The Lettered Quote Planner

Rule the lines in nib widths, count the lines a quote will take, and choose the nib that fits the frame, before the ink goes on good paper

LetterForge's free tools each answer one question in their own unit. The Nib Angle Guide gives stroke widths in millimetres, the X-Height and Line Spacing Calculator works in pixels and a typeface's x-height ratio, and the Letter-Spacing Calculator converts tracking at a size in px but recommends it from a size in pt. None of them answers the question a letterer has before a quote goes on a sheet of good paper: how tall to rule for this nib, how many lines the words will take, and whether they will fit the frame. In a broad-edge hand that answer is counted in nib widths, a unit none of the tools uses. The Lettered Quote Planner joins them in seven steps. It measures the nib from its widest stroke (a stem at 30 degrees is 13.4% narrower, and guidelines ruled from it come out short), builds the heights from a ladder of nib widths, and rounds the line pitch up to the millimetre so rounding never eats the clearance. From one measured test line it works your letter pitch, wraps the quote by whole words (the worked 98-character example needs 7 lines where its length alone suggests 6), and chooses the largest nib whose block fits the frame: 2.4 mm on A4, where 3 mm needs 294 mm of a 225.7 mm space. It closes with a typeset proof at the lettered size in pt and px, with tracking worked in the right unit. Every figure is computed from the site's own calculators; the nib, test line and sheet are examples, and the hand proportions are common teaching values, labelled as such. It contains no quotations and no font files, and says plainly to check the words' copyright and each typeface's licence. It is for broad-edge hands; pointed and brush pens are covered from Step 4. Included: 24 printable pages with a nib and ruling card, a ruled Foundational sheet at actual size, a quote fitting sheet, a proof card, reference tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in the calculators.

What’s inside

The full contents of The Lettered Quote Planner: rule the page, fit the quote, and the working pages

Step 1, The Widest Stroke Rule: the nib width is the widest stroke the pen makes, so measure that, never the stem

Step 1: measure the nib from its widest stroke, not the stem
Step 2: heights in nib widths for Foundational, Italic, Uncial and blackletter
Step 3: the line pitch, rounded up to the millimetre
Step 4: your letter pitch from one measured test line
Step 5: wrap the quote by whole words and count the lines
Step 6: choose the largest nib whose block fits the frame
Step 7: a typeset proof at the lettered size, in pt and px
Working pages: nib and ruling card, ruled sheet at actual size, quote fitting sheet, proof card
Reference tables: heights and pitches by hand and nib, characters and lines by sheet
A personalised sheet worked from your nib, sizes and x-height ratio

Plus a second PDF, worked out for you

Run one of the free calculators first and buy from that page, and this sheet is computed from your own figures. Buy from here and the pack still arrives complete — the sheet simply has no numbers of yours to work from yet.

14-day refund, no questions asked. If the pack is not what you needed, email support@graburl.com and we refund you in full — you do not have to justify it or delete the file. Full policy.

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$15.00 including any taxes · PDF, 24 pages · instant download, link valid 7 days and 5 downloads.
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