When I add fonts, and run fc-cache -f . in that directory, the fonts appear in GTK2 apps right away, but not in GTK 1.2 apps like The GIMP. They show up if I quit X, then startx back into it, but if I am working for instance on something in The GIMP where I have several windows open, this is a big inconvenience. Is there a way to get the GTK 1.2 apps to recognize the new fonts without restarting X?

Have you tried running
xset fp rehash
?

why no I haven't. I will keep that in mind. What does that do, reset the fontpath from the XF86Config?

Yes and no. Yes, that is what it usually does, but no, that is not what it does technically. Technically it resets the fontpath to its current value, whether that is the same as the XF86Config fontpath or not. Usually it does mean the fontpath defined in XF86Config, but since you can change the fontpath with xset while running X Window, then it could be doing something else. It may seem like it would be pointless to reset the fontpath to its current value, but when you do this the server rereads the font database as well, which may have changed.

Interesting. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for the next time I add fonts.