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More on Samantha

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The most popular lady in all of Font Land, Samantha, is still on sale and continuing to generate lots and lots of buzz, and questions.
The information below also applies to Zelda, Dom loves Mary, Gioviale, FunkiDori and this fantastic bundle of 8 more Laura Worthington fonts which are also on sale right now.

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I have spent a lot of time fielding your questions and finding the best procedures, so here is the latest info our lady Samantha (and all of her specially PUA-encoded friends from Laura Worthington, Debi Sementelli , YellowDesign and Stephen Rapp.)

Where’s the best place to get Samantha?

The best place to buy is Mighty Deals, when it is for sale there it is deeply discounted.

Which package should I buy?

$17 Upright includes Upright Regular version of font plus matching alternate characters (with swirls), ornaments and catchwords

$17 Italic included Italic Regular version of font plus matching alternate characters (with swirls), ornaments and catchwords

$37 package includes Upright Regular, Upright Bold, Italic Regular and Italic Bold plus matching alternate characters (with swirls), ornaments and catchwords for each of those four versions

$55 package includes Upright Regular, Upright Bold, Italic Regular and Italic Bold plus matching alternate characters (with swirls), ornaments and catchwords for each of those four versions plus the versions you need if you are a web designer serving live type on the web. If you don’t know what web fonts are then you do not need them.

Can’t you just recommend something?

If you use the Cricut Explore, I recommend the $37 package so you will have the bold versions. (no offset in Design Space, boo)

If you have the free version of Silhouette Studio, I recommend the $17 Upright version and the $17 Italic version. You can “bold” your fonts with the offset feature.

If you have other cutting software, I recommend the $17 Upright version. You can “bold” your fonts with offset and “italicize” them with the shear tool.

Are these OK for commercial use?

Yes, these fonts are also licensed for use on items diecutters typically sell (words and phrases, not individual characters). For licensing details please see Laura’s FAQ’s.

How do I install them?

Unzip the folder and double click on the font file you want to install. Click the install button. You should see the fonts in the font list in your software the next time you open it or log on. You can find more specific instructions for installing fonts for your operating system in your computer’s help.

Which fonts do I install?

Either OTF or TTF, not both. For Mac I recommend installing all OTF files. For Windows I recommend installing all TTF files. That is just what seems to be working best for me.

I installed 4 fonts but only see 2 listed in my software.

This is normal, regular and bold are combined from your computer’s perspective.

How do I access the extra glyphs?

That depends on your OS and the software you want to use it in…

Windows Cricut Design Space via Character Map (built in)

Windows Microsoft Word (including on to Cricut Design Space)

 Click here for my video tutorial

Windows Cricut Design Space via BabelMap (free download)

Windows Inkscape via BabelMap (free downloads)

Windows/Mac Adobe Illustrator (including on to Cricut Design Space)

Windows Silhouette Studio via Character Map (built in)

Also please see this link for written instructions and a couple of corrections.

Mac Cricut Design Space via Font Book (built in)

Mac Silhouette Studio via Font Book (built in)

Windows SCAL 3, Mac SCAL4

Also please see my last blog post about SCAL here

Mac – other programs

Mac – earlier versions (10.6-10.8)

I’m using Windows Character Map, but the glyphs are so small.

Here are some ways to see them better

Use Nexus Font’s character map instead – Written tutorial from Silhouette Crafters

Use Microsoft Word instead – video tutorial by me here

Use the Magnifier – Written tutorial from Under A Cherry Tree

I found the Private Use Area but it is empty.

You likely have an earlier version of Samantha and need to email designer Laura Worthington (hello at LauraWorthingtonType dot com) with your receipt so she can send you the latest version.

If you are using a font other than Samantha, it may not be coded to use with these tutorials. Please check with the designer to see if the font is “PUA encoded.”

I get an error in Cricut Design Space on my Mac when I select Samantha.

