What Pens Work With Cricut? How to Use Any Pen with Your Cricut Machine
This post may contain affiliate links that won’t change your price but will share some commission.
Owning a Cricut machine is wonderful! There’s so much you can do with it. But sometimes, you want to venture out beyond the means of what Cricut provides, like using Cricut pens. I absolutely LOVE their pens – the gel pens and calligraphy markers are great – but what if you want to use others like Sharpies, brush markers, glitter pens, and more? I don’t know about you, but I want to know all the interchangeable pens that work with Cricut because this opens up a whole new world of pen colors to explore!
Fortunately, there’s a very easy way to make nearly any pen work with your Cricut machine. This hack I’m sharing today allows you to use other brand pens with your Cricut Maker, Cricut Explore Air 2, Cricut Explore 3, or Cricut Maker 3 machines! I’ll also include some tips for Cricut Joy as well.
Need a Beginner-Friendly Tutorial on Cricut Design Space?
Watch my FREE Cricut Freedom Workshop for beginners! I’ll help you learn your Cricut the RIGHT way to avoid feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and have the best success for all your Cricut projects!
What pens Are Compatible with Cricut?
Pens that work naturally with your Cricut machine include their brand pens such as gel pens, metallic markers, or calligraphy markers.
While we appreciate the variety of Cricut pen colors, what about making other markers and pens work with your cutting machine? Perhaps you already own or just love the look of some other brand’s pens, so you wish you could use non-Cricut brand pens with your Maker, Explore Air 2, Explore 3, or Maker 3 machine to create more beautiful intricate designs in different colors.
How to use any pen with your Cricut machine
Here’s the secret: Clamp A of your machine holds a pen adapter. That adapter inside is actually removable! Why does this matter? Because if you can remove the Cricut pen adapter, then you can insert alternative adapters that will allow you to use any pen with your Cricut machine!
Best Cricut Pen Adapter Options
In researching the best adapters for how to make different pens fit Cricut, I’m sharing my two favorite pen adapter options which are found on Etsy and Amazon.
These alternative adapters allow you to use Sharpies, Bic markers, Tombow brush markers, Crayola fine-line markers, and many others! Both work well with any Cricut Maker, Maker 3, Explore Air 2, or Explore 3 machine!
How to Change Your Cricut Pen Adapter – Video Tutorial
One of the most important things you need to know is how to remove the pen adapter that comes with your Cricut machine.
Here’s a quick video tutorial on how to use non-cricut pens with your Cricut Explore or Maker Machine. It shows you the best way to change out your Cricut pen adapter (located in Clamp A of the Cricut housing) to the preferred third-party pen adapter sets I’ve noted above.
How to Remove Your Cricut Pen Adapter
You can also walk through the steps below on how to remove the Cricut pen adapter and insert a replacement. And don’t miss my list of recommended Cricut pens and Cricut markers!
Step 1. Open your Cricut machine. The pen adapter is found in Clamp A to the left. Toggle open the clamp and start to press down on the clamp while wiggling the adapter up with your fingers.
Step 2. While simultaneously pressing down on the center housing and pushing up on the adapter from the bottom, release the pen adapter. You will need to be gentle but fairly firm.
Step 3. Once loosened, remove the white adapter from inside the center housing. (There’s only one when the adapter comes out, so it will be obvious.)
Step 4. Now that clamp A’s housing is empty, insert one of the adapters. Some Cricut pen adapters will label which pens they work with; others leave it up to you to test various options with each adapter.
That means you can change out the Cricut adapter for new ones that will hold different pen brands, opening up a wide variety of colors to choose from!
In the image above, I’m inserting a Bic marker into my Cricut, and it worked great!
Remember, even if one of the adapters is labeled “BIC markers,” that doesn’t mean there may not be other brand pens that work with that adapter!
I discovered that my Tombow dual brush markers work with the Uni-ball Signo adapter. Using a brush marker with your Cricut like this could help you create lovely brush calligraphy art!
Looking for More Hacks for Your Cricut Projects?
If you’re interested in more shortcuts and tips to improve your crafting savvy, especially if you’re a beginner to everything Cricut, check out these Design Space and vinyl hacks to achieve the best results for your next amazing projects!
- Read 28 Cricut and Design Space hacks every Cricut owner should know.
- You may also love my 25 sanity-saving craft vinyl hacks for working with vinyl.
Which Pens And Markers Can Be Used With Cricut?
With so many types of pens available – from fine tip pens and calligraphy pens to glitter gel pens – I’ve compiled a handy list of non-Cricut pens and markers that can easily be adapted to your Cricut as well as a curated list of my favorite Cricut brand pens!
Non-Cricut Pens
For these non-Cricut pens, you’ll need this adapter set here.
- Regular, Metallic & Neon (Fine-point Sharpies)
- Ultra Fine Point (Sharpie)
- Art Pen (Sharpie)
- Pilot Precise (V5 & V7)
- Bic Marking (Fine & Ultra Fine)
- Bic Cristal
- Sakura Gelly Roll
- Amaza Gel Pens
- Sharpie Oil-Based Paint (Fine and Extra Fine)
- Uni-ball Signo (UM-153)
- Tombow Brush Pens (Use with Uni-ball adapter)
Crayola Markers that work with Cricut machines
Using the pen adapter set mentioned above, here are the Crayola markers that work with Cricut machines.
Cricut Brand Pens
Of course, for those who want to stick with just the Cricut brand, here are some of my favorites to use!
- Ultimate Fine-Point Pen Set
- Black Pen Set
- Glitter Gel Pen Set
- Peacock Pen Set
- Calligraphy Black Pen Set
- Candy Shop Pen Set
- Infusible Ink Markers
How to Write With Your Cricut
Want to create your own card inserts for the Cricut Joy card mat? Or fill in writings or images for your Cricut to draw? Learn how with these tutorials.
- How to write with Cricut inside a Joy card insert.
- Try out hatch-filing text in Design Space with this typography tutorial.
Can I Use Other Pens and Markers with Cricut Joy?
This pen tutorial works great with the Cricut Maker, Explore Air 2, Explore 3, and Maker 3. However, the Joy machine works differently because it does not have a separate insert for pens. But I have tried and love these Cricut Joy pens here for my Joy machine, which are dual-tip, including both fine-point and marker tips. And they write very smoothly!
How to Install and Use Fonts with Your Cricut Machine
There are so many possibilities with using Cricut fonts! I’ve created several guides and tutorials to help you find the best free fonts for Cricut, show you how to upload system fonts in Design Space, and get help with font choice and design in creating your personal writing style.
Do you love this Cricut pens hack and tutorial? I have many more tips and projects on Abbi Kirsten Collections. Don’t forget to share these with your friends!
About Abbi Kirsten
Welcome to my colorful corner of the internet, where we play with vibrant crafts and unlock your creative magic! Hang out with me and get lost in a fun array of projects, tutorials, and products, from stunning papercraft ideas to flower templates, Cricut help for beginners, and endless crafter’s hacks.
To access all the magic, join the Member Vault and participate in my monthly Craft-Alongs in my Facebook group!
