Comments on: Name that curlicue

Question: Name that curlicue

GeneticFreek — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 08:51:30 -0800

What are these ornamental curlicues called and where can I find more that are free?

I am working on designing my wedding invitations and am considering using the curlicue ornamentations. But without knowing what to call them, I am having difficulting pulling them up on google. That coupled with the impossibility of googling the word free is making my dream difficult. Does anyone know where I can find some that are free for use?

An alternative style I'm looking for is like the arabesque flowers currently on the Nokia website or this wrapping paper.

By: dpcoffin

dpcoffin — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:16:53 -0800

Free to reproduce or free to access? There's a zillion Dover and other books available with copyright-free scrollwork designs, flourishes and other printer's decorations for scanning; some even come with CDs full of hi-rez images. Try searching the Dover Pictorial Archive site and amazon books using the keywords listed on the first page you ref in your query. Don't know any websites with free downloads of these, sorry. Depending on where you live (big city? Near an art school?) you my find some of this stuff in a library.
Happy hunting...

By: Uncle Glendinning

Uncle Glendinning — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:19:20 -0800

My first instinct is that you should look for ornament fonts, or dingbat fonts. Such as this "Nat Vignette" at myfonts.com or "Fleurons One." There's also this "Calligraphic Ornaments" font, from linotype.com. These cost money, but perhaps you could find some free ones by googling a combination of the words dingbat, ornament, font, freeware and free.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:19:37 -0800

dpcoffin beat me to it, but here's a likely Dover candidate. $15, though.

By: sevenless

sevenless — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 10:21:39 -0800

There are 17 free scrollwork brushes for Photoshop here.

I only searched for "scrollwork" so there may be more. You have to register with Adobe Studio to get them (Bugmenot).

I only use Photoshop, but these files may work with other programs.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 10:49:11 -0800

yup--ornament fonts. (there may be one you could use here)

By: Sara Anne

Sara Anne — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 15:02:53 -0800

Now that you know what you're looking for go to the library!

By: rob511

rob511 — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 15:48:03 -0800

And you asked about synonyms for curlicue: arabesque, flourish, ornament(ation), scroll(work), swirl, tendril, whirl, whorl

By: artifarce

artifarce — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 07:58:28 -0800

Free for personal use here: House of Lime

I've used them myself; head to the Ds for "designer" and Os for "ornamental" (and maybe even a couple others, there are a lot of dingbats here).