Fields Of Heather: Fonts

Showing posts with label Fonts. Show all posts

Making The Most Of My CF Subscription - Wavy Fonts

Maximizing My Creative Fabrica Subscription - Wavy Fonts

How To Create Wavy Text For FREE

How To Make Wavy Text FOR FREE - No Cricut Access Subscription Required!
Lots of options for customizing the types of wave, and your projects can be exported as svgs.

The programs I use to view my fonts, and save my text as an svg to be used in Cricut - WITHOUT installing the fonts on my computer.

Where To Find Free Heart Fonts

Free Fonts With Heart Glyphs
[Including No Character Map Needed "Easy Glyphs"]

My Font Categories

The first step in organizing my fonts was to create my own categories. These do not need to make sense to anyone else, they are strictly for my own reference. They may not technically be the correct description of the font. That doesn't matter. This step of the organizing process is all about how I see the fonts. Because I may not be able to find them if I have to remember terms like serif. :-) Your categories may be completely different! Think about what works for you. I'm including a break down of my categories, along with visuals of some of the fonts I have in each category, below.

Each category gets its own folder. I don't hesitate to put the same font in more than one folder - font files are generally pretty small and do not take up much space.

When cutting text from paper, for on the front of greeting cards in particular, stencil fonts often work best. This style of font cuts away with no need to save the little inside pieces in letters like e, and a.

Here's an example of an insert card, made using a lions head stencil image, and a stencil font.

"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

Free Ligature Fonts & How to Use Them

This weeks free font bundle is ligature fonts. Here's a quick look at what that means, and how to use them, as well as a list of FREE Ligature fonts, for when this bundle is no longer free.

Free Fonts With Lots Of Swirls

No Character Map Needed

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Truly single line fonts for use with pens and the draw feature in Cricut

When using the pens with cricut, the pen will follow the same path as the blade, typically giving you an outlined, or "bubble" text. There are more than 100 free fonts that will collapse on themselves and appear single line, but there are also free truly single line fonts - some of which are shown above.

Tips & Tricks For Using Fonts In Cricut Design Space

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An Index Of The Posts In The

Facebook 5pm Font Posts

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Comparing Sites That Identify Fonts

Comparing Four Different Sites To Help You Identify Fonts

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The Cliff Notes on my results - I had the best results from What Font Is (NOT the same as What The Font.) Fontsquirrel did a terrible job matching the font, however, it's the one app that always recommends FREE alternatives. Most of the identifiers only show you paid fonts.

Quick Links:

What Font Is was the clear winner - it correctly identified all three fonts
More about using Fontlab Pad
Where To Find Free Fonts

If you are on any cricut facebook groups, you have seen the daily question - What Is This Font? In some cases, like I Love Glitter, and Samantha, it can be obvious. But in most cases... it's pretty hard to tell! So many fonts have glyphs - which means the characters may look different. You can have two completely different versions of one letter in a font, if you use glyphs.

That said, there are sites that will help identify fonts. Tonight I took three different fonts from my collection and ran them through each site, to compare their results. What Font Is was the clear winner - it correctly identified all three fonts. What The Font came in second. Font Squirrel was the only site to offer free font suggestions.

And it's important to note that with Herina, the ligatures were not shown in the matched results. Had I not known that Herina was the correct font, I may not have believed the sites were accurate in their suggestion.

Here's a step by step of the fonts I used, and the results for each:

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THE FONTS

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These are the samples I started with. They were typed in fontlab pad and saved as pngs, so these are clearer and better quality than what is often used when trying to identify a font. I very purposefully chose a paid font, a font with ligatures, and a FREE font, for this experiment, as I was curious if paid fonts would have better results.

This font is not free - it's part of a font duo that is typically on sale at Fontbundles for around $6.

http://bit.ly/3Kh0cc4

This is the free version, found here:

https://bit.ly/3XyCWJr

Note - these are not glyphs, this font has "ligatures". They appear automatically, no need for a character map. Not all fonts have ligatures, but if a font has them, they appear based on letter combinations. Design Space cannot read them and will never show them.

This is the free demo version of Dafont

https://www.dafont.com/watermelon-script.font

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The Sites

I ran each font image through 4 different sites, so compare the results.

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The Results

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Test #1

This font is not free - it's part of a font duo that is typically on sale at Fontbundles for around $6.

http://bit.ly/3Kh0cc4

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https://www.whatfontis.com/

What Font Is correctly identified Amastery Hand. Clicking on the download button took me to Creative Market to purchase the font, where it costs twice as much as it would at Fontbundles [It seems to always be on sale at Fontbundles]. So if you are going to purchase the font, be sure to shop around and compare prices.

The other three sites did not have great results.

https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

These are actually the best results I have ever gotten from What The Font. For some reason, I rarely have any success with this site, personally, even though it is by far the most recommended option.

