diff --git a/src/outputs/textconfig.jl b/src/outputs/textconfig.jl
index 8d59fef..01441ca 100644
--- a/src/outputs/textconfig.jl
+++ b/src/outputs/textconfig.jl
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Text configuration for printing timestep and grid name on the image.
 
 # Arguments / Keywords
 
-- `font`: `String` font name.
+- `font`: A `FreeTypeAbstraction.FTFont`, or a `String` with the font name to look for. The `FTFont` may load more quickly.
 - `namepixels` and `timepixels`: the pixel size of the font.
 - `timepos` and `namepos`: tuples that set the label positions, in `Int` pixels.
 - `fcolor` and `bcolor`: the foreground and background colors, as `ARGB32`.
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ function TextConfig(;
     timepos=(2timepixels, timepixels),
     fcolor=ARGB32(1.0), bcolor=ZEROCOL,
 )
-    if font isa AbstractString
+    if font isa FreeTypeAbstraction.FTFont
+	    face = font
+    elseif font isa AbstractString
         face = FreeTypeAbstraction.findfont(font)
         face isa Nothing && _fontnotfounderror(font)
     else
diff --git a/test/image.jl b/test/image.jl
index 12f4537..e09dc8a 100644
--- a/test/image.jl
+++ b/test/image.jl
@@ -300,8 +300,6 @@ end
         )
         simdata = SimData(output, Ruleset(Life()))
         @test_throws ArgumentError render!(output, simdata)
-        @test_throws ArgumentError TextConfig(; font="not_a_font")
-        @test_throws ArgumentError TextConfig(; font=:not_a_string)
     end
     @testset "Layout is the default for NamedTuple of grids" begin
         output = NoDisplayImageOutput(multiinit; tspan=1:10)
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index bec82b1..64dd24d 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ end
 @time @safetestset "objectgrids" begin include("objectgrids.jl") end
 @time @safetestset "parametersources" begin include("parametersources.jl") end
 @time @safetestset "show" begin include("show.jl") end
+@time @safetestset "textconfig" begin include("textconfig.jl") end
 # ImageMagick breaks in windows travis for some reason
 if !Sys.iswindows() 
     @time @safetestset "image" begin include("image.jl") end
diff --git a/test/textconfig.jl b/test/textconfig.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd5f259
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/textconfig.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+using DynamicGrids, FreeTypeAbstraction, Test
+
+@testset "Fonts" begin
+	@test DynamicGrids.autofont() isa String
+	name = DynamicGrids.autofont()
+	face = FreeTypeAbstraction.findfont(name)
+ 	@testset "TextConfig accepts font as String" begin
+		@test name isa String
+		textconfig = TextConfig(; font=name)
+		@test textconfig.face isa FreeTypeAbstraction.FTFont
+	end
+ 	@testset "TextConfig accepts font as FTFont" begin
+		@test face isa FreeTypeAbstraction.FTFont
+		textconfig = TextConfig(; font=face)
+		@test textconfig.face === face
+	end
+	@test_throws ArgumentError TextConfig(; font="not_a_font")
+	@test_throws ArgumentError TextConfig(; font=:not_a_string)
+end