This is a bug in Design Space affecting Samantha Italic. Workaround is to wait it out, then choose Italic from the style menu and proceed. And/or email designer Laura Worthington (hello at LauraWorthingtonType dot com) with your receipt and ask her for the split version

It sounds so complicated.

Samantha is an advanced font that requires advanced techniques but yields advanced results. I recommend that anyone who is apprehensive download Milkshake, which is a free font by the same designer. It has a limited number of alternate characters but enough that you can practice the steps that are needed.

Can I download it to more than one computer?

Yes the license allows for one person on up to five workstations.

How can I print out all the characters?

There is a PDF for that here.

How can I get access to the special characters on my iPad?

You will need 2 additional apps to access the special characters in Samantha in the Cricut Design Space iPad app. One called AnyFont that lets you install fonts on your iPad. The other app called Unicode Character Viewer to let you access the special characters.

I am having trouble using Samantha in Cricut Design Space since the 2.0 update. Any advice?

Try this sequence: Click to make a new text box, type some dummy text from the keyboard, change it to Samantha. If it will not let you change the font, click on the mat and back onto the font box to re-select it and try again. Once you have Samantha selected, paste in your characters from Character Map, Font Book or whatever you use to access the alternates.

The characters I copied, don’t match the ones I pasted.

If the characters don’t match what you copied, try different versions/styles of Samantha (bold, bold italic, etc) because they have to match or you can get the wrong characters.

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Comments

  1. I found this tutorial just a few hours after you posted it – THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

  2. Thank you so much for putting this on the Silhouette site. I have a Mac with Yosemite and use Font Book. The characters are all there but it takes forever to locate each one because of all the variations. MY SOLUTION: It took two tv nights. I opened up a new Pages (you could be Text Edit too). And copied only the characters I knew I would use into the document, one by one. And put the lower case letters with the Upper case. So easy. Now I just need to open my document and copy the letter over to my new one.

  3. I have one question….I also have a Mac with Yosemite and Silhouette Design Studio version 2 (not v3), do I need the Web Fonts that have the SVG file format, or will the basic version fit my needs when Im typing up words, monograms, etc for my projects. I appreciate your expertise as Im so ready to buy the fonts but dont want to purchase more than I need. Thank you

  4. I love the Samantha font and have found that SCAL4 is the best way to use it. From the Library/Fonts, I just click and the pretty letter or scrolly dodad is there. My problem, though, is that even though Samantha is installed (Windows 7), every time I open a program and begin to use Text, Samantha is not there! I go back, double click the TTF file to install, get the message it’s already installed, do I want to overwrite it, I click OK and open the program again and it’s there. Should Samantha stay “installed” or does anyone else have to reinstall over and over again?

    Thank you for this beautiful font. Just playing with it to make everyone’s name so lovely is fun in itself.

    Mary Alice

  7. thank you kay! the fonts are so much easier to read than just using the character map. i was able to ‘see’ what i wanted without selecting a lot of the characters and putting them on the mat, the having to ‘line them up’. now i know exactly where and how i want them.

  8. Hi, I have a Sil. Portrait. Had it about a month now and bought the Samantha $37 pkg from Mighty Deals. I have Windows Vista and i noticed you said to only install TTF, but my book on Vista says it accepts OTF also. However I just now removed the OTF ones. Here is my issue. I cannot get the Samantha fonts to paste onto my Sil. drawing board no matter what I try. I ‘ve been trying all week with the character map and NexusFont. What can I do to get it to paste? Thanks

  9. Hi Kay,
    After I posted this morning and went ahead and downloaded another basic Sil.v3. Samantha is now working T totally well with character map. I am so happy!! I think the software that came with my machine in Jan. did not finish installing the first round. THANKS!

  10. I’m on a MacBookPro Yosemite 10.10.1 and after selecting the character on Samantha font, from Font Book, I can’t seem to be able to copy.. Its highlighted in blue. I’m trying to copy onto my Cricut Design space. I’ve tried right clk but no copy command pops up, nor when i try Control C. What am I doing wrong?

