Let’s learn how to add text flourishes to fonts in Cricut Design Space! You can use these techniques to figure out how to add tails to fonts in Cricut, how to work with glyphs in Design Space, and how to extend letters in Cricut too.
New to Cricut Design Space?
Ever wondered how to make swashes in fonts appear? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to know how to add font flourishes in Cricut. We’ll cover it all, but you’ll need a basic understanding of Cricut Design Space.
If you’re new to Cricut, you might want to start at the beginning. Want to walk through an entire project tutorial? Check out how to make a T-shirt in Cricut with this free tutorial. You can watch the entire process!
What Are Cricut Flourishes?
So, what are Cricut flourishes anyway? What are Cricut fonts with tails? Or you might be wondering how to add swashes to a font in Cricut. What’s the difference?
A Flourish is not typically attached to a letter and is largely decorative. While font flourishes may visually work with the type, they aren’t necessarily attached. For example, you may want to know how to add flourishes to calligraphy on Cricut, because added swirls could complement the aesthetic well.
A Swash is typically an extended, decorative part of a letter. So, for example, we could have a letter “g” with a long, curly, decorative swash for a descender (or the “tail” of the “g”). A good example could be a decorative, calligraphic font.
You may see these words used interchangeably sometimes. They can look (and even act) quite similar! The good news is: you can add both and more to your work in Cricut Design Space. They can also look great when used together! Check out this example of a font with decorative swashes and tex flourishes in action:
What Is a Glyph?
So, what’s a Glyph? A glyph, when speaking of fonts, is simply the design or representation of a letter. A font can contain more or fewer glyphs depending on what the font designer included. You can have more than one glyph per letter, too!
How to Access Glyphs in Cricut Design Space
Let’s begin with glyphs in Cricut Design Space. The bad news is: Cricut Design Space doesn’t let you directly see all of the glyphs in a font. You’ll need to use either Font Book (on Mac) or the Character Map Cricut (on PC/Windows).
We’ll walk through how to add swashes to a font in Cricut. Accessing glyphs in Design Space can be a little tricky, so make note of the process for PC and Mac. Similarly, if you want to know how to add “tails” to fonts in Cricut, this walkthrough is for you.
So, how do we make swashes in fonts? Keep in mind, the swash has to already exist in the font’s glyphs. If a font doesn’t contain swashes or alternates like this, you won’t be able to access this kind of content.
Accessing Glyphs on Windows/PC
On Windows, open up your Character Map. You should be able to find it in your Programs, or use the Search Bar to find it. Here’s an example of what it looks like.
Start by selecting your chosen font. We’re using the font Anggelica Merona in this example because it has decorative alternate glyphs.
Then, click Advanced View. Once you’ve done so, click the Group By dropdown menu and select Unicode Subrange. In the popup window that opens, scroll all the way to the bottom and select Private Use Characters.
You can now scroll through any alternate characters and choose one. I’ve selected an alternate for the letter “o” with a large swash at the end of it. All I have to do is click Select and then Copy to copy it.
Accessing Glyphs on Mac
Begin by opening up Font Book on your Mac (you can find it in your Applications). Go to View > Repertoire. This allows us to view all of the glyphs, rather than a sample.
Then, choose your desired font in your list of installed fonts. You can scroll through the included glyphs. Do so until you find the alternate that you want to use. Select the character (glyph) and then go to Edit > Copy.
You can use this tutorial as a fonts with tails cheat sheet.
Using Special Glyphs in Cricut Design Space
Now that we’ve copied our chosen character, we can turn to Cricut Design Space. In this example, I already have a new design file open.
Use the Text Tool to add some new text to your design.
Normally, after one click with the Text Tool active, we would start typing our text. However, this time, let’s go to Edit > Paste, to paste our special glyph. My goal here is to have my text say “hello”.
You’ll notice that it looks like a blank square by default. Don’t worry! That’s not a mistake.
Step 3
We can then select our font, up in the top bar of Cricut Design Space.
I’m using the font Anggelica Merona, which has a number of decorative swashes.
Now I can type, edit, and paste any character I like here, all using my desired font. Notice, however, in the text editor, the “o” still looks like a square. That, again, is because we’re using a special character.
How to Add Flourishes to Fonts in Cricut Design Space
Step 1
Now, let’s dig into adding flourishes to our designs. In this particular example, we’ll explore how to add flourishes to calligraphy on Cricut. However, you could do this with any particular font or design of your choice. We’ll build upon the type with swashes that we used earlier in this demonstration.
Let’s begin by adding some new type using the Text Tool. For the sake of example, I typed out the word “hi”.
Step 2
Next, I’ll change the font to a flourish font. I’ll use this Cricut flourish font from Envato Elements, in this demonstration. This is a dingbats font, where all of the letters are symbols instead of letters.
The result is two symbols (our flourishes) instead of the word “hi”. It technically still says “hi”, however. These are the glyphs that represent “h” and “i” in this particular font.
Step 3
But how do you know which letter is which symbol? Remember, you can always go review the included glyphs, as we did earlier in this demonstration. Browse through to see what’s included. Then you can type the applicable letter or copy it directly from Character Map Cricut or Font Book.
Here is a glyph I decided to use in my design.
Step 4
Repeat this process with as many glyphs as you’d prefer.
Click and drag on any text box to reposition it in your design.
Here’s our sample design, complete with both swashes and flourishes. Remember, you can layer flourishes on top of each other too!
Extra Tip: not sure how to extend letters in Cricut? Remember to use the Letter Space attribute, when your text is selected. This will help reduce or increase the space between your letters. Otherwise, you can manually adjust and move your letters independently on their own layer. You can learn more about this in this tutorial:
Looking for Cricut Flourishes and Cricut Fonts With Swashes?
Looking for some new cute Cricut fonts, fonts with swashes, or flourishes you can use in your next design?
Check out these downloads from Envato Elements. One low price gets you unlimited access to all of these fonts, plus thousands more.
1. Advertis Ornament Flourish Font
Now that you know how to add tails to fonts in Cricut, check out this amazing set of flourishes. Premium fonts with flourishes like this one include a helpful PDF so you can preview all of the flourishes and their corresponding letters.
2. Melon Font Elements Flourishes
This typography flourish was created with the melon fruit in mind. All of the font embellishments are perfect for quotes, Cricut, labels, logos, etc.
3. Vilanova Swash Calligraphy Font
Love a calligraphy font with swashes? This one is such a fun, chunky choice. Download it today and give it a try in one of your upcoming Cricut projects.
4. Gardenia Typography Flourish With Swash Font
After you learn how to add tails to fonts in Cricut, you can experiment with pretty swashes like these. This calligraphy font has so many fun alternates and swashes to try out. Go all the way with font embellishments in your design.
5. Rosita Cricut Font
Here’s a handwriting font with some really creative decorative elements. This one would be a fun one to use with Cricut; try it on T-shirts, mugs, and more.
How Will You Use Glyphs in Design Space?
Now that you know about Cricut flourishes, how to add swashes to a font in Cricut, and how to access glyphs, what will you create? The possibilities are endless!
If you’re looking for new fonts and flourishes to try, remember to check out Envato Elements. One low price gets you access to a library of thousands of fonts.
With unlimited downloads, you can use as many as you like! Sign up for Envato Elements today.
Want to learn more about working with Cricut? Check out these free tutorials from Envato Tuts+