Vertical Welding

There are two ways to create vertical welding.

• Placing all your letters/pictures all in one object box. Using this option allows you to move/resize etc the whole word at once.
  
• Making each letter/picture its own object. Each letter must be moved/resized individually
  

Here is how you do it the first way:

• Select a cartridge. This example uses the Base Camp cartridge.
  
• Type the word you want to weld. I have used the word BASE
  
  
  
  
• Using your mouse select the A. The outline will turn red.
  
  
  
  
• Using the Nudge buttons in the Properties box move the A down and to the left until it is under the B.
  
  Make sure the top of the A is just slightly overlapping the bottom edge of the B.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Select the S and again using the Nudge buttons move it down and to the left so that it is under the A and the top is overlapping the bottom of the A.
  
  
  
  
• Select the E and Nudge it down and to the left so it's under the S and its top is overlapping the bottom of the S
  
  
  
  
• Tick Welding in the Properties box
  
  
  
  
• At this point you can increase/decrease the size of your word by using the bottom right sizing handle.
  
  
• To check that the word has welded correctly open a new page in your design by clicking the New Page button.
  
  
  
  
• Click the Preview button.
  
  
  
  
• You should see something like this:
  
  
  

And now to the second way of welding vertically.

• Type the word BASE. After typing each letter press the Enter key. That way each letter will become its own object.
  Notice how there is an object box around each individual letter.
  
  
  
  
• Select the B
  
  
• Select Welding from the Properties box
  
  
  
  
• Select the A. Using the Free move handle (top left) move the A underneath the B. Make sure it is slightly overlapping the bottom of the B
  
  (Hold down the ALT key to make the handles disappear. This makes placing your object much easier.)
  
  
  
  
• Click Welding in the Properties box
  
  
• Select the S and move it underneath the A. Check that it is overlapping the bottom of the A
  
  
• Click Welding
  
  
• Select the E and move it underneath the S. Check that it is overlapping the bottom of the S
  
  
• Click Welding
  
  
• Open a new page in your design to check the welding by clicking the New Page button
  
  
  
  
• Click the Preview button
  
  
  
  
• If any of the letters are a solid colour, it means that Welding has not been selected.
  
  
• If you need to adjust the overlapping of any letters, go back to the page with the design on it and adjust as necessary.
  

Here is the word BASE done both ways. They look pretty much the same. The difference is that the first one is easier to resize/move.

Welding 101

There are two ways to weld. They are:

METHOD 1:

All letters/pictures are typed into the one "object box". Here's an example:

Notice how there is one set of selection handles and one object box surrounding the entire word.  

PROS: It's quicker You only need to click Weld once You can reduce/enlarge and copy the whole tile at once The Nudge feature works

CONS: You can't rotate/skew/flip individual letters You can't change/delete or insert letters in between existing letters without backspacing from the last letter  


METHOD 2: Each letter/picture is created as its own "object". Here's an example:

Notice how each letter has a box around it. In the example above the last D has been selected and it's the only letter with the selection handles showing. Any changes you make will only happen to THAT letter.  

PROS: You can rotate/flip/skew/move/stretch individual letters You can weld multiple fonts/objects together  

CONS: You have to click Welding on EACH object. The Nudge feature doesn't work. You must use the selection handles or the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your object.  

Welding using Method 1 

 Select a font cartridge from the cartridge library and make it active. Using your computer keys (or using the mouse to select the keys on the virtual keypad) type the letters DAD onto the mat.

With the kerning figure set to 0.000 click the Apply button

The 3 letters will move closer together.

Click on any edge of the A. It will change to a dotted outline. Click the left Nudge button several times until the A slightly overlaps the first D. (You may want to change your view to 100% or 200% to better see the overlap.)

Select the second D and use the Nudge button to move it so it is also just overlapping the A. (In this case I moved it to the right. You can also use the up and down nudge buttons to move the A and the last D up or down.)

Making sure the word is still selected, tick the Welding box

Click the New Page button (Previewing from a new page clearly shows which lines your Cricut will cut.)

Click the Preview button

This should be your result:

If you're not happy with the result, return to the page with design on it and nudge your letters again. Make sure you return to the page with the design on it to cut with the Cricut.  