  11. I am hoping someone may be able to help me! I watched the IPad Samantha video and purchased the unicode character app but I cannot get it to let me see the screen to choose my font. When I open the app all I get is some general character maps. I have searched all over online for help on the app but can’t fund anything.

  12. Thank you so much for all that you do. I would have never be able to do this with out your help.

  13. Kay, just a quick thank you again for the excellent tutorials on fancy fonts! I followed the AI tutorial to the letter and even though DS looks a little different since the upgrade, I was able to see and use swashes perfectly in my Cricut project. It only took a few minutes to get it entered and styled in AI. Thank you,thank you, thank you!!

  15. THANK YOU! I bought the Samantha font but couldn’t figure out how to get the special characters in Design Space…thought I just wasted my money. Your tutorial is awesome! And, now…off to create!

  16. Hello. I saw your Mac video and I too have an older Mac 10.8. I see you only explain it with the newer OS. How can I get the fancy characters with the older model? Thank you.

  17. Hello Kay,
    In regards to the difference between ttf and otf fonts, I read that the otf fonts offer you more choices of special characters that may be designed for a font … but … you state above: “Which fonts do I install? Either OTF or TTF, not both. For Mac I recommend installing all OTF files. For Windows I recommend installing all TTF files.” … I didn’t know this and I have installed both the otf and ttf for the same font on my Win7 laptop. I can easily delete one of them, but I am needing to know if it’s true that the OTF font holds more special / alternate characters for me to access? Thanks so much :o)

  18. I recently joined your blog, and it’s wonderful! I purchased Samantha font and Laura recommended I go to your site. It’s very helpful, however, I still can not access the alternate versions of the letters and ornaments, etc. I have a cricut and Sure cuts a lot 2. Laura sent me the sp dial version for Cricut, I have Windows 7 and I installed the .ttf versions of Samantha italic and upright. However, I can only see the very basic don’t in sure cuts a lot. I can access the entire font thru Character map, but am not able to copy to su e cuts a lot 2. Please help me figure out what I need to do to have access like you have in your video of SCAL 3/4. Thanks so much, Shereyl

    • Unfortunately, there is no way to do this with SCAL2 alone, because it does not allow pasting in. You could, however, paste into Inkscape, save as SVG and import the SVG into SCAL2 and save that way.

      • Kay, thanks so much for your quick response. I’ll give what you suggested a try. I desperately want to be able to use these fonts. I’ll let you know if this works. Thanks

  19. Thank you so much for the tip on using the character map in Word for Samantha font and then copying it into Silouette Studio. It is so much easier to see. You are so helpful!!

  20. I’ve installed the Samantha font, but I’m unable to paste it into a DS text field…I keep getting the following msg: These characters are not supported in this font. I’ve tried by using both the system and Word methods. Pls help. Thx.

    • This is bug in Design Space since the latest update 🙁 Best bet is to try a different browser.

  21. Thank you for your video on using Samantha with BabelMap in Inkscape. My question is do you delete some of the nodes before cutting with it, as it seems to have so many?

  22. HI Kay. First let me thank you again for all of the immensely helpful, detailed, and easy to follow guides, tutorials, and postings that you author. Individually, they have helped me over various hurdles as I learn how to craft using computer tools, and collectively they have improved my limited computer knowledge! I write you today in behalf of all who have joined the ranks of Cricut Explore users over the last few months.

    In the above posting , you recommend using the Unicode Character Viewef. I am lucky– it seems– because I saw your post several months ago, and downloaded it from the link provided at that time. Unfortunately, the link is no longer available in the US App Store!

    I wonder if you have run across any other similar free or reasonably priced products that I can recommend? I ran across Unicide Pad Pro, but it cost a few bucks, so I didn’t try it. The free version didn’t come close to the U. char. viewer! Any thoughts?

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