Latin fonts with caps that connect to the right

Vasil Stanev

Recently a client was on the search for somebody that can make connected stencil fonts for his Etsy business. He claimed that he doesn't purchase script connected fonts because they don't feature the caps connecting to the right and I'm guessing this messes up with the production of the physical products. This issue got me thinking if I've seen such fonts in the wild, and I also did a test job to probe if it can be done. I have attached my test job. (No need to comment on the design too much - it's only a WIP test)
It doesn't seem to have any catastrophic issues. Can you list such fonts with the caps connecting to the right? I will have to draw several stencil connected fonts and I would like to study how it was done before me. I'll purchase them if need be.

Grzegorz Luk (gluk)

I tried this in my "funky script" font Galberik with average results.

I left exceptions (J,Y,T), and besides, the "funky" design allowed for unconventional ideas

Yves Michel

Hi Vasil,

What is your definition of a "Stencil" font, please ?
I thought it was a font that can be used, for instance, with machines as Cricut (for plastic sheets) or to carve letters in wood or metal without having the bowls of /o/b/e/... loose from the other parts of the letter.
So, the main characteristic of these fonts is the absence of closed bowls.
In my opinion, the fonts you expose are better called "script" than "stencil".

Christian Thalmann

Galberik is very cool!

Vasil Stanev

@Yves Michel
In my book,
- A stencil font is a font that can be used for carving next through metal, plastic, wood or other materials and has connectors built into design of the glyphs with bowls. These connectors connect the bowls to other parts of the design. These connectors have different forms, usually a simple quasi-rectangle, sometimes more artistic or artistically incorporated into the letterform, following curvature etc. Their practical use is to prevent the already cut physical bowls of symbols like  &/o/b/e/... from falling off the material under the influence of mechanical forces, wind, or gravity. The resulting design can then be either used 'as is' or as a hole through which to apply paint onto another surface, or as a window to another design, or in other ways.

- A connected font is usually cursive or a script, and features parts of the glyphs, usually the lowercase, that connect and thus build a more or less unbroken "chain" or "garland" of symbols.

= Since connected fonts can also have bowls and eyes that would fall off under the same conditions as with non-scriptural stencil fonts, a font can be both stencil and a script. It is a special case. My question was not about this special case, but about connected fonts, so I didn't drew a stencil version of the WIP font I posted before. I have full confidence that most type designer could see a stencil version of it in their mind's eye, so of course no need for me to do it.

Yves Michel

@Vasil Stanev
Thank you for this clean explanation.
I already designed 3 stencil fonts, one of them "Abecedary Stencil" (you can find it on daFont) is a stencil version of "Abecedary", a script connected font.
Most of the uppercase letters are connected, with calt when they're not.
There is even a version of the uppercase for titling (only capitals)
Of course it's not a display font.

Yves Michel

Updated the font "Abecedary Stencil" today on daFont to version 4 (small mistakes!)

Christian Thalmann

Yves, that wouldn't work well as an actual stencil. You need multiple bridges to keep a counter in the stencil mask in place (e.g., /o/ typically has a bridge each on top and bottom).

Yves Michel

@Christian Thalmann

Thank you Christian! I agree with you.
That's exactly what I did with my "Amusette High Stencil" and recently my "Stencilum" font.
The Abecedary one was the first. It was a command from a Cricut user 4 years ago and she seemed satisfied with the "singleton" bridges.
Other users, like carpenters, or metal carvers, used it and I had no further demand to put multiple bridges. Even if I understand very well your remark.
When I'm finished with my current font, I'll try to improve the strenght of the counters.

Vasil Stanev

I just realized that adding connectors to the glyph on the right will create shapes between the glyphs that will also have to be treated like a stencil. This makes the initial statement by the client even more odd.

Yves Michel

I really don't see why the connectors need to be cut. They don't create bowls and eyes that would fall. (I suppose there are spaces between words)

Yves Michel

I join an example of my Abecedary font to illustrate this