Cricut Design Studio’s most used and enjoyed function is the weld option where crafters can weld letters together to make words or of course shapes together to make new images. When making words with letters can you do it one of two ways, manipulate all the letters together as one image or bring in each letter separately and change each letter individually.
On the cutting mat the letters will appear as you type them. Clicking on the group of letters means any adjustments made for example to size, will affect all of them. Otherwise type each letter pressing enter in between each one so you create individual letters to change. The following guide takes you through both welding options.
Welding letters as a group.
Once you type in the word click on it so it is selected and then adjust the kerning to .005 or 0 and apply. Kerning is how much space you are leaving in between each letter. Now the letters have moved together and some are overlapping. To move individual letters so that all are overlapping click on it and a dashed lines indicates which letter you are going to be moving. Once that is done click on the whole word and click on the welding box under shape properties. The word should have dark lines that indicate where the cutting will happen and light lines to show where the welding happened.
Welding letters individually.
Doing it this way comes in handy when you want each letter a different size. The key to doing it this way is that you must press enter after each letter you type so that you are deselecting the last letter before bringing in a new one. You do not need to use the Kerning feature just add each letter of the word, using enter and change the letter to what you want each time. After changing each letter remember to click the welding box for each one. Once finished preview the word and check there is a dark line where you want the cut to happen and the light lines for where you welded. If you notice a letter looks different to the others because it is solid and filled in this means you forgot to weld it so go back and do it.
As you can see welding is simple to do but is a great creative tool to have at your fingertips.
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