of Design Space not properly spacing fonts [that's mostly fixed these days] I struggle with this being a purposeful design choice.  

It looks, from the preview photos, as if this font has ligatures - which occur naturally.  That is not the case.  To get this look, you mix and match, like using glyphs.  You can do this by copying and pasting from the included pdf file.  That's a lot of work, and in my experience, extremely difficult, because...

There IS text here.  It just cannot be seen.

This font does not display properly in most programs.  In fontlab pad, PinsetterLine 2 does not show at all.  You see a white screen.  The font IS there, and if you save it as an svg and upload it to Design Space, it will draw just fine.  But you can't see what you are uploading.

The obvious solution to this is to bypass Fontlab Pad, install the font, and type it into Design Space "normally".  But, that also did not work for me.  It did for "Happy", but for birthday, Design Space just didn't read the text - it managed the circle on top of the I only.  To get cricut to write the word birthday, I had to use fontlab pad, save it as an svg, and upload it into Design Space.  

Was that a one time glitch?  No - because I've had this happen before.  Randomly.  I've tried creating new projects, restarting both my laptop and Design Space..  but sometimes, these true single line fonts simply will not work in Design Space, no matter what I do.  Truly random - as in this case, sometimes ONE text box (Happy) will write fine and another (Birthday) simply will not.

Resamitz is another TRUE single line font that is hit or miss with Design Space.  This one is FREE however.  I have a list of some other FREE truly single line fonts here:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2021/07/true-single-line-fonts-to-write-with-in.html

And in that post, I have this explanation, on the difference between "Single Line" and "Hairline" fonts:

All system fonts are hit or miss in Design Space.  Most of the time, they work - but most of the time is not all of the time.  True single line fonts work slightly less than average fonts.  Personally, I prefer hairline fonts that APPEAR single line. That's good enough for me.  :-)

Others will suggest you simply buy the writing fonts sold by cricut I won't do that personally, because I can't actually buy the font.  I can either rent Access in Design Space, for a monthly fee, or I can pay a one time rental fee for one particular font, that I can use as long as it exists in DS.  There is no way to purchase and download the font from Cricut.  I would rather purchase fonts I can actually download.  That's my preference - and as I say over and over, what works for me may not work best for you, we all have to figure out our best options based on how we work in our own spaces.  :-)

Of course, for me, the best options are the ones I don't buy at all - but rather download for FREE!   Montepetrum and Always Here are two of my favorites, both free hairline fonts.  Here's hundreds more, tested by pen size:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/11/6-single-line-fonts-that-will-write.html