A gift symbol with text underneath in tikz

Question

I wish to draw a parcel wrap symbol that has text "A gift from ..." underneath. The knot should not be too realistic, as shown in the figure. The vertical rope should be removed so that text appears along the under of the horizontal line:

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

One option (use xelatex):

The code:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,decorations.pathmorphing,patterns}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{AlphaMack AOE}

\makeatletter
\pgfdeclaredecoration{penciline}{initial}{
    \state{initial}[width=+\pgfdecoratedinputsegmentremainingdistance,auto corner on length=1mm,]{
        \pgfpathcurveto%
        {% From
            \pgfqpoint{\pgfdecoratedinputsegmentremainingdistance}
                            {\pgfdecorationsegmentamplitude}
        }
        {%  Control 1
        \pgfmathrand
        \pgfpointadd{\pgfqpoint{\pgfdecoratedinputsegmentremainingdistance}{0pt}}
                        {\pgfqpoint{-\pgfdecorationsegmentaspect\pgfdecoratedinputsegmentremainingdistance}%
                                        {\pgfmathresult\pgfdecorationsegmentamplitude}
                        }
        }
        {%TO 
        \pgfpointadd{\pgfpointdecoratedinputsegmentlast}{\pgfpoint{1pt}{1pt}}
        }
    }
    \state{final}{}
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}


\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[inner sep=0pt,outer sep=0pt]
  (imagebg)
  {\includegraphics[width=7cm]{envelope.png}};
\node[text width=5cm,font=\large]
  at (imagebg.center)
  {\begin{tabular}{@{}r@{\hspace{3pt}}p{4cm}@{}}TO: & A Friend \\ & over the other \\ & side of the\\ & world \end{tabular}};
\draw[white,thick,decoration=penciline,decorate]
  (imagebg.west) -- (imagebg.east) coordinate[pos=0.55] (aux1)
  coordinate (aux2) at ([shift={(20pt,20pt)}]aux1)
  coordinate (aux3) at ([shift={(-20pt,24pt)}]aux1);
\draw[overlay,white,thick]  
  (aux1) to[out=60,in=180,looseness=1] (aux2)
  (aux2) to[out=0,in=30,looseness=1] (aux1)
  (aux1) to[out=160,in=-90,looseness=1] (aux3)
  (aux3) to[out=90,in=30,looseness=1] (aux1)
  (aux1) to[out=-30] ([shift={(10pt,-20pt)}]aux1)
  (aux1) to[out=-50] ([shift={(0pt,-20pt)}]aux1);   

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Remarks

For a more realistic look of the horizontal rope, I used the penciline decoration from percusse's answer to Simulating hand-drawn lines
The font I used can be obtained from dafont.com.

This is to make a stamp for our book gifts in some events. So we do not need the yellow background. We just need the knot, and one line underneath. Perhaps you use Xelatex to have the hand-written letters. — Epa, Oct 09 '15 at 02:17
@Thumbolt And how do you plan to use the knot and the line of text. Should they be separate elements? It's not clear to me how do you plan to use them; please explain so I can decide the better alternative. Would a TikZ pic be usable, for example? — Gonzalo Medina, Oct 09 '15 at 13:32
I would use this design for making a stamp with ink so that we can stamp on our book gifts repeatedly. Then I just need the knot, and the right part of the knot, and one text line. There should not be the yellow background representing the parcel. Ideally, I need a hand-written textline without using XeLaTeX. — Epa, Oct 09 '15 at 14:06

Steven B. Segletes · Answer 2 · 2015-10-08T18:37:01.730

Lean and simple.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine,xcolor,graphicx,aurical}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
\stackinset{l}{12pt}{c}{-12pt}{\Fontskrivan A gift from Thumbolt}{%
\stackinset{c}{+3.1pt}{c}{3pt}{\color{white}\Huge$\rho$}{%
\stackinset{c}{-3.1pt}{c}{3pt}{\scalebox{-1}[1]{\color{white}\Huge$\rho$}}{%
\stackinset{l}{}{c}{}{\color{white}\rule{300pt}{1pt}}{%
  \fboxsep=70pt\relax\colorbox{yellow!30!orange!20}{\rule{70pt}{0pt}}%
}}}}
\end{document}

If one wanted the bow not fully symmetrical or even change the scale, some uneven scale could be applied to the $rho$ symbols:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine,xcolor,graphicx,aurical}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
\stackinset{l}{12pt}{c}{-12pt}{\Fontskrivan A gift from Thumbolt}{%
\stackinset{c}{+4.6pt}{c}{4.5pt}{\scalebox{1.5}[1.8]{\color{white}\Huge$\rho$}}{%
\stackinset{c}{-4.6pt}{c}{4.5pt}{\scalebox{-1.5}[1.65]{\color{white}\Huge$\rho$}}{%
\stackinset{l}{}{c}{}{\color{white}\rule{300pt}{1.5pt}}{%
  \fboxsep=70pt\relax\colorbox{yellow!30!orange!20}{\rule{70pt}{0pt}}%
}}}}
\end{document}

A gift symbol with text underneath in tikz

2 Answers2

Remarks