Welding Text to Shapes in Silhouette Studio

Have you ever wanted to weld text to a shape, but it disappears when you weld it together?

Let’s take a look at how to create a welded design so it doesn’t get swallowed up when it’s welded.

Welding text to a shape in Silhouette Studio

Draw the shape that you want to use.
I used the Drawing Tools on the left to draw an oval.
The size does not have to be specific because we can change it to the exact dimension needed.

Open the Transform Panel – Scale Tab or use the Scale tools in the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) to adjust the size exactly as needed.

How do I know how big to make it?
Grab a ruler and measure the space you have to put the decal.

Open the Offset Panel and choose an Internal Offset.
Adjust the distance as desired. I used a distance of 0.400″.

Select both the shapes and make sure they are centered together using either the QAT or Transform Panel – Align Tab.
Then right click, and choose Make Compound Path.

The Compound Path is what gives the ability to weld to a shape. Weld means that you combine 2 shapes together to make one or make one continuous cut. If you have only 1 shape drawn and try to weld to that, it just merges the 2 designs together. By creating the Compound Path, you now have a “frame” to weld the text to.

Fill the shape with color and you will see the compound path that was created.

Compound Paths are probably the hardest concept for any user to grasp, but once you do, you don’t forget it. To find out more on Compound Paths check out this post HERE.

Now we can create our text to use.
Click on the Text Tool on the left side, then click on the design mat, and start typing.

Click off of the text to deselect it, then back on the text 1 time to select it.
Open the Text Style Panel on the right side and choose a Font Style.

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I am using a font called ZP Xiphoid Script Oblique by Illustration Ink – Design #167413

Adjust the text as needed. Each font style is going to vary in what you may need to do. In this case, I increased the character spacing just a bit. Then made a copy of the word and moved it off to the left side so I have an original. Then I right clicked and chose Ungroup and moved the letters individually so that they all formed smoother transitions as a script font.
Note: when text is changed in any way such as ungrouping, welding, convert to path, etc. it is no longer editable text. This is the main reason to make a copy of the original before changing it.

Tip: Move the text in smaller increments by using your keyboard arrow keys with the Snap to Grid turned off.

Once the letters are positioned how you like, right click and choose Weld. All overlapping text will then be welded together and form one continuous cut.
Note: keep in mind that all font styles will vary and there is no perfect or one click button to modify all text styles.

Fill the text with color to see it better and move it up into the shape drawn previously.
Using the corner bounding boxes, scale the text to a size that fits within the shape and overlaps on the edges. Use the Center – Align tool as needed and adjust as desired.

Tip: some designs will look odd when using the Center function on the software. Adjust as needed to your desire. In this design the center point placed the design too high in the oval because of the y in the name. I used the arrow keys and bumped the name down until I felt it looked better.

Select both the oval frame & text, make a copy, and pull it off to the side.
Then select both the frame & the text on the design mat, right click, and choose Weld.
Any overlapping parts will then be welded together.

Tip: Always make a copy of your design before welding it together because once you save and close the file, you cannot undo a weld.

Click on the Send tab and see where the cut lines are to make sure it welded properly and it will cut where you want.

And that is it!
Create custom labels cut from adhesive vinyl, cardstock, card sentiments, and more!

Welding text into any shape can be done with just a few simple steps to make the shape workable.

Check out the full video tutorial on my YouTube channel HERE.

Have further questions?
Feel free post on the
Silhouette Secrets+ Facebook Group.

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Enjoy!

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