Welding is a term often used in the crafting world, and most specifically in the digital crafting world. When someone refers to welding they will typically mean permanently fusing shapes together. Welding can be used to simplify your cutting files but it really comes in handy when a person is using letters. Cutting out many letters and placing them on your project can be very time consuming. Learning to use the welding tool in your software is a big help.
For this tip we suggest first finding a font that is heavy enough to cut out and be pulled off your mat. Also look for a font that will look good when you cram the letters together. For this example we are using LD Mon Cherie in uppercase letters. We've already typed out the word and ungrouped the letters. For this tip, we do not explain how to do any of the steps other than welding. Scroll down to read how to do it in your software.
You will want to move all your letters so they are touching and overlapping a little bit. In this example we also rotated three of the letters slightly so the word looked better with the letters touching.
Once your letters are overlapping and your word looks good and is still very "readable", select all your letters and "weld".
- To do this in MTC: right-mouse click > Shape Magic > Weld or choose the "weld" icon at the bottom of your virtual mat (looks like two squares joined). See a video.
- To do this in Silhouette Studio: right-mouse click > Weld. See a video.
- To do this in your Pazzles software: look for welding icon. It is a square and circle merged together. See a video.
- To do this in Cricut Design Space: go to weld feature in the layers panel. The icon is a square and circle merged together. See a video.
- To do this in Sure Cuts A Lot: Go to appearance panel and click "weld". See a video.