Welding using Method 2  

Select a font cartridge from the cartridge library and make it active. Type the letter D onto the mat. Press Enter on your keyboard

Type the letter A Press Enter

Type the letter D Press Enter

Each letter is a separate object (each letter has its own object box around it) and can be manipulated in any way, whilst not effecting any of the other letters. Let's make a change to the A. Select the A

Using the Proportional stretch button (bottom right handle) stretch the A to make it bigger.

Now we'll weld the letters together. Move the A over so it just overlaps the outer edge of the first D. (Don't move it over the inside edge of the D or the middle of the D won't cut out). Remember you can use your mouse to move the object by clicking on the Free Move handle (the top left handle) or by using the arrow keys on you keyboard. Use the CTRL key with the arrow keys to move the object in smaller increments.

Select the second D and move it over so it just overlaps the outer edge of the A.

Select the first D and check the Welding box Select the A and check the Welding box Select the second D and check the Welding box. Your preview should look something like this:

Welded Shadows

Here is a pictorial demonstration on creating welded shadows!

Be aware - this only works on cartridges that have a shadow feature.

Cartridge used: George/Basic Shapes


1. Right click anywhere on the mat. You will see this box:2. Highlight the text “untitled page” and overtype it with a new name eg: Top layer

3. Press enter

4. Create your first layer. For this exercise I will be using the word “Welcome”. Type this in starting on the left hand side of the mat and using a size of 1.5/8"

5. With Kerning set to 0.000 click the Apply button

6. Using the Nudge buttons, make sure all the letters are overlapping.

7. Click the Preview button. This is what you should see so far. (Yours may be a different color). 8. With your word selected, click Weld. This should be your result.

9. Now would be a good time to SAVE!

10. Click the New Page button. Rename this page to: Shadow

11. Click the Shadow key on the DS keyboard

12. Click the Preview button

13. Open the View menu, and make sure “Keep preview as mat background” is ticked. If not, click on it to put a tick near it.

14. Move the cursor to the left of the mat and below the word “Welcome”.

15. Type the shadowed word “Welcome”

16. Select your shadowed word and move it up so the W covers the W of the unshadowed word.

17. Click Preview. The Shadowed “Welcome” will show up as a different color.

18. Click on the Shadowed E and nudge it to the left until it sits over the unshadowed E.


19. Repeat this process with the remaining letters.

20. Click Preview in between nudging each letter so that you can better see where the letters need to go. Lighter preview colors are easier to see. To change the Preview color, right click on the mat, Select Set Preview Color and click on any light color from the palette. Here is the finished result.

21. Making sure that you are still on the Shadow mat, select the word Welcome and click Weld.

You may need to fiddle with the nudging slightly but this should be the result.


22. To cut your design you can either cut one layer at a time or you can copy the shadowed word to the top layer, (or vice versa) and move it to the bottom of the mat. (Turn off Keep preview as background). Then on your real mat you can position your 2 different papers and cut both titles at the same time.

Where is page 26 of the online user manual?

Good question! And one that nobody from Cricut seems to have answered....

So here's a run down on that elusive page. Like most of the manual there isn't that much information. I don't want to reproduce the page in case I infringe copyright, but it covers the following topics:

Sizing and Positioning - Basically, use the selection handles to change the size and position of your objects. For greater control over those adjustments, use the Properties box.

Intricate Designs - Remember that some very intricate designs will be difficult for the Cricut to cut.

Saving and Loading - The default folder for saving your project files will be MyDocuments/Cricut/Projects. This will of course be different if you changed those options during installation. Project files are saved as a .cut file.
Don't forget - this is a computer we are using. Make sure you SAVE your work regularly to avoid losing hours of work.

Welding - You can not only weld words/letters together, you can weld images together and weld images to words. The possibilities are endless. You can combine objects/text from different cartridges all in the one design. Just remember that you need to actually own the cartridges to cut out your design. More info on WELDING to come in a later post.

Complicated projects with a lot of welding will take more time for the computer to process when you click the Preview button. Be patient!

Maximizing Paper Usage - With this software you will be able to position your objects more precisely on the mat to reduce paper wastage. Use kerning, sizing, rotation to fill gaps.

Community Feedback - Take a visit to the Cricut Community webpage at Cricut.com for more information. (Gee, I think I've visited there once or twice).

Technical Support - Apparently if you are having problems with DS you can contact Technical Support! Go to Cricut.com, email support@cricut.com or call Customer Support at 801-932-1144 (United States only I'm assuming).

And that about covers it!