edit thanks to Cora and Evansd2 I have figured this out! My stakes are 1.5" x 9.5". Here is the file for the GF community, I have it in my ETSY store, but free to help others get started as I have been helped. Thanks!
I would like to learn how to do this, can someone tell me what it is called or direct me in learning this.
I can move the letters, but i cant figure out how to get the text as the cut path. any help is Greatly appreciated!
Yes! You have to make sure your text is converted to path - then you select “difference” in the path menu. A “gotcha” I found is that you have to select each individual letter than select difference.
Just did this over this weekend
This video might help you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5la2ecROXaI
I have white acrylic in stock that I want to use, that is why the edge cut is what I am after. I don’t want to paint them and have the paint flake off in someone’s garden. likely bad for the Etsy shop review
I got to here, so it will be cut out, just not the letters only…
Ungroup them Object->ungroup. Then do a Path->combine, and they’l be one path object. (which you can verify here by looking at the bottom of your screen it should say "one object of type path selected)
Here it is in node view mode so you can see it’s one path.
The whole thing is like 6 keystrokes. You should spend more time selecting your font (http://wordmark.it) than actually doing the path manipulation, it’s a really simple thing once you know the steps.
I’d make the text bigger! I personally like the solo-text cutout without a border - it makes it easier to see from afar! I’ve been setting up my shop, too - and I’ve been “vetting” my friends on facebook to see which designs they like the best…
I would put the text flush to the wall to give it a bit more stability - overall, looks good!
And flush to the edge, but that’s just me! You could also round the corners of the shape
Daggers also come in handy for vampires!
evansd2 I hope you can help… I’m looking for a way to essentially create two layers for a cut file where I can select engrave.
Essentially, I’d like to cut out the owl & stick as a whole, and engrave the lines of the owl to give it some depth. Also, is there a way to union objects based on selection order? You can see here when I unioned the fish to the stick, it unioned over the fish instead of removing the top part of the stick.
EDIT: oops, working too quickly - Copy and paste in place a new owl/stick. You’ll have two right on top of each other.
Break apart the new copy.
Union.
Now you have a solid shape that is your outline. Turn off fill and add stroke.
Now kill the black filled stick you have leftover (from the first set). You should have an engravable owl inside a stick/owl outline, which I think is your goal.
@Cora I just updated my instructions to be a bit more clear. sorry about that, I was in a hurry and on my phone. You might want to re-read what I wrote, it’s a bit more explicit now.
Often with Inkscape and vector booleans it’s a matter of finding the way that clicks in your brain. There are lots of ways to do what you were asking, this is my brute force method. Seems pretty effective for stuff like this.