It didn't identify the font, but the options it came up with are somewhat similar.

https://www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator

Font Squirrel didn't come close - however, it did offer a couple of free alternatives, which was nice - even if they really don't look much at all like Amastery Hand. :-)

https://www.fontspring.com/matcherator

This site was the most frustrating to use - I received a variety of errors before it finally worked. The results were not great, for this font.

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Test #2

FREE at Fontbundles:

https://bit.ly/3XyCWJr

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https://www.whatfontis.com/

Again, What Font is got it correct on the first try.

https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

But surprisingly, What The Font got it right too!

However, if I didn't know what this font is, I may not have thought either site got it right. Neither of these sites show the ligatures in their identifications. The only reason I am certain they got the identification correct is because I knew the font name before I started.

Also - both of these sites take direct you to a paid version. There's a really nice free version available at Fontbundles, the free version is what I used for my sample text.

https://www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator

Neither Font Squirrel Nor Fontspring came even close. It may have been helpful to use shorter samples, I could have cropped this down more maybe...

https://www.fontspring.com/matcherator

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TEST #3

This is a free demo version of the Watermelon Script Font, from Dafont

https://www.dafont.com/watermelon-script.font

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https://www.whatfontis.com/

What Font Is is 3 for 3. This time the font was on down the list, but the correct font was listed.

https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

What The Font didn't get it - although I will say that Bromello is a fairly close match. There is a free version of Bromello - it's always worth checking to see if the font listed as a paid font has a free version.

https://www.fontspring.com/matcherator

Not even remotely close.

I completely gave up with this font on FontSquirrel. I tried several times but could not isolate any portion of the text that the site could work with.

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Free fonts that write in cricut, free Rae Dunn inspired fonts, free dual layer shadow fonts....

Where To Find Loads Of Free Fonts

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2020/05/where-to-find-loads-of-free-fonts.html

Cheat Sheet - Font Terms

A Printable Cheat Sheet Of Font Terms, and a second sheet, showing the difference between using system fonts in Design Space, compared to other programs.

Download the Printable from the Facebook Album Here:
https://www.facebook.com/fieldsofheathercrafts/photos/a.742157633388904/742157390055595

Here's a more detailed look at what is in the printable:

Kerning adjusts the space between individual letters. It’s what makes your text, especially cursive text, connect properly. Design Space does not read font kerning. You can ungroup system fonts & manually space them, or type text into the free fontlab pad & save as an svg.

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/01/using-fontlabpad-with-cricut-design.html

A ligature is a special character that combines two (or sometimes three) characters into a single character. In most programs they appear automatically, but not in Design Space. If a font has ligatures, to see them, use a program like fontlab pad, and save your text as an svg. This font is Herina - FREE! Find it here: https://fontbundles.net/free-fonts/other/herina-font/rel=mno4va

A glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". These are often alternate letters, with extra swirls and tails. You will need a character map to see the glyphs, then copy and paste them into the text box.

How To Find & Use Font Glyphs - https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-to-find-use-glyphs-in-fonts.html

"Easy Glyphs” are fonts that have glyphs, but do not require a character map. For these fonts, you use keys such as ( ) or [ ] to add the tails or extras. For Cheat Sheets of Easy Glyph Fonts: https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/09/fonts-with-tails.html

When you use the markers in Cricut, the pen will follow the path of the blade, causing most text to outline, or “bubble”. Cricut has “writing fonts” (not free) that will write as solid letters. Or, there are hundreds of FREE FONTS that will “collapse on themselves”, or that are true single line. Find the free fonts here: https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/11/6-single-line-fonts-that-will-write.html

An “Extrude” layer is a shadow layer. In fonts like the one to the left, you type the text twice—once in the “regular” version, and once in the “extrude” version. Then you layer the normal version on top of the extrude layer, to create a shadow or outline layer. Find free dual layer fonts here: https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2019/05/free-dual-layer-shadow-fonts.html

Dingbats' are fonts made up of images. These will cut in Design Space, just like any other font! Find a list of dingbat fonts here: https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-to-use-free-dingbat-fonts-as-cut.html

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Part Two
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Download the Free Printable from the facebook album here:

https://www.facebook.com/fieldsofheathercrafts/photos/a.742157633388904/742157400055594

Part Two shows you the difference between using the fonts in Design Space, which does not read any of the instructions designers program into fonts, and using the same fonts in another program.. It also identifies the fonts I used:

The Fonts (click on the link to go to the download page)

Amastery (Not Free)

Herina (Free)

Samantha Craft (Not Free)

Sweet Hipster (Free)

Always Here (Free)

Ginchiest (Not Free)

Harry Potter & The Dingbats (Free)

Although Design Space now is now MUCH better about spacing fonts properly, it still does not read font kerning, and will not be able to use the ligatures, if a font has them. I use fontlab pad to work around the font issues in Design Space. Fontlab Pad is FREE, and will save your text as an svg. It's only for computers, there is not an app version. On phones and tablets, many choose to use the phonto app.

More about using Fontlab Pad

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/01/using-fontlabpad-with-cricut-design.html

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